Aug/110
Variety Show
Re-installing the central dining room fixture-- the only time you'll actually see the fluted glass interior.
Installed, showing two of the four peripheral globes.
One of the great things about summer is that I can pursue a wider variety of projects than the school year allows. Five years ago I removed the central light fixture from our dining room while redoing the ceiling. This summer I finally got around to rewiring the fixture and replacing the sockets, as the insulation had degraded a bit since 1905. The fixture is an incredible piece of craftsmanship, composed of eleven different pieces of bronze and two pieces of glass. I had to make a template to locate the four corner loops, which actually only bears weight when the brass socket assembly is removed. This is the finest fixture in the house, and I trust that it will now be in good service for another hundred years.
The workmanship on that metal reminded me of a painting that I made for a friend last year, the image of which I am just now posting. It is a “portrait” of his gorgeous old Model 1860 Henry Rifle (.44 caliber rim fire, this one manufactured in 1862). It features a receiver engraved with “running deer pattern number one” by Samuel Hoggson, a factory engraver for Henry Repeating Rifles. But of course I was just as attracted to the figured walnut stock. 
Detail of the engraving.
The painting was an interesting challenge, as I wanted to have the rifle convincingly immersed in a landscape that I fabricated from a few photographs and my own memory of life in the Southwest. I was able to paint the rifle from observation, but used an Italian replica for most of the work because it made me nervous having the original laying around in the studio. I enjoy having plenty of room for imagination, innovation, and problem-solving in paintings. I made the rustic frame by request, and was happy with the way that the silvery, weathered surface of the white oak offset the image.
Which brings us back to wood. This summer I was able to retrieve this old church pew, which after some repair and refinishing has become the favored place to drop whatever you are carrying when you come in our front door. Although I haven’t yet been able to confirm it, I believe that the pew is made of American Chestnut. It is always a pleasure to breathe a bit more life into beautiful and useful things, but that would be even more significant “win” to me if this were in fact a remnant of the pre-blight riches that once dominated our eastern forests. I used my home-made black walnut stain to color the piece, sealed it with a thin coat of shellac, and then applied three coats of wipe-on polyurethane.
An old pew, repaired and refinished.
Nov/101
recent work
lunette/flume, headstone/tomb (for Li Bai)
We had a Washington University faculty exhibition at the Des Lee Gallery last month, which was a good excuse to finish a new painting and try a different form of presentation. Instead of using the word “installation”, I might use something like “actualization”, as the point of the piece was to enhance the viewer’s awareness of the object-presence, material relationships, imaginative space, and historical (or anecdotal) reference with near simultaneity. This poses an interesting set of problems in a gallery context because of the associated conventions for displaying and interacting with the work. Lunette is painted on a sheet of sandpaper from a floor-sander, and features a wooden remnant from some plumbing work in my house. The painting is hung about ten inches lower than normal, a kind of “setting” towards the bench which is meant to emphasize their relationship while encouraging the viewer to lean over. I made the frame out of African Mahogany flooring reclaimed from my neighbor’s house. It is the same species of wood that I used to build the bench, wood which had been discarded because of the extreme warping and cupping that it had undergone.
Collectively the work is meant to invoke rather than portray the ingredients of the poet Li Bai’s anecdotal demise– intoxicated, falling from his boat and drowning while trying to embrace the reflection of the moon.
Dec/090
Bench
Today I completed the finish work on the bench. After cladding the form with the reclaimed oak flooring, I used oil paint to fine-tune the color. It is topcoated with shellac and finished with paste wax. The curved top makes for a very comfortable seat. As you can see from this angle, the boards “fold” across the top and down each side. All edge joints are mitered. Where the top folds over each end they are compound miters, which allow for the curve. The only tricky joints are the upper corners at the front and back, where the top overlays the facing. I cut these by hand, and have included a detail below.
This piece is important to me as an opportunity to find a creative application for the more literal “floor” work that I have been doing in my home. I was also looking for an opportunity to add value to what were otherwise reclaimed, left-over, or scrap materials in my shop. It is an elaboration on the theme of landscape being something that rises up from beneath our feet, the point being the immersive experience rather than the distant view. I hope to install a related work in my next show, coming up at Fontbonne University in March. In the mean time, I am slugging away at a number of related paintings. I may post a sneak preview of the works in progress, so stay tuned.
Aug/091
fix it, make it
S. Magdalena Sophia Barat (detail)
detail of puncture after reinforcement
It has been a busy couple of weeks since my last post, with school starting for the whole family. In the midst of it all I have managed to start and complete several new projects. The first is the restoration of a painting that was punctured and scraped. So far I have patched the hole and re-set the original material salvaged from the edges of the damaged area. The next step will be to fill the voids left by the puncture, and then on to the fun part– matching and applying the new colors. This is accomplished by the use of powdered pigments with Damar resin as a vehicle. Because the puncture occurred in a relatively clear area of the painting, it will be a challenge to make the repair disappear.
a selection from the new set of ink landscapes
I opened a new container of ink only to find that the “velvet black” was actually a deep indigo with a red undertone. It was a pleasant surprise, and fell right into line with the night landscapes that I am simultaneously painting with oils (but are not yet presentable enough to post). The painting above is shown in its first state. I continue to experiment with the tongue-and-groove backing which leaves a “wooden floor” image and embossing on the paper. Originally this was accomplished with the studio floor, but later I made a section of “flooring” specifically for this use.
core structure of the bench before cladding
The other new project is this bench, which will be clad with 5/16″ tongue-and-groove oak flooring as its final surface. I designed the piece t0 be built out of surplus/scrap wood and finished with reclaimed lumber. Hardwood floors have edged into every aspect of my work. I appreciate the floor’s relation to my landscape paintings where looking down becomes a means of understanding what is above us. Staring at the floor is an overt gesture of withdrawal, but what I am cultivating is introspective rather than anti-social behavior. If a viewer can make that distinction then the reclusive act is transformed into a particular form of sharing. In the mean time the pursuit of the spirit by way of the flesh, the intangible by way of the tangible, and the transcendent by way of the practical remain central to my interests.