Over the past 3 or so months I have been working on a variety of projects. The previous post I did of the coconut also took place during this time.  Pictured here are some of the other projects I have done. 

This First picture is actually from a project from work. It is a door pull for a Brewery with the companies logo. One of the first steps is making a "master" or original out of wood, which is the center object. Then, a mold is made of the master, and the mold is cast onto a pattern board to latter be cast in bronze via a sand casting method. 

 
I threw a lot of pots in our garage, and these are two that I decided to try carving. I actually used a dremel tool to carve them after they were bone dry. I'm not sure that I would recommend doing that... It produces a ton of dust, and I will probably have lung cancer from it.

These next two photos are of a bust I made out of fired clay...

Lastly, this figure was made out of an oil based clay. He is roughly a foot long, and has been a lot of fun to work on.

ART QUOTE:
" I would say that one approaches one's own work with yet happier spirit, with calmer passion, when one sees that other possibilities (which are endless) are correctly (or more or less correctly) exploited in art. As regards me personally, I love every form which necessarily derives from the spirit, which is created from the spirit." -Kandinsky

I'm done with my college level art classes. All of the credits I needed for my degree are finished (except for that one last half credit I'm working on now). So now that I don't have any art assignments to work on for school, I've found a greater need to figure out my own way in sculpture. It would be really easy to just come home after work and spend the rest of my night hanging out and watching movies. But I am finding that the more time I spend developing my skills something remarkable happens...I get a little better. Not always. There are plenty of times when I've been out in my little studio for a few hours and look at what I've created, and think "what was I thinking?! I'm not an artist, I'm a hack..Maybe I should just be a hot dog vendor instead."

At times when I've gotten discouraged like this, I might step back for a moment, take a breath and count to ten. But I have got to get back to the work I am doing and just push through the mediocrity. And then things start working out a little better soon after. Perseverance really is a great teacher.

So...Kandinsky talked about creating art from the spirit. The past few weeks, as I've been trying to figure out where to go with my sculpting I decided to do what feels free and natural for me... I started carving a coconut. Kind of a unique medium I know, but for some reason It's a lot of fun for me to do. I first started carving coconuts with a dremel tool in high school and have continued on with it on and off since then. This one here is my most recent creation. It's abstract and its nonrepresentational, but the designs really did seem to flow from my "spirit" through my hand and onto my little hard round canvas. ENJOY!  

I've also been spending a lot of time on a throwing wheel making pots. I decided to dry some completely and carve on them too.

ART QUOTE:
"When Columbus returned from the New World and proclaimed the earth was round, almost everyone else went right on believing the earth was flat...Then they died- and the next generation grew up believing the world was round. That's how people change their minds."

- From the book "Art and Fear"by David Bayles and Ted Orland

I really like this quote for the challenge it brings to be willing to accept truth. It is difficult to change ones own mind, especially when it has been conditioned for a lifetime to react the same old way. It's difficult but possible. That is why seeking knowledge and expanding our views should be a life long pursuit, because it can take a long time to see things more correctly.

Tons of new and crazy stuff has happened in our families life recently. January 31st I was hired on as a "pattern maker" for a bronze foundry here in Idaho. A week and a half later we had our FOURTH little boy, and during all of that I was a full time art student. My semester ended in April and we decided to move to Idaho Falls to be closer to work (before that I was driving 2 hours a day). Things have changed a lot, but I can see some really awesome stuff taking place in our lives. Though I'm not in any art classes right now I've set up my own studio in our new apartments garage and have been working on being consistent on doing art each day. Here are some pictures of a figure sculpture I've worked on the last few months:

ART QUOTE:
"When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive searching, daring, self expressive creature."  -Robert Henri

My mind is on art like never before. It has really become an integral part of my life and it has been great to see the changes I have made in my skill as an artist and as a sculptor in particular. I've also been reading a lot of quotes from artists. I read this one from Robert Henri the other day, and really can identify with it. I read a quote from someone else who talked about this same subject, and pointed out that the word"art" used to be synonymous with the word "craft". In that sense, doctors carpenters and a host of other skilled workers could be considered artists of their trade. I'm reminded of my cousin Brandon who runs his own remodeling business. I worked with him far a few weeks a couple of years ago and could not help but look at his work and consider it art. He has skill and talent in what he does. He is inventive and daring and I consider him and many of those other true craftsman to be artists.

Recently my focus in sculpture has been working on human figures. It has stretched me, and has been pretty difficult to work against my own ignorance, but as I've grown it has been immensely gratifying. The following photos are of a sculpture I've been working on for the past few weeks, and which is almost completed. It is sculpted out of water based amador clay and is about 18 inches tall. My inspiration for this comes from those hard workers who have lived through the ages toiling away with their bare hands to get things done. It is simply titled "The Wood Cutter."