Frost on My Pumpkins

A blustery day in Anchorage knocked out power and prompted an air quality advisory. Anchorage saw high winds that whipped up so much dust and debris that the view of the Chugach Range was obscured. The real weather change was going from Anchorage which was in the 40’s (and no 

real deep freeze at our house near downtown) to Girdwood where this morning it was a cool 12 degrees! The good news is it’s a blue bird day and the Resort has the snow cannons blazing making the mountain's first layer of snow. A good base of man-made snow enables the mountain to, hopefully with Mother Natures' cooperation, have quality top to bottom skiing. The opening of the 2009/10 Season for Alyeska Ski Resort is slated for November 25th.

I finished a commission for a client that wanted a wall sculpture of Mt. Susitna, also known as Sleeping Lady. The evening news used this image of Mt. Susitna obscured by the high winds and dust last night. I’ve also included a clear shot of how the beautiful she normally appears. Mount Susitna is often called The Sleeping Lady for its resemblance to a sleeping woman from Anchorage and the parts of the Valley. The name is sometimes said to derive from a legend, in which a woman named Susitna belonging to a race of giants vows to sleep until world peace is achieved, but no actual legend has been confirmed. The finished metal sculpture is over 60"

wide and about 23” tall (unfortunately, the photo is not very good and was taken at an angle in my entry way because I didn't have a large blank wall available!). The client loved the piece but would have preferred that it had a bit more height to fit their space but the mountain is so horizontal I didn’t want to add any more trees or mountain to plump up the height than I already did or it 

would take away from the mountains recognizable shape.

Quite appropriate for Halloween, I received a letter in the mail yesterday that started with “Dear Citizen Scientist, Thank you so much for your participation in the Alaska Bat Monitoring Program from 2002-2009!” The 

letter was an update and summary report information and the distribution of the Little Brown Bat in Alaska. Volunteer, Citizen Scientists provided valuable little known informational data on the creature in Alaska. For years in late summer we have see the quick flutters at dusk near the eve of our roof. In the mornings we would wake to finding bat guano on our deck in Girdwood. Several years ago, we thought for sure a mouse had taken up residence in a wood stove, but we found and rescued a young bat that had fallen down the flue! We’ve tracked and reported the area and times when our little bat friends have visited. This year their time was brief, only a couple weeks in late August. I love Bats and have been inspired to use their imagery in my sculpture work. Here is a good link on the Bat Monitoring Project. There are some good Bat pictures just in time to show the kiddies before they go out trick-or-treating tonight...  -eeeeeeekkk!

A Very Fraunk-en-steen Hall-o-ween

We got a jump on Halloween and had an all Fraunk-en-steen weekend with going to the theater and attending Gus’ school Halloween carnival (or being P.C., "Harvest Festival" as it is now called). Friday night we saw the production of "Frankenstein" by the Alaska Theatre of Youth at the Performing Arts Center’s Syndey Laurence Theater. It felt good to change out of our jeans and carhartt’s and seek a little live theater to feed our soul, and good on Derek for seeing the advertisement in the paper and wanting us all to go. Our near front row seating provided added excitement when the “creature” came to life! After the production we had a chance to meet the cast and Derek realized that the lead, Victor Frankenstein was played expertly by one of his past students! Gus is completely enamored with all things Frankenstein, and you'll never guess what he was for the Carnival? His costume was totally thrift store finds including a perfect fitting pair of Doc Martin boots(!) and was thrilled when he won the judges choice award in the costume contest. I went as a Spenard Artist looking for that big phat commission. The Rasta-dreadlock hat was a cast off of Will’s from Mexico (I didn’t dare go near any open flames!) and the hot pink button I made for the top said “Will Do Art For Work.” Daddy-O was a Viking and our costumes helped blend in when we volunteered to help with various booths at the Carnival. This weekend we're going to Alyeska Resort's party (a photo of the Hotel they are using on a poster for the event is at the top -spooky cool huh?!), and just when I was finally getting last weekend's green face paint out of Gus' ears!

Monday night while having dinner we got a call from our daughter in Fairbanks. She was upset and said that one of her good friends had just hit a moose North of Wasilla (about an hour away) and could we go and pick her up?

Kristen's friend thankfully was not injured and her Jeep Grand Cherokee not totaled. Kristen’s friend was returning to the University (about 6 hours North of Anchorage) after gathering some gear from a research vessel and recent trip in Seward (about 2 hours South from Anchorage). She was able to slow down enough before the impact that the large cow

moose rolled up onto the windshield and “only” caved the window in but the shattered glass stayed mainly intact. She said she was fearful that the moose was coming through the window! After the impact, the moose jumped up, limping but ran off into the woods. Good Samaritans waited with her on the dark and wet highway and called the troopers for her car to be towed to Wasilla. The windshield would need to be replaced the next day. We readied the guest room, made some mint tea and reheated the lasagna 

dinner for her. She was shaken up but one tough cookie. Taking her to her repaired car up in Wasilla yesterday I was able to visit an elementary school that has a new 1% For Art RFP out. I missed the formal project tour but was glad to have another reason to drive up to Wasilla and be able to see the new Fred and Sara Machentanz school. There are 3 possible sites for artwork but I’m interested in submitting a design for proposed art for the Multi-Purpose Room walls. Wow, was I impressed! I would have never imagined from the architects drawings that the school was so cool. I was inspired, happy Kristen’s friend was OK and drove home (carefully) as the season's first big fatty flakes of snow started falling. 

The 4th Stage of Matter

Friday I had material, time and motivation but lacked the essential 4^th component of a successful art day, INSPIRATION! Arrrggh, what a bummer because I’ve been on such a good art roll lately and I’ve been dying to make a Magpie outdoor steel sculpture. I goofed myself up because while the inspiration was hot on Thursday, I filled the majority of the day with necessary housekeeping details instead of welding my sculpture! I needed to swing by Alaska Steel and pick up some new round stock,  

sanding discs at the hardware store, and sheet steel from Western Sheet Metal. Then, I drove to Blaines Art store to pick up some more enamel paint and visited with the owner, Renee, met her new Black Lab "Copper" and got the latest scoop on her NEW art building (hooray for Renee!). By now it’s after lunch, so I grabbed some drive-thru Burrito King for eating in the studio while I Blog Browsed… well that shot all of my inspirational-motivational spark because by then  I was  full and a bit sleepy and I needed to pick Gus up from school. No biggie, there’s always my free Friday I happily thought to myself…

Friday dawns, everyone is at school, chores are done, plenty of materials on hand… and like I said, I’ve got three of the four going on but no BIG “I.” Haaarumph (insert cranky face here)!! Sometimes when I’m in need of a quick spark I go to Barnes & Noble Booksellers and peruse the zillions of books and arts & crafts magazine section. For some reason all of the well designed covers, visuals and titles can easily inspire me. After getting ramped up again, I was hungry so I stopped at Middleway Café for their morning special of Chorizo Benedict, mmmm. While I was enjoying my quick solo breakfast I was reading the UAA The Northern Light school newspaper and read that the “No Big Heads” self-portrait competition deadline is Monday- Yikes! I have been thinking about this piece I want to enter and was ready to finish it up. Satiated, and fired up I raced back to 

the shop and worked on not only the Magpie sculpture I’ve been wanting to do, but also finished my No Big Heads entry! Eligible entries for the No Big Heads Self-Portrait Exhibition is open to all artists. Work must be no larger than 12 inches by 12 inches in any direction. My piece is titled “Now I’m Identifiable,” based on 

some full dental casts that were made from my teeth. After having new crown and bridge work done (holy cow was that expensive!) my dentist gave me my mold -along with the great dental work. I loved this mold and though a bit more fatalistic than I usually am, one of the first thoughts I had was, well at least now I am fully identified by my dental records. The Magpie sculpture will get some final painted details this weekend and thankfully, the 4th stage of matter, Inspiration, is still with me today (insert happy face here!).

You Sexy Beast

Recently I was asked for a new “head shot” or a new publicity/media photo of myself. Preferably an image of while I was working on metal, if I could provide an image while I was welding “that would be even better -magnifique!” “Well, when I’m geared up welding I have a full face welding mask on as well as gloves, leather coat etc. and you can’t even tell who it is welding” I replied. “OK, how about when you are doing that other stuff with your metal?” Hmmm, when I plasma cut I’m wearing a respirator and eye protection… again, not quite the response they were looking for.

This week, I’m working on all of the un-sexy type of stuff that goes along with being the glamorous, bohemian, free spirit many people think us artists are. Though at

 heart I may be all of those things, I’ve also been packing up orders, creating new post cards (I print cards 4 or more up, then cut down to size on the glamourous paper cutter) for the upcoming Bad Girls Show, pricing, tagging, delivery and stashing all the finished works into the clean studio area so they don't get covered

in all that “magnifique” black steel dust from the shop area. I’m feeling ready for the Show with lot’s of new sculptures and I’ve also managed to keep up on the special commissions. But what has slipped is my opportunity to work in clay. I haven’t fired the kilns in weeks. Sadly, there is no clay work drying on the ceramic shelves, the shelves have been converted to hang all the finished metal work on. I know, clashing of the mediums

again. My goal was when the first frost comes to get the clay out… well, it’s been unseasonably warm with all the snow gone (rinsed away) from the Chugach Range(!) and surprisingly it’s been warm, in the 50’s. Perfect for sexy welding with the doors wide open. The temps are supposed to drop this week, though if the clay does come out, now I have no where to dry the work!

**After I made this post, I was just reading Heather's Blog, who was reading Whitney's Blog and about the necessary "Heavy Shoulders" of Littlealouette... must be the Season!

Will Make Art For Kudos

Yes, it’s all about the process, but I’ll take a side order of Kudos anytime. I’ve read Blogs where artists who sell their work on ETSY have been selected as a Featured Seller or their work was highlighted on the opening ETSY page. What a wonderful feeling to get your work recognized, selected out of hundreds of others. Those little affirmations can be uplifting and be just the thing that keeps us working artists creating and moving forward. I’m not an ETSY artist but I am an Artful Home & Guild Artist and one of my new Leaf sculptures was selected to appear on their opening Blog page, The Artful Life! “Autumn Pond Leaves II” is in the upper right hand corner under the heading “Great New Piece!” At first when I linked to the Artful Home Blog page I thought maybe it was just my browser that popped my work in the upper right hand corner –weird thinking, I know.  But I sincerely wondered if they had really picked one of MY sculptures for the page! It caught me by surprise

that my work would get selected from the hundreds of very talented artists, and I admit being selected MADE MY WEEK –Yippee! That confirmation, affirmation,positive reinforcement, along with those grateful customers, appreciative Galleries, or being selected into a juried show or better yet, selling a big fat piece, I admit can go a long way for me to continue working as a full time artist.  Kudos can offset those times of waiting for a check in the mail, dry spells of inspiration, fussy critical customers, lagging Gallery sales, late night or early morning show set-ups, pricing, tagging, accounting, packaging and shipping, long days in the Studio or just plain lack of artistic confidence. Sales are the ultimate sustainer but recognition also works for me. The timing of the Artful Home recognition was good because I have a full weekend of production scheduled and needed a little morale boost!I’m going to be doing repetitive task production of hand beading and tagging my Good Fortune Pea Pods and Happy Halibut Ornaments for the upcoming Bad Girls Show.  I don’t do very well with repetitive tasks but I have had multiple requests for the Pea Pods and Halibut (Orna‘Butts) to be at Bad Girls so I’m getting after it. 

I love both items when their finished, it’s just making so many multiples of anything is hard for me. I’ve created a cool story tag that goes with the Pea Pods and bought some lovely sheer ribbon to use as ties. I’m looking forward to having a box filled with the ornaments because I’ll feel rich with all of the inventory being ready for the Show. I like it when my coffers are full! The good news is my hands are properly callused to do all the hand work as the last of the huge Birch trees dropped their leaves I finally raked the entire Anchorage yard yesterday. Daddy-O was impressed when he got home, gave me a squeeze and poured me my favorite cold beverage, again just enough recognition to sustain me.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I’m feeling stingy with some of my pieces. This I know is not conducive to making a living at selling my art. This is a problem I sometimes have with some of my works of art. Feeling overly protective has  happened before with the giant steel rooster, “Big Red” it’s happening with some of the “Gilper Fish” and the Grasshopper that Shara wants for the new Octopus Ink Gallery.  I’m also in love with the new Wheat commission… I’m not sure what triggers this reaction, but I want to keep certain pieces, handle them, weather them longer than necessary in the garden, or hang them in the Studio, feel them a bit longer before they go to their new homes. This is especially difficult when I’ve fallen in love with a piece that needs to go right away to the Gallery –my knee jerk reaction is to price the work at a million, gazillion dollars, but again, not very conducive to selling!

The good news is that once I am able to let a piece go, it’s because I’ve created another that I’ve fallen in love with. I suppose the other positive is that I’m happily married and this issue is strictly containted to my art...

In between suffering complete fits of inspiration because of all the FALL COLOR I’ve been surrounded by, I’m working on a special commission for a “Wheat” wall sculpture that will accompany the Chapel Tabernacle Rick and I made this past Spring. For a few weeks I’d been spinning how I was going to go about creating the stalks of wheat that needed to be fabricated to a custom designed, wall mounted candle holder. I called upon my friend Rick again at Western Sh

eetmetal to fabricate the perfect candle holder and from that the wheat design took off. I love being inspired by talented people! I was at the Chapel yesterday to custom fit the stalks of wheat to the curved wall and they looked graceful. Hopefully the committee will approve the burnished gold finish for the wheat and brushed steel for the stems, which tie in with the Globe Tabernacle and lighting fixtures.

The Octopus is Out!

With grand opening’s, shows to prepare for, commissions being worked on and family fun all going on, when is a girl supposed to take care of business?! 

For family fun we are huge Wallace & Gromit fans, have all of their DVD’s and just finished watching their latest movie, “A Matter of Loaf & Death” which we gave two thumbs up. Though our favorite Wallace & Gromit movie is still “Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” perfect to see for Halloween.

The “covert Octopi” is now out in the open! Artist, Shara Dorris hired me to design and weld up some metal art for her new shop that will open this Friday at 410 G Street, in what is quickly becoming Anchorages new Arts District.

Octopus Ink Gallery will feature “recycled, reused, organic and

local art.” Shara is known for her line of unique organic, graphic T’s designed and screened by Shara herself. The large Octopus I made will be mounted on her new storefront in the now closed Tuliqi retail store. Tuliqi used to feature high-end items for all well-heeled beds and baths. I also made a half dozen custom Raven and Rebar face-outs for Shara’s shirts and a few other pieces of metal sculpture for an interior concrete wall that has the most amazing finish. Octopus Ink’s Grand Opening Reception is this Friday, October 16 from 4-9 pm. The Opening is highlighted by an evening of festivities and music with the also very talented Evan Phillips of the Whipsaw’s fame.

Trying to do my part of “taking care of business” I hired my photographer friend, Heather Thamm to shoot some of my commercial and “installed” sculptures. I have not done a good job of updating my portfolio with commissioned works as I should. This I realized when I submitted my design of "Bicycle Bloom" and applied for the 1%  For Art Mountain View Road Sculpture Project. The RFP requested each design proposal to include high quality images of up to 10 recent works... The truth is I’ve been too cheap to want to hire a professional photographer to shoot my recent works on location, recent as in at least the last two years –geeze has it been that long?!  Then I saw some photography my friend Heather shot, I was so blown away by her talent and use of light I was truly inspired

(to pry open my wallet) and asked her if she would have time to shoot a few of my sculptures. I realized I had quite a list of pieces I needed shot due to my lapse in taking care of business and due to time restraints needed to split the total number in

 half, some now, and some in the near future. I put together a shot list of the artwork, locations, contact names and budget, and fortunately, she squeezed me in. I’ll be picking up a CD this week of low-res and hi-res images! These images are a couple of thumbnails she e-mailed me. Thanks again Heather, what you are a

ble to capture through the lens is truly artful!

Oh, AND don’t worry for those of you that have given me your special requests to add to my production schedule for this year’s BAD GIRLS OF THE NORTH show! Yes, I’m working away on fun pieces for one of my favorite shows of the year. I’ll make postcards, but mark your calendar for Friday November 6, 4-9 pm, and Saturday November 7, 10-5 (yes, they will have a cash bar set up again!!) and make note of the NEW LOCATION, Bad Girls Anchorage will be at the Millennium Hotel on Spenard Road.

Our Very Own Belle

In the spirit of Fall, I created some new, approx. 30" x 30" “Pond Leaves” wall sculptures for The Artful Home for consideration in their upcoming catalogs. One of the benefits of being a Guild/Artful Home Artist is their  Artist Services support, National representation and ability to upload original works for sale to their web site. I'm still getting the hang of doing business this way, but am appreciative of all the support I've received from them. I especially like the results of the muted leaves (the sculpture with no burgundy leaves) on the rusted patina round stock. I welded some 

additional embellishments 

on the surface of the round stock, creating some twig/bark like texture and set it out in the rain to weather and patina naturally. Next, I hand rubbed some yellow, amber and orange enamel paint to the leaves to give the leaves a more muted look. I wanted the patina surface to not be lost under the paint. I really like the effect. The brighter leaves were also hand painted enamel with layering various fall colors. Because I use One Shot Professional Sign 

Painter’s Enamel paints for the finish, these pigments have proven to work indoors as well as outdoors. We have had such a mild Fall that I used the leaves in my garden as my inspiration for the color palette to work from.

The 12^th annual UAF Farthest North Forest Sports Festival is an annual fall event that celebrates the centuries-old traditions of lum

ber-jacking and provides students, staff, faculty, and the general public an opportunity to test their woods

men skills, learn about the boreal forest and the discipline of forestry, and simply enjoy a fall day as a spectator. The festival is sponsored by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Resource Management Society.  Events include the Pulp toss, Axe throw (Kristen smoked last year's competition in the Axe throw), 1-person crosscut, 2-person cross-cut, Jack & Jill crosscut, Fire building, Birling and Log rolling, –which this year was a balmy 40 degrees and no lake ice had to be broken to hold the event! After winning 3 Medals, Kristen, our oldest offspring, and ironically is doing her Graduate work in Chemical Oceanography, was named the 2009 Belle of the Woods! Now that's an Alaskan Grown, Alaska Woman!

Kristen’s Team PAXSON -Overall team winners of the 2009 Forest Sports Festival! From Left, John Hogue, Patrick Pritchett, Amy Rath, Josh Good, Kyle Schuman, Kristen Shake, Amy Tippery, Paxson the Wonder Dog, and Jaiden Rath

Lumberman Jaime & Kristen win the Gold with 14 seconds in the “Jack & Jill!”

Gilper Fish

These plasma cut and welded steel sculptures are my latest in the “Gilper Fish” series. Marieke inspired me to make more of them. She has one of my favorite “Gilper Fish Biggies” displayed on the outside of her home. When I was up at her house a couple weeks ago, I was flattered to see the big ‘ol fish being display so prominently. She calls them “Ugly Fish,” but only in the most admiring way. I think I’ve mentioned my fascination of the Coelacanth Fish and you know how much I LOVE our “Big Gulp Fossil Yunomi” by Bruce Gholson, they both remind me of my “Gilper Fish.”  Probably the best thing about the making of my Fish is the majority of the steel used to embellish the sculptures are pieces I 

cut from my huge scrap pile. Every artist that comes over WANTS my scrap pile, it’s really cool looking and is always evolving and shape shifting. For the new sculptures I wanted to make some new tags using scratchboard illustrated fish. On one side would have my usual artist info, the Gilper Fish name with the illustration and on the other side the story of the “Gilper Fish….” Of course the story on the tag will be edited for space and clarity :o)

This is a true story. When I was in second grade there was a boy named Brady who antagonized me to no end. He would taunt me, making fun of how tall and skinny I was, calling me a name over and over, every day.

At recess he would come running up to me saying (spraying) “Hey Gilper Fish! You look like a Gilper Fish!” he would laugh and point his chubby little finger in my face, spin on his small leather heeled shoes and run off. His British accent enunciated the word “Gilper Fish” until it was seared into my brain. One afternoon while waiting in line for recess, Brady was in front of me, looking more flushed than usual, and grinned at me. Out from his khaki trouser pocket he pulled a ring. A huge, antique looking, platinum, rectangle cut emerald ring (something from his

mother's jewelry box kind of ring...) with diamonds on each side. Even at eight, I knew bling when I saw it! His pudgy hand quickly presented the ring to me. He said “this is for you my Gilper Fish!” I was so shocked at the beauty of the ring and his sweet face, I took the ring to get a closer look and when I did the teacher shouted “all quiet and what are you two doing?!” panicked, I popped the ring into my mouth and before I knew it I had accidentally swallowed it! At only eight years old, I was too embarrassed to tell my parents what had happened, let alone the teacher, and not knowing the intricacies of the digestion system, to say the least the ring was never to be seen again. And that’s the story of the “Gilper Fish.”

oxXxo

This picture of my Sandhill Crane sculpture and the moose are especially for Peter in New Zealand! A good client sent us the photos after the pair of Moose and Magpies seem to enjoy the company of my large

steel sculpture. The clients have a beautiful home situated on a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet, perfect for viewing an abundance of wildlife, steel or real!