Forest Nymph Masks and Dancing Lights

Well, it’s been a busy and fun few days of art activities.

On Sunday I finished wiring up a new photo piece of mine of the Orange Flowere and took it and  Martha’s and my art over to Two Rivers Gallery for the September show. It’s hard to believe that First Friday is upon us.  I still need to get some prints and cards over there as well.

Over the last few days, I put the finishing touches on the two masks that Martha made. I took them over to Terry Johnson’s Studio in Wenatchee where I took some new photos of a sign he made for an Antique shop. It was pretty cool. While there he let me use his under glazes to put the color to the faces and the foresty, flowery and butterfly like features of the two masks. Then, he let me have some clear glaze to put on them at home and gave me instructions on how to use them and fire them.

Having done so and having let them cool over night, I took them out of the kiln yesterday. They looked pretty good… no explosions or breaks… yeah!!! I took some pics and emailed them off to Martha who is still playing with the grand daughters in Texas. She liked them… Yahoo!!

Today, I sent a PDF with the art book I have been working on for Martha to my son in California who knows all about E-Publishing. We’ll see what he says. Hope he has time to look at it as he is in the middle of wedding planning… nah… I’m sure his fiancé and sister are handling all of that… he should have plenty-o-time.

On another note, I also sent some more pics off to the fellow in Liberty who bought 30 post cards I made from photos I took around his place at the art sale and Concert in the Woods the week before. He was planning to sell them over this past weekend at the Miners Rally up there.

I hope he did well with that and the selling of his guitar bird houses. These are pretty cool in themselves and yet another thing he sells to the tourists up there.

This morning I downloaded the photos I took yesterday up in Cashmere. I had no bike to ride in the morning as it is in the shop. So; to make good use of time, I headed up to Cashmere on the motorcycle… with camera, and took a bunch of photos of the art and surroundings around the museum there and of some other public art in the town and of horses up in the canyon. I’m hoping to find some buyers for post cards made from some of these like I did with the photos from the town of Liberty. We shall see.

 If nothing else, it was a fun adventure and I did take some good pics that could be made into nice framed prints if not post cards. Perhaps some of these could be placed at the gallery in Cashmere.  One thing I didn’t get that I really need to go back there for would be a better shot of the old General Store exhibit at the museum.

The angel I took the photos I have would have been perfect… except for the fact that just off to the left is some yellow do not cross tape and some hazard saw horses where they are doing some work. I’ll have to go back and get shots from a very different angle or wait till the work is done and retake the shots I have.

AI did another photo experiment I did a few nights ago. This involved some time laps photography that resulted in some very interesting nightlight cityscapes and some very colorful dancing lights a night. I’ll just have to put a pic or two here and let them speak for themselves.

My latest idea for the kiln involves the old glass light covers that used to be in the recessed lighting fixtures in our den. Those are the same fixtures that I got the chrome frames from for the recycled art piece which is presently at the O’Grady’s Pantry at the Sleeping Lady Lodge near Leavenworth. My idea is to set them one at a time over a stainless steal bowl heat it up and let them bend somewhat into the bowl, but not too much. I’ll try using some colored glass bits in them to create a nice colored pattern and some texture. We’ll see how it comes out. Wish me luck with that and the other things to come ahead.

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Liberty Art Sale, Party and Concert in the Woods and Fans in Europe

Well everyone I am happy to report that the trip to Liberty over the weekend was a great success. I took several of Martha’s small to medium sized oils and some prints, post cards and photos of my own. Several people bought cards and prints of her work and mine about evenly.

The place was gorgeous where the art sale and party was held.

I helped the host put up the new sign by Terry Johnson for the band Rusted Soul. The band was a lot of fun to watch, listen to and for me to video as well. So far, I have posted four videos of them playing on stage. It was great that they gave me complete access to video them up close and personal. So; I got some really good shots of their guitar work, keyboard action and hands beating on drums and percussion furiously. I did a few editing things in the final published movies which can be seen on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJAdzEg2fYI&feature=relmfu. The videos have been getting viewed pretty well already. I even had a bit of a dialogue this morning online with someone in Holland who is watching the videos… cool!

This person in Holland is a fan of Tyler Farrar, the world class bike sprinter who won a stage of the Tour de France on the Fourth of July (the first American to do so), she saw and liked the photo I posted of

me standing in front of Tyler’s image on the new Fifth Street mural in Wenatchee. It’s seems that posing in front of the mural could become a thing for Tyler’s fans from around the world. She and her husband may now make a special side trip to Wenatchee on their next scheduled trip to the U.S., just to pose in front the mural…. What have I started???? She, also, liked my video of the bicycle First Friday Art Tour and really like my funny comments.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJAdzEg2fYI&feature=relmfu

At the party, I also, took some nice stills of the grounds and

 the great bar the owner had built himself. There was a semi-risqué sign behind the bar (not shown here) painted by none other than again, Mr. Terry Johnson. He liked the shot when I showed a print of it to him and he thinks he’d like to make T-shirts from it. Some of the other shots could make good post cards for the owner.  Another young artist accompanied me to the sale/party and sold one of her pieces as well. She may like to join the gallery and start showing her stuff a bit more.

Last night there was an incredible light show in the sky… one of Wenatchee’s double sunsets.

Being as far north as we are, at times there is what appears to be a double sunset… one to the west as expected and one to the east as sunlight passes overhead and hits the clouds further to the east of us. Last night was one of those nights and I was fortunate enough to get a few decent photos of the effect. I may print up one or more of these for framing.

Meanwhile, the two new masks of Martha’s that I fired for her came out just fine.

I am thinking of glazing them for her, perhaps over at Terry Johnson’s studio and re -firing them for her before she comes back from Texas.  I’ll check with her on that this morning.

Well, enough for now… it’s time to get ready for an early morning bike ride before it gets too hot.

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Master Mind, Southwest Women, and Wood Nymph Masks for Liberty

Well, it’s been a busy and full week for the art activities of Rod and Martha this week.  Saturday’s art opening for the Charles Collins exhibit at the Cashmere Arts and Activities Center was the best attended event yet there. The place was full, the art was great and we had live music performed by

 Kirk Lewellen. His friend Kurt Davis who builds guitars was there for technical support. It  was such an eclectic mix of attendees at the reception, that it made it all the more fun.

Al Lunderg, the mayor of the Town of Soap Lake, WA and his wife Rose were there and they told Martha and I the whole long and humorous story of Soap Lake’s effort to build the World’s Largest lava Lamp. I remember reading about that from time to time and it is an interesting and funny story.  They, of course told us too about their involvement with the Art Guild of Soap Lake, and their monthly speaker meetings on the 3^rd Wednesday of the month. Oh, that was the day before yesterday… oops missed it. Maybe, I’ll get out their next month. Anyway Al and Rose were real nice folks and I sure wouldn’t mind meeting up with them again.

Also, in attendance were several board members of the other gallery Martha and I are involved in, that being the Two Rivers Gallery in Wenatchee. I think they were a bit surprised at the turn out and the quality of the art that we have at the Cashmere gallery. 

 Charles Collins the featured artist flew out from Taos, New Mexico for the show. He spent the weekend with friends from the coast who were a real nice couple as well.  I’d say that everyone there was pretty amazed at the
Mind Master bronze sculpture of Charles Collins.

The way he can create three separate bronzes that are completely whole unto themselves, then put them together like a puzzle and they form a whole other piece that unifies the concepts of the three, for instance, sculptures of two standing apostles and Mary put together to form a bust of Jesus. The same idea is in the work that he brought with him in which a bust of Lincoln separates into a union soldier and confederate soldier and a woman holding a symbol of peace. And of course his southwest Native American Women with children on canvas and his oils of southwest pottery were all very enticing pieces.

So, having succeeded in putting on a good show in Cashmere, there was no rest for the weary, as we had planned a one day home art sale at our house.  Imagine a yard sale, that is in the house and sells art rather than stuff from the garage and has hors d’ oeuvres.  It all went well too, and everyone who came enjoyed the art. Charles Collins and his friends from the coast came before heading back to the coast.

We did well at the sale and it was a lot of fun to do.

Monday, I began making a movie of the festivities on Saturday night. This became a little frustrating, as I was doing a fare amount of editing when… glitch … and yikes, lost what I had and hadn’t been saving along the way. This would necessitate starting over.

Right about then, it was time for me to get ready to go to do a bike ride with Dr. Ed Farrar, yes the father of Tyler Farrar, the world class bike sprinter and the only American to win a stage of the Tour de France on the Fourth of July, and the tongue in cheek named “B” Team of riders that accompany him riding on the Apple Capital Loop Trail every day.

 The idea was to ride with them taking photos all along the way for Jan Cook Mack, the well known plein-air artist and muralist to use to do a new mural almost across the street from the existing mural which at one end features the likeness of Tyler Farrar crossing the finish line on his bike.

For those of you who may not know, Ed rides an incumbent hand powered three wheeler, and has since a life changing accident a few years ago. He’s a very modest and humble guy, so I won’t say too much here other than that Jan and I really want to do right by him and create a piece of art that is respectful of his wishes and tells the story of the grace and dignity that he and others in similar circumstances carry on with vitality and the joy of living.

I am certain it will turn out to be a wonderful mural and a fine edition to artistic landscape of Wenatchee.

Meanwhile, Martha was preparing to leave for Texas to visit the grand kids there. So; she put the finishing touches on

 two clay masks and left them for me to fire while she is gone.  These are really neat looking pieces that will hang from a wall like a painting when done. They are a pair one male one female and each is in the vein of a wood nymph, fairy or spirit of the forest with leaves and such for hair. These can present some issues when firing as the intricate little bits can break off even before firing just from the slightest movement and can explode in the kiln if fired to soon or taken up to temperature too fast. I can say, that at the point of writing this, they are cooling off in the kiln and look great… yeah!!!

And, further update on the mural project I road with the “B Team twice this week and sent many pics on over to Jan Mack to work with.

Meanwhile, too many activities are coming up this weekend. Saturday is a conflict between the Taste of the Harvest in Wenatchee, at which I could show some of Martha’s work and perhaps some of mine as well, as we did last year, or attend a party and take art work as well to the tiny town of Liberty up in the mountains south west of here. The new and old masks and some of Martha’s paintings

on the theme of “The Earth Is Me” and the “Forest Spirit” and some other exotic pieces of hers should do real well there I think.

So, the plan is to head up there and to take a few

pots of Terry Johnson’s as well.  The Harvest festival would be fun, but, I just can’t be in two places at once.  That very same day and the next is an art festival up in the town of Chelan. I’ll probably head on up there on Sunday and am interested to see the art of one of our now former board members from the Gallery in Wenatchee. Wendy, only just resigned her position as she needs to spend more time on her own pursuits. Best of luck to Wendy, and I for sure want to see your art in Chelan…

Also, this week, I did get back to the video from the event last Saturday night. However, I decided to first make one short video focusing on the music. We really appreciate Kirk coming out to play for us at the gallery and I wanted to do right by him and get a video of him playing out on Youtube. It can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_byqJKjFc&feature=channel_video_title.

I’m planning to get back to the photos from the opening and do a more art focused vs. music focused movie emphasizing the work of  Charles Collins and the other artists there and the overall event. To that soon.

And, now… to the kiln and checking out the new masks and preparing for the event tomorrow in the town of Liberty.   

Wish me luck.

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The Martha Flores Studio Art Yard Sale on Sunday

Well, I can truly say that all things art are moving forward in a positive direction for Martha and I. Our weekend activities – my photographing and videotaping the

First Friday Bicycle Art Tour and publishing a  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJAdzEg2fYI&feature=channel_video_title   Youtube movie of it went well. In fact the Wenatchee World is going to have an article this week about the movie I made and will include the link to the movie in the article.

Martha’s big focus of the weekend was the Day of El Salvador event at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. It went without a hitch… well other than the issues with the sound system and my camera, and there were lots of people with items from not only El Salvador, but several other Latin American Countries.

There was live entertainment as well . A young fellow who was only 15years old sang the National Anthem, which I got on video and will put on Youtube at some point, and he also played guitar and sang the Train song “Mary Me”.

 There was a Folkloric Dancer from Mexico and the Salvadorian food was great.

Martha recited three of her poems “Piel de Barro”, “Wenatchee” and “Help Me”. They were crying all the way back in the cheap seats... Ok, they’re all cheap seats; but you know what I mean.

Since then I have been blogging and finishing up the application submission materials for our Recycle Art Project for this Year’s Icicle Prize in Leavenworth. I got’r done and mailed it all off to Icicle Arts in Leavenworth this morning. And, I’m proud to say I rode my bike to and from the post office in keeping with the theme of ‘saving the earth’… OK - I just needed to kill two birds with one stone i.e. get my exercise and mail the application. But, I did the ride and it was worth it.

After that it off to Terry Signs, he was working on some new art work as usual, to pick up the sandwich board he lettered for us… Martha is doing her own graphics as it is for her Studio… The Martha Flores Studio. In fact, while I am writing this blog she is busy behind me

painting away on the new sign.

This is just in time as we are having our Three Artist Art Yard Sale this Sunday. This is something we have been planning since January and finally there was a window of opportunity to do it between all the other commitments we get ourselves into for everybody else but ourselves.

So; this Sunday August the 14^th from 8am to 3pm at our home at 620 Skiview Dr. in East Wenatchee, we will be selling original

oils, water colors, prints, photos, fired ceramics and if we are luck maybe we’ll sell a bronze or two.  We really need to sell off some of this stuff so we will have room to create some more great art. We are even going to be selling some of the mass accumulation of framing materials that I acquired in California on my last drive down there.

While picking up the sign at Terry’s, we also picked up several of

 Terry’s creative pots for the Sale on Sunday, and as we were heading over to the Cashmere Arts and Activities Center, we took a few new glass pieces for Terry for the CAAC gallery.

Once at the Gallery at Cashmere we delivered Terry’s 

glass items and picked up Martha’s art from the last show and left the names and prices for the new works in this month’s show. And, of course while I was there I got some photos of the

 Charles Collins installation and of our art as it is exhibited for the show.  

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Secrets Going Viral, Naked Raku, Extreme Talent and the Bicycle First Friday Art Tour

Well, Martha has been working away like crazy on her clay projects. She has completed two new masks that are in the vein of her

‘The Earth Is Me’ theme and a full body figure at rest. They really look good. Now we just need to give them plenty of time, so I can fire them in the kiln without having them explode. In the last week or so, I fired a few pieces from the kids at the emergency housing program a little too soon and one that was very thick exploded and damage a couple of others in the kiln. Martha was able to reconstruct them for the povrecitos.

Meanwhile, all is going ahead full for Martha’s project with the ‘Day of El Salvador’ project which will be Saturday at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. She tried to get Selena Rose to perform for the show, but she has another engagement at the Performing Arts Center in town. And, Speaking of Selena Rose, the video I made of her singing ‘secrets’  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dfUSLu_M68&feature=channel_video_title   and which I published on Youtube has taken on a second life. It seems that only just now it has been discovered by an audience of folks I didn’t email the link to myself.

On a similar vein, I wrote a blog that went into the Wenatchee World online http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/weblogs/arts-in-the-valley-and-beyond/2011/aug/01/great-talents-abound-and-great-shows-coming-up/ that they are now going to publish in the hard copy of the paper. When I found out about that, I sent links to the blog to various pertinent sites online and low and behold the readership of that blog exploded on Tuesday.

Aside, from writing blogs and publishing movies, I have been busy with my own art projects.

My sand blasted fish came out pretty well and looks good backlit in the window of our studio. The Naked Raku pot came out pretty interestingly as well. I think I’ll do some more experimentation with the whole raku and naked raku thing. Martha expressed some interest in having me fire some of her pieces with that effect. I think she’s onto something there.

On another note, Bill Rietveldt from the museum emailed me requesting some pics of the

 giant puppets for the First Friday event they have going on at the Museum tomorrow night and then yesterday asked about some video as well. I need to get back to him on that.  And, again with the video thing, my video of the Bicycle Art tour of Wenatchee video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSSn-RkIpjM&feature=channel_video_title is also become a local favorite, and has contributed to the movement to do a Bicycle First Friday Art Tour of the various venues involved with the First Friday Art Walk here in Wenatchee.

Yesterday, I received an email from the local bike club asking me to ride with them tomorrow night to do the art ride. I really want to do that and to make a new video from that ride. Unfortunately, I have been having a persistent problem with the rear wheel of my bike and all efforts to fix the problem on my own have failed, so today I took the offending wheel and tire into Second Wind bike shop to let them work on it. If, I’m lucky maybe I’ll be able to do that ride tomorrow… let’s hope.

Also, yesterday, I began working up the submission form for my recycled materials art project for this year’s Icicle Prize up in Leavenworth.

Now, I need to write up a bio and description for that. Ahhh… so much to do and so little time to do it, as today, I have to go to the Cashmere Arts and Activities Center in Cashmere, to help install the Charles Collins 2d work that just arrived yesterday. I wish we could do it earlier as it is going to go on into the evening but… there you have it.

 Yesterday, I also, received confirmation that we will have a PSA announcement on three local radio stations KOZI, KZAL, and KOHO, for the Charles Collins opening and reception

which will be on Saturday July 13^th in Cashmere.  I’ve also been working on a press release for the Cashmere Record for the show and another publically thanking the Cashmere Community Foundation for the new carpet they purchased for the gallery in Cashmere. We’re really happy about that new carpet.

Well, I think that’s probably enough for now, even though there is plenty more to write about.

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