Notes on the Experience of Making Art, 2003

Start at the bottom...

December 28, 2003 Sunday

1. When Sculpting is a Pain in the Tail, and other questions about Art Form

Thinking this morning about the differences between painters and sculptors; how "the world" supports painters with an infinite number of how-to books and magazines and galleries and this and that and other stuff, and how there are, give or take, five books about how to be a sculptor, all published by Dover and written before 1960, and that's it. Plus one magazine that's too obtuse to read and certainly is no how-to in the sense that Water Media or Artist or anything by North Light is a how-to. (Plus the British WoodCarving magazine, which is fabulous.)

It is not lost on me that the vast majority of those how-to books sit on bookshelves unread; certainly unused, as do most of the tubes of paint sold in sets this time of year, and maybe even most tubes of paint period. It is also possible that some of the energy of 3D people is absorbed in woodworking books--the casework and furniture people, and perhaps even the turners. Clay people have some more resources than wood. Acknowledgment made.

What's this about?

Somehow 3D scares people an a way that 2D doesn't? Primitive art is full of statues; could be they just lasted better than whatever flat art they made back then. I'm not an archeologist. But I am also a painter, certainly a colorist, and it galls me no end that I am forced to carve my canvas before I can paint it.

I talked to a fellow sculptor about this two weeks ago; he advised me to stick to sculpture; there are fewer of us and way too many painters in Vietnam churning out cheap oils. More competition in the flat art world. Perhaps. Said he worked in 3D and I certainly (can) think in 3D and why force myself into a thought-form that's not natural? In the end it would be just as uncomfortable as my current day-job. (Not true all the way to "just as," but I get the point: My day-job involves working with ISTJs when I am an INFP.)

However, if we all followed this model, the Sistine Chapel would have a sky-blue roof.

So. I've been writing for 4 hours about this already this morning, trying to work it out for myself. Finally that quiet little inside voice piped up that said, "Both. You are both." Sculptor and painter.* # Some ideas come to me, admittedly not many, in the form of flat art. They need to birthed in that form, regardless of the problem that I don't know how to paint flat art. Other ideas, many more ideas, are clearly intended to be sculpture, and I need to carve those. And it's not my call about which is which, and it's not my place to ignore the ideas that arrive in a 2D vision.

You can't kill some of the ideas that come to you without polluting the source. For today, the flat art ideas gestate in their own notebook and one day they'll get painted or collaged or some how given more life.

Pragmatic thought: A friend brought his Ramrod Taskmaster (personal forklift) over to help move a mature camellia yesterday. In no time at all, he also cleaned up my woodpile. This is a $10,000 tool. A) Either I sell enough sculpture to be able to afford my own Ramrod Taskmaster (on top of the mortgage and insurance and disability and etc I'll need when I'm a full-time artist) or B) I'm going to have to find a different form of art before I'm 30 years older. There are plenty of very old artists in the world. None of them does/did his or her own heavy lifting.

*Sad but true: It took me 17 years the first time, and 13 years the second, to learn I can sing after a) my 8th grade teacher said someone in my trio was flat and I assumed she meant me and b) my choir director frowned when she looked my way too many times. It only took me 10 days to recover from being told I shouldn't be a painter. This is progress. (An aside: How do musicians gestate their ideas, and do they worry about form--vocal vs. instrumental, different instruments, solo vs. chorale?)

#Clearly, I am also a writer, but I take that so much for granted that I don't even think about it.

2. On Artists' Christmas Cards

I quit reading my Christmas cards when the second age-cohort correspondent announced her retirement. Put them in a stack and just now got up the courage to read them again. The last two were home-made cards. Guess that's my answer about whether or not to run to WalMart for a sale box. (Already making progress on an illustrated time-line version of the standard letter; need paint software to do it better before next year.) And then I look at the picture of the zoo's polar bear carving that's been sitting here for two days. Duh. There's my card! And as was suggested, it's my own carving, too. Dang. How long does it take to get the right answer?

December 27, 2003 Saturday

Bought a DVD player and watched Law & Order: Criminal Intent, first year, which was a requested Christmas gift. Could write more on L&O but that's another story.* Episode 2, Art, concerned a young artist who killed her college roommate so that artist could submit roommate's painting as her own and so get into the Art Institute. Artist then is unable to get her own showing or reputation, and is caught as a result of a forgery investigation.

The Criminal Intent series claims to be pure fiction, but stories in the original series are often derived from real-world crimes I've read about, so I assume there may be some root event that inspired this episode. Either way, the story is believable.

I am left with a wash of gratitude that my only problem is selling penguins. I would like to get on the county's Studio Tour next year. I would like to get some pieces in a few more galleries; that would help sales. I want to be self-supporting one day. But I have faith my own footwork and the universe's help will get me where I need to be, and I don't need to resort to the machinations in this story to get there.

December 26, 2003 Friday

I am knitting again. It feels like I never stopped; my hands don't miss a stitch. How could I have not been doing this for so long?

I have been a knitter as long as I can remember and got very serious in 1986 in an attempt, eventually successful, to reduce how much I smoked (now not at all). Everywhere. All the time. All styles. Then I finished a wedding-present lace tablecloth for my brother and his wife (6 MILES of thread), went to Antarctica knitting, bought yarn in New Zealand (knitter's heaven), came home, and put it all away. I didn't understand it at the time and still don't fully, but I think I needed to get the knitting out of the way to make room for the sculpture. It wasn't that neat, of course. I stumbled around for almost a year between the not-knitting time and the day I picked up the chainsaw, and there was the lightning strike which played a role too.

But now I am clearly a sculptor. Two weeks ago, the thought came to me that I wanted to knit, and I was glad I hadn't clutter-cleared my wool stash when I recycled my old contra-dance clothes. Then my best friend gave me The Knitting Sutra for Christmas. Hadn't talked to her about the impulse at all, but they don't call it the "universe" for nothing. When the time is ripe, the impetus appears?

Read the book straight through over breakfast, cast on before lunch, and now I have an inch of the back knitted up. I am knitting differently from before, though: I can feel it. Looking through pattern books, knowing generally what I wanted (Fassett). Using my favorite sweatshirt as a size model. I'll work out the sleeves and the neckline when I get there and if the gauge is wrong, there's always the sewing machine. Knowing this will be MY sweater in a way some of the earlier ones weren't.

I don't know where this is going, or why it picked now to come back into my life. Thought I was going to be like Barbara Walker, who studies one thing intently then puts it down and never comes back. Guess not. The recurring thought in my mind this Solstice has been Make More Art. Put my own art out in my yard. Put my own art on my back. Fill my house with art where ever I can find a place for it. I am not driving this bus, and it is an interesting ride.

PS. I can knit during day-job conference calls. Yippee!

December 24, 2003 Wednesday

Cleaning up the website before driving up to DC for Christmas day. Had a few end-of-year sales via Gilded Portals; gave birdhouses and dragon eggs as gifts. Been flat with stomach flu this week; haven't carved a thing. Nice to think that I have a bit of a rest from the commercial side of the business; next big show isn't until May. I took a lot of the work I had on the porch and installed it around the garden--herald angels singing on the gazebo; turned my first eagle into a flag holder and love the way it looks; brought Heron in the Reeds indoors to use as an end table.

Thinking:

1. The more art in my life, the more art I'll make.

2. The emptier my stock shelving is outside, the more art I'll make. Nothing like a backlog to make you think it's a good day to stay inside on the couch.

Three years and 51 weeks since I first picked up a chainsaw to carve and I'm just now getting as much art in my yard as I wanted to make when I started this adventure.

One new goal for 2004: Get comfortable with photo editing. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, off to the mundane. Just noticed I haven't changed the oil in my truck in way too long, and don't want to put another 600 miles on what's in there. Merry Christmas!

December 17, 2003 Thursday

Cancelled the duck show; need to rethink my retail model. Didn't sell anything there last year and don't want to be out any more than I already am plus lose the weekend and the vacation time again. Neighbor mentioned the Raleigh Flea Market; thought about it briefly but I already have other commitments and trying to fit a sales day plus the Nutcracker ballet into one Saturday is too much. Not sure that I'd sell anything there anyway--same crowd as the Carousel. But they might be a little more desperate for a gift, any gift, the last Saturday before Christmas?

Researched casting larger sculptures; it can be done in China and I have no desire to become an importer. But if I were to meet someone who does business in China and is looking for a new artist, I'd take it as a sign.

Planning a quiet solstice. Reviewed the year in my journals and realized that the home renovations have had a major influence in my art (The Not So Big House which is really Pattern Language applied, with glossy pictures) and need to continue with what began in June. Make space for art to happen. (It is not immediately obvious that replacing a toilet will make me more creative, but nevertheless, that is Saturday's project.) (Going to high-rise. I'm getting old and carving takes a toll on the knees.) (This is more information than you needed to know.)

Other plans--get stronger. New exercise routine. Made a resolution to get strong enough to do pull-ups in 1999 and still haven't accomplished it.

Indulging madly in dragon eggs. Michaels has been running a sale on marbles--14 new eggs in progress. May plant an entire bed of them. It seems that the more art I have in my life, the more art I think to create. Yoga for the part of me that still thinks "you're not allowed to DO that!!" (Too much time during my formative years on a Marine Corps base where not only did we all have the same front yards, we even had the same floor plans.)

Question for the day: Will I find it in me to make a real artist's Christmas card this year, or will I bail out and buy a box of something on sale? Stay tuned. May post it here if I do make up something.

December 14, 2003 Sunday PM

Lyle Estill convinces me to apply to the Studio Tour One More Time. Have to agree it's one of the better holiday retail opportunities, and my attempts to replace it weren't too successful. Doesn't overlap with Designer Craftsman show, should I be accepted there next year.
I need better slides.
Total frustration with camera and photo-processing software. Was hoping that digital would be the answer to all my problems today; may yet be but I can't get there from here. Back to the Gateway store tomorrow to get someone to show me what the camera's manual is trying to explain; can't tell what's focus and what's taking the picture. Ask the Chatham Chatlist for help with the software, hoping someone out there has used it before and can show me what I'm doing wrong. I can get the gradient, but it paints over the whole picture not just the background. This is not helpful.
Score, Sam the Dog 1, Karen the Fencer 0. Sam took 10 minutes to bust out of the backyard fence that I'd spent 3 hours on Saturday reinforcing. He went through a repaired place, too.

December 1, 2003 Monday

Christmas Carousel show come and gone for good. Threw away the application for the 2004 show. Not my customers. Sold a birdhouse and a tree; lots of lookers. Wasn't the only higher-end booth with lower-end sales. Looked like the Christmas Tree Skirt Lady did pretty well.

Sigh. Remember that the major goal for doing this show was to get work completed in Oct and Nov and not blow off the entire season. Mission accomplished. Looks like I'm set for the Duck Show in late January, and I'll get to play-carve for as many weekends as I can in Dec and Jan. Might get that dragon bench further along, and the Dancers, and the fish bench.

Need to get my work in a gallery and I suddenly understand that almost any %age to a gallery is worth the bother of sitting in a 10x10 for three days watching people walk right on by.

WAY too many people at this show asked if my husband did the carving. Hum. I need to enlarge the picture of me carving the eagle.

November 9, 2003 Sunday

Home!! Carving again! Spent a week in a windowless room, doing a day-job-related assessment in Eastern PA. Don't see how people can work like that. Couldn't wait to get back to my saws.

Good carving day yesterday--another Butler Bear to make a pair, right and left-handed, mailbox angels, two birdhouses. Need to set my finishing station up on the front porch again so I can get some of this work painted before it turns seriously cold. First frost expected tonight (which is late for us). Coleus are still going strong.

November 2, 2003 Sunday

Out of time; out of daylight. Raleigh Christmas Carousel on Thanksgiving weekend, three-day show, nothing to sell yet. Lower price points than many shows I've done. Need smaller work. Christmas trees; Santas; angels.

Something's changed--find myself carving much more confidently, and faster. Finishing pieces on the first pass instead of blocking them out and coming back for the detailing "next time." Carved 5 trees in a row and noted how much easier the 5th one was; didn't try that on the Santa, though. Maybe next weekend.

Took a halogen light out to the tent. Bounce it off the roof and it's almost as good as real daylight. May try two next weekend--gives me a LOT more time on Saturday, and at least another 1.5 hours on Sunday, until the Baptists come back for evening prayer. Had to wear my headlamp to get everything put away--no light in the shed.

October 31, 2003 Friday

Long story with a few too many late nights, helping to write math problems for an end-of-grade test. Don't ask. (12/17 addition: The State BOE said that all of the problems we wrote were Too Hard. They said this to all the writers on the project, not just us.) Interesting outcome, though, that I would never have seen without this adventure that makes the whole thing worthwhile, whether or not I ever get recompense for my time. I had a BAD brain fog while writing problems on Wed night and I blamed it on eating badly at dinner--Sam's almonds in the car on the way home, chicken and choc. chips. Very nasty. So I very carefully regulated food last night so I would be clear to work--and got the same brain fog. It's the math!! The fog had NOTHING to do with eating. Was actually briefly relieved by eating, but then insulin makes it worse. Cigarettes would have helped. I hear that other math problem-writers get the same fog, so it's really connected to the math, not the brain. This is how I spent most of college--chemistry and all the sciences. I do NOT get brain fog when I'm carving or painting.

So now I know. Additional reinforcement that I am an artist and that I get to make a living, somehow, doing things that make my head happy instead of putting my brain into shut-down mode. Too much of my day-job work brings on the same fog. It has to be an INFP thing, but I can't for sure tell where the mis-fit is. Doesn't matter. Sell some art.

October 6, 2003 Monday

Working on boxing in the 4x4s that are the supports for my front porch. Too skinny visually. Carving Celtic knotwork for one side; why did I think the first attempt would be the front? The second piece is MUCH easier to carve than the first was; wonder how much smoother it will be by the time I'm on the 4th, or the 16th. Looked for patterns for the next side. 8" dime tip is easier to use than the quarter-tip bar; wasn't sure I would be able to tell the difference.

Put the tent back up; had to take it down for Isabel. Good to have my space in the backyard again. Blocked off a piece of oak that may be the base for a new coffee table--part of the trees that came from JC Raulston Arb. two years ago.

Sept 27, 2003 Saturday

Long run. Sanford AutumnFest; sold the first frog and two flamingos. Carve more. Out-of-town funeral. Hurricane Isabel; no significant local damage = no free carving wood. Durham Centerfest, sold ButlerBear, a birdhouse, and Kekule's Dream. Carve more ButlerBears. Durham was the first show where people got the joke in Kekule. Shouldn't be surprised--the scientists from the RTP live in Durham, and the business people live in Cary. May try carving the CDC Series for next year's Centerfest--the plague flea. Yellow-fever / malaria mosquito. Smallpox. I have a picture of a carving of dice in my idea book. Could do something similar with caffeine, or estrogen, or some other major biochemical.

Took new booth set-up out these two shows; very good results. Holds much more work than the old display and can add even more with another grid-wall corner. Will try to fill that for the Christmas Carousel show over Thanksgiving weekend.

Vic Kirkman's carving class party this afternoon; will take my mallard-penguins. Need to photograph and put a picture on the hybrid pages.

Sept 3, 2003 Wednesday

Zoo-to-do Donor Party; bear already has a $300 bid before the auction even opens!

August 31, 2003 Sunday

Chip carving with a chainsaw? The pillars on the new porch are 4x4s, with 45-degree braces. NOT pretty. Bought boards to make a column surround; tested carving a Celtic knot pattern into the board and it looks like it's going to work! Now I'm seeing knot patterns everywhere but maybe I should start with these four columns, and the arched braces I'd like to use in place of the angular, and then see how it goes...

Chatlist agrees, I'll do better with a dime tip than the quarter-tip bar I'm using so far. Might test the 12" bar (started with an 8") but I think it's a touch too long for really good control.

Next step--the mantle. Maybe a column inside if I make some of the changes in the house that are on the planning board... Sure is faster than knitting Aran sweaters, and the patterns translate perfectly!

August 30, 2003 Saturday

Delivered Polar Bear to NC Zoo for the 2003 Zoo-To-Do auction. Stopped by a house in Siler City on the way home to pick up a donated pine log; one piece 6' long and two others much shorter. Getting work finished to the point of painting; September show schedule looms. Five trips to Siler City (three of which go on to Asheboro) in two weeks. Too much driving.

August 27, 2003 Wednesday

Branding class at CCCC cancelled due to lack of enrollment; leaves me free to attend the slide critique Tripp Gregson arranged with basketmaker John Skau. Interesting evening--looking at other artists' work, comments on work, slides, direction, intent--as detailed as last year's conversation with Stina Gutjonsdottir at Lenoir. Don't run with many MFAs in the chainsaw world. I need to bag film and go to digital for my slides--current system simply isn't working. Didn't realize I have a 10x20' photographic "tent" in the form of my carving space; it will work for daylight shots. Maybe I could hang the halogens from the trees and illuminate the space for night photography?

August 8, 2003 Friday

Porch done! better than expected--space is bigger than was covered with the tarp; I love being outside and painting. Might try 2D painting on canvas again--might be easier if it's outside. Wonder how I made it to this age without acknowledging how much outside time I need. Never thought of myself as the park ranger type.

Sigh--Cabela's catalog arrived in the mail today. Probably because I get the taxidermy catalogs for glass eyes; means I'm not on the mailing list for all the hunting stuff. Not exactly my cup of tea.

August 2, 2003 Saturday

No carving today--100% porch painting. Started painting the framing yesterday evening after work; dash to finish the joists this morning before the tin arrives. Think "Bermuda Travel Poster." Then reschedule the job so I can paint the underside of the tin roofing--sunrise on the front; copper on the kitchen--before they install it. Rain on and off; able to stretch a tarp over the frame and give myself some room to work. It is going to be wonderful to have 300 SF of DRY space with a DRY floor to work when this is all done!

Need to finish the polar bear this weekend and may need to call the zoo to check schedule--not sure I can get enough stain on him in one day, especially if it keeps raining the way it did today.

July 28, 2003 Monday

Good carving weekend. No special church services, hot enough to keep the neighbors indoors in their air conditioning, not so hot as to be miserable. Lost some time on Saturday to cleaning out the basement, but that needed to happen. The zoo's polar bear would be happier as a black bear, but I'm hoping the white stain will help. Major progress on the hummingbird, thanks to idea harvesting during the week; made 1/4 horse heads for the benches; started a heron that will become another glass table.

Need to bring work back up to the porch for detailing and painting; hoping roof is up this week so I can work next weekend. Too hot to go out there uncovered until at least 4 pm and that's too late.

July 25, 2003 Friday

www.chrispye-woodworking.com

Chris Pye has written many wonderful books about woodcarving. I just went to his website and noticed a list that might be in one of the books, but if it is, I missed it there. Six things you need to be a woodcarver:

A place to carve.
A way to hold your work.
Sharp tools.
A way to sharpen tools.
Skill.
An idea.

Wow. Somehow they seem much more manageable when presented in a list like that, and less overwhelming. Can't begin to tell you how much I've struggled with #2, although it's pretty reliably solved now and I have a stack of additional ideas to experiment with. My early carvings were big enough to self-support; didn't tip, didn't move at all. Started having trouble when I went to smaller pine, and then even more with smaller carvings. Now I have three carving stands and a vise and ... and ... and some other ways and it's not a problem.

It will be nice when #1 is no longer a problem, too.

(For the time being, #4 is covered by the nice people at Wilson's Garden Equipment. Some carvers make a lot of noise about sharpening one's own chains but I don't have it yet and I'm not alone in that. So pay the piper and get sharp chains and don't worry about it.

#5 gets better every weekend, and I'm drowning in ideas for #6. Not a problem there.)

July 22, 2003 Tuesday

I NEED A STUDIO.

Lost major carving flow to being nice this weekend; the church conference; then one neighbor gardening, then another neighbor sitting on the porch. Lugged the bear around the yard so I'd at least have the house between the saw and her conversation; he's still too heavy to move easily (and always will be, probably.) Big carving. Wood is heavy.

July 19, 2003 Saturday

Mount Olive Baptist is holding a conference today. Probably all day, no carving in the backyard. Work on the polar bear in the front; shop?

July 18, 2003

A visit from the Zoning Fairy I'm going to consider this a warning shot.

One of my neighbors complained that I was running a business in a residential zone. Well, I am, and that's legal, as long as I'm not selling from my home, which I'm not. Unfortunately, that's as much because I'm not selling much as because I don't sell from my home, but that's beside the point.

ZF agreed that everything looked above-board and I don't need a permit for what I'm doing. I've started a serious search for studio space; found one that's not quite right, good lead on another that could be perfect, depending on price. Guess we're in a race now.

July 17, 2003

Trigger finger; trandermal ketoprophen I get recurrent trigger finger in the ring fingers of both hands; clearly chainsaw-driven. Trigger finger is when your finger "snaps" when you bend it; it won't bend smoothly because the tendon gets swollen just outside of the tendon sheath. Makes it hard to get the ibuprophen out of the bottle.

Hand surgeon told me my options were cortisone shots in the tendon, and then surgery to release the tendon sheath. Cortisone shots are one of the most painful things I've ever done voluntarily and they knock the rest of my body off for a day or two; not bad, also, at setting off a mild(?) version of PMS which really endears me to my friends. $250 each; avoid if possible. Had hand surgery once. Forget that.

SO: I have this tube of Voltaren I picked up in Australia--1% diclofenac ointment, OTC there, prescription in the US. Tried a dab on my fingers after reading JoDee's letter. INSTANT relief. Had to reapply twice, and now I'm using it at night, but the situation is WAY better.

Have enough of the ointment to hold for a while. Called a compounding pharmacist who told me he could make it with an Rx from my doctor; also said he had 10% ketoprophen ointment (like ibuprophen, but better for transdermal application) on hand, OTC. I'll probably try that when this tube runs out.

I've taken some pretty high doses of oral ibuprophen and they don't begin to touch the concentration you can get locally with a transdermal dose. I'm pretty sure that the drugs are still metabolized in your liver, but the gain is that you get more bang for the buck--more pain relief with less total drug, and therefore less work for your liver.

July 15, 2003

Spalting

Does exposure to air stop spalt? What about burning?

I'm carving a polar bear for the zoo; plan to stain it with oil-based white stain. But the only piece of wood in the pile that's big enough for what I had planned is pretty thoroughly spalted sycamore--cut 4 years ago, standing vertically since. Beautifully soft; probably the last year I could have carved it before it went too far.

So the bear will have stripes and blotches and I'll make it sound artistic. But it would help if I could tell the buyer that the spalt has stopped now...

It took four men to get that piece vertical four years ago when it was fresh cut and sopping wet; after blocking out the big pieces that weren't going to be part of the bear, I was able to move it myself, although you probably didn't want small children within earshot.

July 7, 2003 Giraffes

Help. I just carved another nice piece of kindling in the general shape of a giraffe and spent an hour on the effort. Realized it was hopeless not long into it but had an audience and didn't want to bail in front of a crowd.

Can't get the head/body angle right--is it just that they take a much wider log than I want to believe? I saw Joe K. carving a giraffe at the end of Ridgway but my pictures of that carving don't show enough to be useful.

Maybe I'll just stick to flamingos. Someone looked at my parakeet and asked if it was a hawk. Sigh. (But they had cash, so I carved 'em a hawk the next day...)

July 3, 2003 Show carving

First day of public show carving yesterday; 5-day run. Loved it. Exhausted. Planning a big eagle/flag deal for tomorrow--NEVER would have thought I'd even ATTEMPT something like that in public, aiming to complete in one session. Real kick-in-the-pants to be carving with an audience, even if 2" of rain from hurricane-whatsis kept most of the audience home on opening day. Stay tuned.

June 28, 2003 Sawdust in my boots

Randy and I were talking about this last night and I realized I am not alone. How do you keep sawdust out of your boots?

a) I am already wearing the longest chaps Stihl makes and they don't quite cover the tops of ankle-high boots.

b) "Carve barefoot" is not a valid answer.

thx

Dale Hatfield's Response:

A carvers Guide to saw dust

dust will find its way in any small hole in jeans or shirt.
pockets will fill to the brim
wallet will have half a pound in it when you go to pay for dinner at a nice place or when you make any purchase.
boots will fill to brim if not wearing long pants
change pocket will feel like it has a ton of ground corn in it plus 3 dollars in copper.
Shirt must be untucked so dust has place to escape
forgot to untuck shirt waist band is full of dust along with other body parts
sneak behind carving for a quick dusting to avoid a chapped arse
avoid very lose or baggy shirts (most tree climbers will wear skin tight shirt to avoid all above problems. they often run saw at chest height.
wear a cape like at beauty shop and no dust will find its way in