There Be Dead Whales Here!

The Day of the Dead show is going to be open at the same time our show is open in October, so I thought I would contribute some pieces to that theme. However, I wanted to do some works that were different from what folks usually see. And being so inspired by whales lately...

Everyone knows the story of Jonah in the belly of the whale. 

Well, in this version, the whale did not get the instruction to spew Jonah out.

So, being that he had so much time on his hands, 

Jonah started doing some scrimshaw with the whale's rib bone.

One dead whale says to the other, "Why did we go extinct?"

The other one answers, "No one wanted to humpback."

Nice gag - even though they aren't really extinct, nor are they humpbacks.

Just laugh and move on...

Some pieces are just imspired because I find an eight foot long piece of wood in an alley.

 

Painted Oliphants

I am also working on a variety of wood elephants for the show. These are the ones that are done so far.

I was inspired by an article in the National Geographic about painted elephants.

Exitium means Destruction in Latin.

This was inspired by a tattoo I saw of a black elephant head.

Would Destruction incarnate be wearing a fez though?

To go with the Day of the Dead theme of the show in CHAC Norte, I created several animals with painted skeletons. Here is the first Day of the Dead elephant that I have ever seen.

I got a lot of good feedback on the elephants. But this small piece (10"x5") surprisingly drew the most attention. I could have sold it 10 times over.

Garden Art 2013

Some photos of the yard. There are treasures hidden throughout. It is a wonderland playground for the cats.

Recently framed pieces of art from others

I just got some pieces framed that have been waiting awhile, but since you might not get a chance to see it hanging on the wall, I thought I'd include images of them here.

I found these three at the Art Student's League Art market. They are by oil artist Pat Carney. 

This is by Daniel Lowenstein. 

He was showing at the CHAC gallery in July. 

I have been enthralled with foxes lately, so this one came home with me.

This is one of those rare thrift store finds. It was folded up in a bag with other fabric. 

It is a real batik, but no artist name on it. 

My latest iPhone app - ToonCamera

If you haven't played with this app yet, I really recommend it. It has more than a dozen style brushes to use and that is enough for endless possibilities! It is high enough resolution to blow up to 8x10 with no problem. Look at some of the samples I took and sent to my email.

 

The Whale Wood Wall Sculpture

Knowing I had the tools and materials, I was waiting on the motivation to start creating the long list of wood sculptures I have been planning. The whale was inspired by the Hawaii trip in March. Watching them breach and hearing them sing while snorkeling was amazing, needless to say. I mixed metallic paint and ink wash on raw wood.