Once a year blogging is no good!

 

A very old pic of some early sculpture work.

Around 1997-98.

Paper mache with some tree bark.

Current work in progress.

A galaxy 'scape.

Plans for new assemblages

 Sketchbook ideas for assemblages- the spheres will be paper mache mounted on 10x 10 canvases covered with woven fabric scraps.

 

Newest fish January 2020

Paper mache about 24" x 24"

Based on a real tropical fish!

From the Fish Factory

Jub Jub bird 2018
paper mache and other things

Peculiar Pallette 2018
paper mache and brushes

I joined the Nelson Gallery in Lexington, Virginia in March 2018. Every other month the member artists rotate their work to another wall in the gallery. At first, it was challenging to make enough work to keep my display fresh.

In 2018 I tried some rust printing on muslin and built assemblages on top. Two are sold.

All during 2019, I made paper mache fish and they sold! I started calling my studio the FISH FACTORY.

Here's one of the rust prints with stitching. This one is sold.  24"x 36"

Here's an assemblage with a rust print background. 20" x 24". The one on the left is sold.

Here's a rust print with added silk and stitches. 20"x 24"

Collection of my work the last three years

February 17, 2018

What's going on in the shop now...

Green seaweedy with teeth

Green seaweedy with teeth

what's going on in the shop

 top side of paper mache bowl

bowl base

Limestone balls
Used in filtration systems in Georgia at Chattahoochee River.
These are about 1 and 1/2 inches diameter.
Some are cleaned with Barkeeper's Friend. Others are natural with rust and dirt.
In Etsy shop soon.

March 22, 2017

Brr! Isn't it supposed to be spring? 

I am practicing drawing and painting Oaxacan patterns.

 I have a collection of the little wooden critters from Mexico.

I don't have a very steady hand and I am in awe of the tiny details the Oaxacan artists create.

 

 

March 16, 2017   Winter waited until March! Brr! Snow and Ice and Wind!

 I made these a few years ago. Recently pulled them and and touched them up. Each one is a board with a riot of found objects glued on. Spraying it black unifies the composition.

The technique reminds me of Louise Nevelson's work.


You can read about her and see some of her artworks at http://www.louisenevelsonfoundation.org/

  

Here is one by itself.

A long time since the last post. My Dad's health declined rapidly last fall and he died December 6. It's amazing how grief will stop one's normal activities and mindset in their tracks. I've made a few small things with paper mache, done some doodling, and made a few necklaces.

The "beads" are Styrofoam balls covered with paper mache.

My desktop computer crashed and died in December so a lot of my pictures are still on data sticks.

I made these for Halloween with small gourds.

Soon I will post some other work from my sketchbook that I have uploaded to Instagram.
It's time to purchase my Art for Arf canvases and get busy.

Now what in the world have I been doing since I added those last pictures at the end of May?

Hmmm... oh yes
working at the writing center at VMI and writing a blog about writing analysis essays.
 Blog address
http://sites.vmi.edu/drakemp 

Working on a collage for an August show Farm to Table using rust fabric, leaf printing, and stitching on a canvas covered with wrinkled tissue paper, painted and rubbed with show polish.

July was mostly downtime and puttering around with nothing much to show for it.

Now it is time to keep up with the tomato harvest by making gallons of tomato juice.

I offered classes at CFSOTA, but only three people signed up in May and then no one else all summer. We'll try again in September.
Need to visit the new director there soon so we can talk about what kinds of classes might fly. Monsters?

My three works for SPCA ART FOR ARF 2016 Lexington, VA. Nelson Gallery. Show opens Friday.

   Masks from the web