Mid-Week #11: An Odd Assemblage

So this week I had several thoughts on what to show for the mid-week post.  I finally decided to not decide and include a little of all of it. There's a bit of wire, a boredom sketch, and a work-in-progress.
First up: the wire-work. So there's a very short back story for this one. Like most great stories, it starts with a trip to the grocery store.  After doing the shopping I was waiting in line for the self-checkout.  While waiting in the aforementioned line I spotted something shiny on the floor.  If I see something shiny, I investigate. In this way I am much like a toddler...or maybe a raccoon. Either way, I picked up the object and found it to be a silver plastic-coated twist-tie. I removed the plastic and began to work the wire into shape. Since the wire was only a couple of inches long, this process was quite short. What emerged was the first ever MicroZeke! In case you have no idea what that is, it's a tiny version of this guy. So when I got home I took some pictures with a penny for size reference. Here they are.

Here's the boredom sketch.  As you can see it's a balloon with jagged sharp teeth and a survival knife.  I thought "How could a balloon be in any way threatening?" Question answered.  I also gave it the gift of speech to imply some degree of intelligence. If it has the ability to think it could potentially have malevolent intent. Yeah...that's about it...

 As an artist I am begrudged to show any unfinished work, but I thought posting this one might encourage me to go ahead and finish it. It's a large humanoid bat creature that popped into my head (or should I say popped out of my head) while I was on a break at work one day.  I will definitely post the final product at some point in the (hopefully near) future. Who knows? Maybe this will start off a new series of Works-in-Progress Wednesdays to give you an idea of the process that goes into making a finished drawing.

There's another week inside my mind.  It may be a place of chaos, but it's my chaos.  More paintings are coming Sunday, so check back then.  Also, my thoughts and prayers also go out to those affected by Hurricane Isaac as it moves across the Gulf Coast. Stay safe everybody, no matter where you are and of course...

Stay creative,

AH!

Mid-Week #5: Wired Wednesday Part III

It's time for more wire art! It seems pretty rare that I just outright dislike any of my wire sculptures, but I must say that I'm particularly fond of these three.

First up is my spider. She's about 2.5 inches tall and about 10 inches from far left foot to far right. Not the kind of spider even the bravest soul would want to find crawling on their face, I'd wager.  As with most of my animal figures, I didn't aim at any special species of spider as much as the idea of Spider.

Side note: This is one I liked enough to make a smaller variation with a pin attached to the back to be worn as decoration, so if you're in need of a unique little brooch for your next soiree, email me and we can work something out.

This flower is a case of having free time (an idea that is growing increasingly foreign to me) and being a little bored (an idea I am unfortunately still very much acquainted with).  I supposed that good things can grow out of that boredom though. (Sorry, I find it very difficult to resist a pun.) Anyway, it's about 5 inches across and 2 inches or so from the base to the tips of the highest petals. This is also one of the few sculptures that I use more than one gauge of wire. In this case, I wrapped each petal and the center with smaller gauge wire to give it a little more visual interest.

Finally today is my hand. Really. It's the exact size of my hand. I can't really recall what inspired me to craft a life-sized hand out of picture hanging wire, or why I chose the left hand for that matter. Ideally, I will one day make the rest of the body to accompany the hand, but that's going to take a very long time and a lot of wire.  If and when the life-sized wire man (MegaZeke-37?) comes into being, I will most definitely post pictures. Maybe I'll even post pictures of him as he progresses, if/when he does progress. Hmm... I may have to get onto that soon. 

A life-sized MegaZeke-37 would be my most ambitious wire project so far, hands down. (Seriously, I can't help myself.)

I've still got wire-works to share, so Wired Wednesday will continue until the wire runs out. Until, next time friends.

Stay creative.

-AH!

Mid-Week Post #3: Wired Wednesday

And now for something completely different.  I first began bending picture hanging wire into various shapes one night after a seeing a great concert (the Christian rock group Third Day, for those interested) in North Little Rock, Arkansas one Good Friday, quite a few years back.  Oddly specific, I know, but that's just how my memory works. Anyway, the first thing I made was a little man. This one is a little more refined than that first one, as I have made a veritable army of the little guys since then. They usually end up going home with whoever is around and seems interested when I'm making them. My first wire man I made, named Zeke-37, still resides on a shelf in my bedroom.

After the first four or five wire men, I decided to try some other shapes and, for whatever reason, I settled on masks.  I'm really fascinated by masks of various cultures. I find it interesting how some cultures that are separated by vast geographical distances frequently managed to not only create similar mythologies, but chose to express them through the crafting of masks. I'm sure that hundreds of psychologists and cultural anthropologists that have at least as many theories as to why that happened.  Honestly I'm not interested in the reasoning, I just like the masks. Here are a couple of the first ones I made. The first one ended up having a Norse feel to it. The second has a sort of an African feel. I included side views of them to show their depth.

I made this sun not long after these first two masks. I suppose it could be considered the third mask I made. The distance between the eyes and mouth of this one would make it less functional, except perhaps for a child. I suppose I haven't really made any of them to be wearable, instead opting to make them more for decoration than anything else.

Much like the drawings, that's just the tip of the iceberg in regards to my wire working, so I'd imagine I'll be posting more of these too as time progresses.  Until next time, I'll leave you with one of my new favorite quotes.

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

-Scott Adams, Cartoonist and Author

Stay creative, my friends.

-AH!