Day 23 - 365/2014

Day Twenty-Three

I sure hope this entry shows up for January 23 because I squeaked it in at just before midnight and now I am editing it.

Today I was feeling quite a bit under the weather but I was determined to get the last three shelves up on that difficult wall in Studio B.  I did that part earlier in the day and then took it easy for most of the afternoon and part of the evening.  Then I moved the toys to the shelves -- I will probably rearrange them at some point, but for now I have accomplished what I set out to do -- yay!

I did it -- I won -- all nine shelves are up on that difficult wall in Studio B...including the one that is very close to the light switches.

These toys will be going into Studio A near my desk so that I can play with them once in a while...plus, they are made of a harder (but more brittle) material and I worry about them falling off the shelves and cracking.

I will most likely rearrange things later on, but I did it!

This spot gives me easy access to these musical guys.

An overview of where they are, next to my desk.

My flaming hair artwork by Arthur Brown looks really good here...and I can see it from my desk.

I couldn't justify putting a lot of money into another one of the wonderful powdered metal magnet boards right now, so I came up with this solution...a baking sheet that already has two holes in each end.  I got a package of three sizes for under ten dollars...I may eventually invest in another  magnet board, but not right now.

I have collaborated with several artists on my "Penciled In" series for Art-o-mat...as well as doing a couple of early editions by myself.  I am going to put magnets on these tonight (or tomorrow) and arrange them on the baking sheet magnet board.

I (inexpensively) mattted/framed the two original "practice" colorings that William Hessian did and they are positioned over the magnet board.

Day 19 - 365/2014

Day Nineteen

Today I was trying to think of how I could hang the metal message/magnet board on the wall.  A while ago I found a photo of some spoons that were bent into hook shapes and used as hangers in a kitchen.  I never got around to giving that a go, but today I was thinking of a couple of decorative spoons I have that I could probably bend into that shape and then drill a hole into and attach to the wall...but then I thought better of it.  This is the same wall that has massive chunks missing from me simply trying to put up those magnetic strips with wall dogs and/or wall anchors.  Then, while I was looking at the board I realized I could cut off the wired string of beads and turn the board sideways and use the shapes that are already there to hang onto angled nails...I don't know how long it will hold up but it seems pretty secure.

I also gathered up all of the KT Goodlove, Kettle, and my own Animal People blocks that still needed magnets and got to work.

There is still plenty of room on the wall to add a second and even third message/magnet board if I decide to do it.  I like how this one looks.  I have more Art-o-mat collaborations to display...so this just might be the way to go.

And tonight I am cutting images for the Animal People collage series I am working on...both for Art-o-mat and for the larger ones.

Day 7 - 365/2014

Day Seven

If you thought you heard a triumphant "ta-daaaaaaa!!!" off in the distance somewhere, it was me!  (I know...that should be "I" but it doesn't sound right).  I have conquered that wall space in my main studio -- ha ha!

Now to fill it up!  I want this space to be for collected series and a few pieces from a collaboration from my personal Art-o-mat collection.

I needed to put magnets on the back of some blocks before I could hang them.

Here are the Woodie Anderson "Wood | Play" series 1 & 2 -- the pieces I was able to collect, that is.  I love, love, LOVE Woodie's work -- in addition to this series, I have a number of her "Spam" (collapsible fine art prints -- that I need to think of a way to display) a bunch of her "Hankie Pankie" (limited edition fine art prints on cloth), and one of her full-size (as in non-Art-o-mat) pillows.

Kettle is another artist I found through Art-o-mat.  I love his work, too.  It turned out that he liked my Animal People.  We did a collaboration of his painting with my collage elements and called it "KT Goodlove" (K+T for Kettle and Took, and the last name is a favorite teacher of his...I think that's how it went).  Kettle would paint the blocks first and leave me some room and then send them to me to add my stuff to and then I would send the completed series to Artists in Cellophane...headquarters of Art-o-mat.

Many times Kettle used to do a multi-block set within the series he sent in to AIC.   As a collector of Art-o-mat art, this is really cool...but also really frustrating...how could you possibly be able to know that you were getting a part of a multi-block set when you pull the machine handle...and how could you know if you'd gotten the whole set.  I mean, most of the parts can stand alone but when you look at them (if they are not together in their set) a character can have half a face, or a cloud will be cut off, etc.   But that is where being a machine host comes in really handy -- Carol used to let me know when there were multi-block sets and I could sometimes grab them.  But if Carol wasn't the person packing an art order for me I wouldn't know about it.  In any case -- I adore Kettle's artwork and I have really enjoyed the collaborations with him.  I was lucky enough to be able to meet Kettle and Woodie at a couple of Art-o-mat anniversary swap meets.

So here are some examples of Kettle multi-block sets...  I also put a few of the KT Goodlove blocks in this display...I have a few more to add magnets to.

Here is an example of a complete multi-block set by Kettle (I know this one is complete because they are numbered on the back).  I will have to display these on a different surface so they can stack like this.

I think this one and the next one might be complete but I'm not sure.

Here are some examples of the KT Goodlove collaboration...Kettle's painting and my collage elements.  It was a great series and we did several editions.  It was quite a challenge for me at first to try and work around his characters because I didn't want to cover them up...then I got the hang of making tracing paper masks and cutting my guys to fit so they'd look like they were either in front of or in back of a Kettle guy.

I also loved the blocks that had conversation elements where you weren't sure exactly which guy was saying what.

Sometimes I masked in the background (if Kettle had left it unpainted)...this is pink tissue paper cut to fit around his robot.

There were even a couple of two-block sets that Kettle and I did for KT Goodlove...but I snatched them up.  This is another example of a masked in paper background...it was butcher paper that caught the overspray from alcohol inks and water that I was using on another project...I couldn't throw it away.

Man -- it feels SO good to have these pieces from my collection on display.  AND it is really satisfying that I was able to conquer that stupid wall!!!  I still have a whole lot of Art-o-mat art from my collection to unpack and display.

Day 6 - 365/2014

Day Six

Tackling the walls and assembling cat guys...that's what I've been up to today/tonight.

Gah -- these drywall-over-plaster walls!!!  They just don't want to take wall anchors, wall dogs, screws, picture hangers...and I am really making a mess of things...but much of it is getting covered up so I guess I am winning slightly.

I worked on these last night after I blogged/before I finally went to bed.  I added the L-brackets and I thought I was going to pop them up onto the wall with the wall dogs.  Yeah, right.

I got exactly ONE shelf up...and tore up the wall in here, too.

What these shelves might turn out to look like.

But NOT this part...this needs fixing (and probably not by me).

Today/tonight I've been working on forcing the walls to take the magnetic strips...and I have two more available to me...I just cannot get them up there tonight...too fatigued and my arms are too shaky.  That, and I will need to use a ladder for the upper strip -- I think I will put one underneath the others.

Uh, yeah...this is where I left off a few days ago.

It may be a mess underneath, but the magnetic strips look okay.

Can you bee-leeeve the drill must have just missed where I was aiming it -- the bottom wall anchor is too far over -- aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh - so frustrating!

Enough for tonight...back at it tomorrow.

And tonight I have been assembling cat guys...I made fifteen.  I need to go back and try out every character that I've done so far and see how many more I need to make...I should be close by now.

Assembled cat guys drying.

Now I need to see how many of them I can use with the Art-o-mat blocks.  The guy on the horse might be a smidge too tall.

365/2013 - Day 365

I lost a day somewhere in the count, but today is 365

Okay -- I couldn't wait it out until my sister comes over on Thursday...I had to put Leann's art quilt up on the wall in its new spot...the emptiness was driving me nuts.  I got brave/extremely foolish and went out to the garage and brought my six foot ladder into the studio.  Lucky for me, I got the hanger in the wall the first time.  Then I was bolstered enough to also put up Renee's skeleton doll.  I really love how this area in the studio looks now.  I put out some of my non-wall pieces of Arto-art, too.

Not the best idea I've ever had -- to get up on the ladder with no one else here...luckily things went smoothly.

The new view from my desk!

And tonight I started pairing up dog heads with bodies for the dog guys in this batch of Animal People for Art-o-mat.  I like this first guy a lot!

Time to start pairing up dogs with bodies.

The first of the dog guys for this batch of Animal People.

This is the second year that I have somehow screwed up the day-count at the end of the year.  I think it must come from a day that I didn't blog or a day that carried over to the next day.  I need to think of a different way to title the blog entries...LOL.  Happy New Year!

365/2013 - Day 362

moving stuff around on the walls - day three

I'm back at it again today...but included in today's activities was a massive sorting of my personal Art-o-mat collection...and then regrouping my inventory of Arto-art for my machine at LIFT in Royal Oak.  It has taken all day -- there is a lot to go through.

The walls are looking better -- art-wise!

I put magnets on the back of these Woodie Anderson "Wood | Play" pieces.  Man -- I stirred up the Liquid Nails today because the stuff finally started coming out of the tube in the consistency I have seen before.  I guess the material had separated in the tube because it was stored in my basement unopened for so long.  MAN -- what a difference fumes-wise and drying time-wise!  I won't be using Liquid Nails in my not-very-well-ventilated studio again!

Clamped...drying time is much longer today.

Sorting my Arto-collection...

...two boxes underneath this one...

...and THESE -- four boxes of small non-wall items and a box and a half more to go on the walls.

And tonight when I was finally ready to put those magnetic strips in their new wall space -- POW! -- the wall threw me a curve ball.  It was as if Babs Johnson and Crackers (Pink Flamingos) had licked the wall so that it would reject anything I tried to do.  SO frustrating!  I had a phone conversation with my brother-in-law to see if he had any ideas (he has worked on various walls in my house before) and he said it is most likely that drywall was put up over plaster walls and that is what I am running into.  Gah!  So I am off in search of more wall dog screws tomorrow I guess.  My poor wall -- now it matches the other one...geez.