I just entered the 'foliopic 'Movement' Competition' photo competition. http://ping.fm/9R28Z
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Portraits, Kids Art, Eagles and Birds
Well, life and art continue on and forward for Martha and I.
Last week while I was interviewing interesting folks and writing for my other blog http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs/arts-in-the-valley-and-beyond/2012/may/16/spring-bird-fest-ceramic-engineering-and-steam-pun/ Martha was judging art for the kids recycled art show up in
Leavenworth and teaching art to the residents at the local emergency housing
program.
Then on Friday while Martha was
volunteering as a docent at the Bird Fest art show in Leavenworth I covered some
of the other art activities related to
Bird Fest, took pictures and wrote yet
another blog for my other blog http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs/arts-in-the-valley-and-beyond/2012/may/20/an-art-day-in-the-life-at-bird-fest-2012/
. Then in evening we attended the opening for the kid’s art show Martha had
judged. A busy and fulfilling week it was indeed.
Also, last week Martha closed the deal on selling some art
to a buyer in L.A. Good… job Martha.
Meanwhile
I continued working on the painting of my granddaughter… it’s getting there.
It’s
a bit different for me as I am painting it in acrylic rather than doing it with
water color pencil and marker as I had done the portraits of my kids years ago.
I also, came to find that I had forgotten to put the link to the video I made
of our parade float experience in my previous blog… so here it is https://vimeo.com/41857971. It’s pretty
fun and very colorful.
Monday came the big day for Martha to pick up her artwork
from the gallery in Leavenworth and to change out her art at the NUART Gallery
in East Wenatchee and to the ship off three pieces to L.A. She is very excited and I am very happy for
her too. She also, had a couple of her works over at NUART framed and now they
look even better. As I write she is busily
painting up a storm on the new canvases she just got… can’t wait to see what
she comes up with now.
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Earlier today, we were planning out what we want to do with
the tropical birds as far as mounting for the upcoming adult recycled art show
in Leavenworth that we are both participating in. The tropical birds need a different
mounting system than we used on the float and we want to add feet and natural branch
perches for her three birds. My eagle is pretty well good to go, I just need to
figure out the transports system as taking it in the back of my pick-up as I
did to the parade would wreak havoc on it traveling 20miles at freeway speeds.
Well, enough for now and back to work.
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Bliss, Paradise, Agave and Yes...the Eagle has Landed
Well, here
we are in our post Apple Blossom Paradise of Birds and Flowers blissful rest
and relaxation….NOT. As always the beat
goes on in the art world of Rod and Martha.
Starting Sunday
– not even a full day after our parade float adventure, we were up and atom at
the break of dawn, well, maybe not that early… to move the float from its
overnight storage at Terry Signs back to the city storage yard or at least just
outside the gate there.
And, so
while many of the good citizens of Wenatchee were preparing to get themselves
and their families to church and the not so good citizens, tourists and assorted
carnies and traveling roustabouts were catching up on their sleep, I drove the
float right through downtown Wenatchee with Martha following in my truck hazard
lights a flashing. Clap, clap, clap a trap down the avenue we went with the
back end bouncing off of every manhole cover and dip, blip or pot hole in the
road. “Whew!” Was all I could say at the end of that little trip.
Later that
afternoon we did take the opportunity to enjoy the company of friends at a
local restaurant, which also gave me the opportunity to snap some pictures of
the artwork there done by our friend Terry Johnson and some other artists as
well. The only signature I could read on the other art was Valdez… don’t know
the first name or anything about the artist…sorry.
And, then
the following day, a work day for me, I was back at the city yard on my lunch
break to move the float back into the yard and to get that great hulking
contraption back into its trailer. Getting it into the trailer without any
assistance was a bit of hassle and managing to get it lined up and into the
trailer with all of an inch and a half clearance on each side was challenging…
but, hey what’s life without a few challenges. Done, finite, kaput… never
again. Well, as Sean Connery learned “never
say never again”. We’ll see. If Bill and Cindy Rietvelt ask us to help them
with a float or a giant Woolly Mammoth, we’ll be on that. 
In the end I
can say, it was fun. We were a little surprised that we didn’t get an award.
Or, more accurately that the award for ‘most creative specialty unit’ went to a
local business that had a pick-up truck pulling a flatbed trailer with a couple
of potted trees from his landscaping business in the trailer. While our float
had literally hundreds of man and woman hours into it did not receive any
recognition. Oh well that’s how it goes sometimes.
And, while I was moving the float on Monday, Martha was
delivering three of her bird themed paintings to Leavenworth for the Bird
Fest’s Nature Artists of Icicle Studio. The show features a number of artists and is
described as “Powerful and gentle, inspiring and restive, educational and fun.”
The show is being held at the studio of professional photographer Reed Carlson
who is also a member of the Two Rivers Gallery a co-op gallery that Martha and
I belong to. Martha and I are very excited to have her work in this show and we
are really looking forward to the opening reception coming up on May 17th
from 5 to 7pm. Gosh, I hope I can make it from my last appointment to get there
before it’s over.
As, the
week has progressed Martha has been busy teaching art at the local emergency
housing program and preparing for her ‘I am the Earth’ art class at the Lewis
and Clark elementary School in Wenatchee. Meanwhile, I published a short video
of our parade experience, took photos of a baby eagle in its nest high atop a
telephone pole from a nearby hillside and published one of said eaglet pics on
EPhotzine online magazine. Getting up the hillside through the brush was a fun
way to spend part of a lunch hour after having moved that crazy parade float.
And,
for those interested, I have made a bit more progress on that portrait of my granddaughter.
I think it’s starting to come to life. Wish me luck on that.
Well,
enough for now. Enjoy spring and have a very artful day.
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Parade Float, Birds, Flowers, and New York City
Well, it’s
been and continues to be another fun and interesting week for Martha and I and
our various art projects.
Our ongoing exploits
in preparation for the Paradise of Birds and Flowers float which is for the
Embracing Cultures group has been really exciting and fun. We got a jump on getting the actual float
ready with the help of some really good guys who work for the City of Wenatchee
in getting the float’s engine started and getting the monster of a vehicle out
of its lair (a 35ft long trailer). While there we couldn’t help but notice the
baby eagle in a nest high atop a pole near the city yard where the float and
trailer are stored. How apropos was that, as the crowning glory of the float
will be the Steel Eagle I have been working on for the last several months.
With that in
mind, I couldn’t help but get aboard the float right where the eagle will stand
and pose as best I could as the eagle will once installed. Martha did the
honors of taking a photo of said pose with, I might add, the baby eagle atop
pole in the background.
The
following day, Saturday, we were back at the float so I could make necessary
repairs so that the same starting problems we had the day before would not
recur. Then early Sunday morning, and I mean early, we were up and atom to
drive the beast from the city yard across town to the driveway of a volunteer family
that lives right across the street from the staging area of the parade. 
So, at first
daylight, as the thing has no headlights, with Martha following in my truck with
hazard lights flashing, we drove ever so slowly over bumpy roads that caused the
thing to bottom out at even the slightest dips or bumps till we finally arrived
at our destination before the first cock crowed. OK, I don’t know if any cocks
had crowed yet, as I couldn’t have heard them if they did in that noisy
contraption, but it sounded good and we did have it delivered before 6am.
Later that
day, I had two commitments. One was to photograph a fundraiser at a local
historical landmark. That being the Beecher Mansion which sits high atop a hill
overlooking orchards and the Wenatchee River, where several members of the
co-op gallery we belong to – the Two Rivers Gallery – were to paint live in the
fresh air while members of the Woods Conservatory of Music played at various
positions around the grounds. And, I got to the Mansion took a bunch of pictures
as they were just getting started and headed back to town for the second
commitment of the day.
That other
commitment being to to get back to the float with Martha and several volunteers
to install armatures for the birds to stand on and attach the multitude of
handmade flowers that Martha and other members of the group had created for the
sides of the float. More work on the float has been done as the week went on,
but Sunday was a watershed day for group cohesion, participation and
accomplishment… yeah to the volunteers.
But, that
was not the end of things for us… or as that classic T.V. add says, “but wait,
there’s more.” Other ventures included Martha’s show at the NuArt Gallery in
East Wenatchee which we made a point of getting back to so I could take some
pictures of Martha and the gallery owner Gary Doane. That show will continue
through the month of May. Other projects, interests, accomplishments and
milestones continued as well.
We were so pleased
for instance; that a buyer with connections to the art world in both N.Y. and
L.A. asked for samples of Martha’s work and is now buying two of her paintings…
yeah! Also, someone more local whom we met at the recent after hours mixer at
the museum has ordered a giclee’ print of one of Martha’s popular pieces. This, all on the same week, as we got a
submission in for Martha to be in a Latino artist exhibit at the Columbia City
Gallery coming up in August and she was asked to participate in another local
show in Leavenworth.
That show being the Bird Fest’s Professional Art Show at The
Nature Artists of Icicle Studio. So, just last night we were sending images to
them online and they choose a few of her bird themed painting for the show. Busy, busy busy... but, that’s how we like
it.
Also, during
the week Martha continued to guest teach her ‘I am the Earth’ art class at the Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Wenatchee which she is doing through the Wenatchee Art Consortium. She really loves working with the kids
and seeing the joy of creativity sprouting in their young minds. And, we both
continued painting here at home.
At my end, I
have been painstakingly working on a portrait of one of my granddaughters from
a photo I took of her last year. This project is one that is near and dear to
my heart to be sure. So, I am really doing my level best to capture that joyful
impish quality that drew me to this particular photo to paint a portrait from
in the first place. It’s a challenge and real point of artistic growth for me
in taking this particular project on.
And, at
Martha’s end she is reworking an old painting that had previously featured an
Asian looking scene with Bamboo and some butterflies. I used to have it in one
of my offices years ago and it has just taken up space in our storage room for
the last few years… and so a new life it will have as… well, that will be
revealed later.
As I write,
I am planning the day which will entail the installation of the tropical birds
on the float and hopefully the giant Steel Eagle as well. This all has to be
accomplished around my work schedule that has me working into the evening. Oh, and lest I not forget, tonight is the First Friday Art Walk in Wenatchee. I hope we make it to thatThen
tomorrow at 6am we drive the float to the staging area of the Apple Blossom
Grand parade.
Wish us
luck.
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
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