"Growing Up Amish"

Is this blog post about my carving...or my art? Nope. It's about the book I just finished reading....one that has absolutely nothing to do with art, creativity or anything of the sort. The book? Growing Up Amish, by Ira Wagler.

I considered writing only posts that pertained to the "professional" side of my life, but then I figured...what the heck...it's my blog, and I can write whatever I want. And I want to write about this...

"Growing Up Amish" ...to me...was a great deal more than an interesting glimpse into the life of a subset of people who live such a different lifestyle....although it most certainly is that. It's the story of the struggle of not fitting in.....really wanting to fit in...and finally realizing "it aint gonna happen".   For a lack of a more interesting metaphor....it's about being a "square peg in a round hole".

And so...with most everything that I like....I probably like this book because I can relate to it. But isn't that the case for everyone...that you like what you can relate to? Personally, I'm really glad that Ira Wagler put his life story out there for the world to read. I'm glad he shared his experiences, thoughts and feelings. Get the book....it's a great read.


http://www.irawagler.com/

Elk and scroll work custom carved into this gun stock. This was a fun one to work on. I love seeing the elk wandering around in the wilderness. Watching them in rut up in Rocky Mountain National Park is a true "Wild Kingdom" moment. 

These are pistol grips for a 1911. The grips were originally factory checkered. I removed the checkering, and replaced it with the bear and scroll design.

Squirrel Gun

This was so much fun to work on. I custom carved this squirrel onto a gun stock for my nice client, Dave.

Changing Direction

Well, it's official.
After 15 years of mural painting, I'm climbing down off of my ladders and scaffolding to spend my creative time in my studio. Nerve damage from working with my arm up over my head for so many years has finally forced me to head in a new direction.

Change isn't exactly my favorite thing. I usually go kicking and screaming all the way into a new season, job or place to live. But, as you know, sometimes change...even unexpected change, can turn out to be a nice, happy surprise.

I can still paint in my studio, but I've recently started to carve... and I love it! I'm carving wood, gourds and eggshells, and it's just about the most fun I've ever had in all of my creative endeavors. Learning something new has it's challenges, but it's also an enjoyable journey.

So...here's to the new paths in life....Cheers!

Slow Dry Acrylics

I've been playing around with the relatively new "slow dry acrylics" by Golden. I almost always work in acrylic, and I figured it would be nice to have more "open time", so I motored over to the art supply store and bought a few tubes of this "new" product.

Now, I haven't spent a ton of time working with these, but....my findings so far are as follows...
1. Does it stay wet as long as oils? Noooooooooo. To be fair, it does stay wet on the palette for about a day. That's nice. You don't end up wasting a lot of paint. When actually painting, though, it stays wet for possibly 8 minutes. I work with thin layers of paint....so...it would probably stay wet longer if I was using really thick applications.
2. You can "reactivate" the paint after it has dried to the touch with either water or the product that you're supposed to use with this paint....and that was a hoot.
3. It made it much easier to blend areas together. Nice.

4. Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok...here is a tip. I work in very thin layers of paint. When working in acrylic (I usually use liquitex), I usually just use water to thin my paint down and "glaze". I did the same thing with the Open Acrylics....but....when I went to varnish the painting....the paint lifted and smudged all over the place....and some areas lifted completely. AHHHH!!! Ut oh. Sooo....I "fixed" that painting and then I tried the paints again, this time thinning them with a combination of water and matt medium (about 3:1). That time, I didn't have any problem with the paint lifting on me whilst varnishing.

Sooo....these paints seem fill a nice "niche" between acrylics and oils. Use them for more open time and better blending, but don't expect them to stay wet like oils or to move around like oils.

Waldner Gardens

I just finished this mural. It was actually more difficult than I had envisioned. The clients had a painting that they loved, and they wanted me to "extend" the painting into a mural. Matching the colors exactly was a bit time consuming, but I think it worked out well. I used: Ultramarine blue, Cerulean Blue, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, a tad bit of Cad. Yellow medium, Dark Burnt Umber, Burnt Umber, and Alizarin Crimson. The base color (the color I wash in over everything at the beginning) was mostly Raw Sienna with some areas of Yellow Ochre.

I love painting gardens and flowers, so this was a great project. :-)