The Magnificent looking fellow

        Here is one of the most tedious projects I have ever attempted. In pondering what subject matter I wanted to try for this paper creation, my mind was brought to my indian roots. Although those roots may be small, I still take great pride in them. Also, my dad happens to like Native American culture a lot so it seemed to be the perfect decision to search for something along those lines. The objective/ assignment was this: find a picture from an artist that contained at least 40 colors and then recreate it using paper swatches. While surfing the internet for options I stumbled upon a artist by the name of Lee Reedy who painted a work called "The Color of the Spirit Man," and it was perfect.

       I had decided early on that I wanted to give as much time as I could along with my best efforts to finish with something that I was happy with. After 24 hours I finally finished. I emerged with only a few slices in my fingers from the xacto knife, a number far fewer than I had anticipated so I consider myself lucky.

     I also could not contain the intense urge to watch vast amounts of western movies followed by a finale of Dances with Wolves. When all was said and done, I really have no idea how many colors I used or what the exact time I spent on the thing was...but its done and I can't say I am sad to see it finished. 

Olympus or bust! (no pun intended)

         Sound the trumpets! Open the gates! Before you lies the goddess of wisdom, Athena. This is no ordinary Athena however. This particular rendition of Athena only came by way of twelve hours of back breaking sitting in my art class. Thank goodness though I was accompanied by my friend Billy Talent to get me through the particularly rough times, such as the day I attempted those curly locks of hers. Special thanks also goes out to the All American Rejects for making multiple visits to sooth my discouragement as I looked around the room at the various other student works and realized that mine was how do you say it... special, in a "you did your best" kind of way. For those who didn't catch that subtlety, basically everyones was better than mine, but hey who's comparing anyway. I know if some of the other art people in the world  were reading this they would laugh at the mere twinkling of an eye's time that I spent on this, but for me it was my longest drawing yet. I learned some good shading techniques and also the benefits of taking your time. So here's to you Athena goddess of wisdom and crazy awesome memories of sitting in the most uncomfortable stool known to man kind.

The Legend of the Dala Horse

  It is said that when Thomas Edison was asked about his many attempts to invent the light bulb, that he commented, " I did not fail, I found out one thousand ways that won't work." I like to keep this quote in mind when I think of some of the first attempts at creating a dala horse. It all seemed simple enough in my head. I figured that a solid piece of wood bombarded with multiple carefree chisel strikes would do the trick, right? I went out to the back yard to chose my victim carefully. At long last I saw it! A fine specimen of a log. Who knows what kind of wood it was, that small detail didn't seem important at the time. All I knew is that it looked fantastic, ripe for the shaping...and so it began. Chop! Smash! Wham! I released my fury upon it, pelting it with blow after blow. I struck and struck until I could strike no more. As I sat there exhausted with hands of fire, I peered down upon the desolation caused by my hammer and second rate chisel. Expecting to see some real progress, you could imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had merely grazed the surface. Days went by as I attempted to shape the stubborn log into something that somewhat resembled the Dala. Chisel after chisel was left in ruin upon the wayside in the vicious campaign. Eventually it began to come together, yes, I could see it now. Excitement filled my soul as I realized that although still in rough shape, I was only a few chisel stikes away from victory. I carefully placed the chisel in a strategic position to break the last chunk of wood free before the preliminary figure was complete. I raised the hammer high in the air with triumph in my eyes. The hammer came down as I witnessed the unthinkable. Half the horse lay on the table and the other half on the ground. One cannot express such anger as to the kind that entered my heart that day.

               It was weeks before I tried again. With the help of a friend, I tried a much more civilized approach of gluing three pieces of softer wood together and then making the preparatory cuts with a detail saw. The new method worked great.

...and the rest is history.

Thank you Goodwill!

   My first excursion into the world of wood work. My best amiga Lisa was getting married to her man Chris. I knew it was going to be a once in a lifetime event. I wanted her to have something that was not just your average envelope of cash or kitchen appliance from Bed Bath and Beyond (not that those are terrible gifts). I just wanted to get her and Chris something to last through the years and remind them of that ever special day in their lives. 

             When I asked her what she wanted, she said something about furniture. I knew that as much as I wanted to build a decorative armoire or custom rocking chair, that I was probably better off sticking to something smaller. I also thought that instead of constructing something from scratch that perhaps it would be more efficient for me to buy something old that I could alter and redesign if at all possible. Thus, I traveled to the place where old things go to rest after a long life of usage and abuse...Goodwill. There I stumbled upon a small coffee table that was in sorry shape. Scraps, gashes, and a few chips were found throughout. After a few moments of inspection I glanced under the table the find the word “Cherry” burned into the bottom. After seeing it was solid cherrywood I knew that for the price of 15 dollars, I had to have it.

     And so the project was underway. various tools were used along with various methods of madness to finish the job. The  table features two hand carved birds and a couple different colors of stains. In the end, everything seemed to come together. Goodwill table....15 dollars, extra supplies....30 dollars, the perfect gift for the perfect day...priceless.