pff - a quilt

Thanks to kristen and eva  for hosting

I thought today I'd share something different I'm doing - a quilt on wood.

Have a great day day! 

PFF & SS - Stool, more art, & ebook launch

Hello to all my friends at Paint Party Friday and Sunday Sketches!

I wanted to share some art and the inauguration or the ebook store we launched.

Jim's birthday is May 24th and all he really wanted was for the ebook/kindle store to be launched - which is what I have done, with 13 titles and more coming.

In order to launch it I have been writing people and letting them know these ebooks are available, either for folks to read or to buy for other people as gifts. Some as cheap as $1 and short as a few pages - others way longer.

So far all the writing is his, and I assist in graphic layout, and cover design. I have some book ideas of my own, but for now it is his writings I am sharing about.

Things he writes are anything from short fiction to exploratory biographical essays about folks involved in the renewable energy field. They range from $1 to $6. Many more are coming. 

The book I'm particularly excited about is the one shown on the cover here, Homily Sticks... etc - this book contains all the poems/verses we have put into wood art - and contains a fine collection of all the wood art - some examples of which I have posted here over the past few weeks/months.

It has been in any event a great winter project, that hopefully will continue. I especially enjoyed putting the Homily Sticks book together, which required a great deal of Photoshopping! It gave me a good excuse to document the pieces we have made. I not only have been able to edit the pieces to account for a bad camera, but I've been able to put a groovy background on the pieces, and show all sides of the things. That's what happens when you have 3D work - all sides are important

So there you go! Please feel free to share the link to our Amazon store with anyone who might be interested. "feel free to purchase one if you fancy one" goes without saying :D

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=James%20L%20Hickey&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank

Also am sharing pics of a stool we have been working on. This is the first time we take on a big furniture piece, and it has been rewarding. Our good friend John Behr out of Tennessee built it, and we have been decorating it. This is only 1/2 finished, as can be seen.

thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome weekend!

paint party friday - cleaning triumph & more wood art

Hi everyone at Paint Party Friday! Coming pretty late to the party, but wanted to share a few things regardless.

Here is my greatest artistic triumph of the week - possibly of the year - yes, it is a shower stall! The thing is, the horrid thing had not been sparkling pretty much ever. Sure, I cleaned, but I had never gotten it to be pure white for some reason. Then I learned of a new technique to get things going, and there it is - white.

I ended up at one point watching a cool British show called How Clean is Your House where they recommended you soak rags or paper towels in bleach solution, and essentially wallpaper the shower stall. Then, to leave it there for some time, and scrub it all off. Now.... I have as stated tried & tried to scrub it off in the past, to no avail - so I was excited to find out this worked.

But since this is not a blog about cleaning, and it is a blog about art, I am sharing one of the newest pieces we have finished. Here are both sides of the piece. As can be seen, on one side is a mask, and on another people who are fighting, plus symbols.
Hoping everyone has a great weekend!

PPF - art updates painting on Cedar

Dear PAINT PARTY FRIDAY friends - was feeling nostalgic for the old group so decided to post - may do so for SS as well.

Basically, as has been true for a good couple of years, I  have  not been doing a lot of ME painting - as in, painting oriented for my own personal inclination. Mainly  because I find myself spending so much more time on creating art that we sell, through Marshall Arts, with husband creating words, etc.

The piece I am sharing today is an oldie we sold months ago, but I have been recently spending some time unearthing old cell phone photos of these, and Photoshopping them as best I can so as to create something akin to a portfolio!

The words on the following piece are:

The Concept of Solidarity, Seemingly As Fierce & Tangible As a Rolling Wall of Flame, & Yet No Easier to Manifest Than Levitation Among Jupiter's Moons, Does Rest on Twin Foundations Both of Which Are Indisputably Accurate & Concrete, First, That the Vast Majority of Earth's Inhabitants Are Working Class Folk, & Second, That Every Human Being, Without a Single Exception, Is Either Cousins or Even Closer Kin

On another note, came back from a groovy art fair in South Texas this past weekend. It was incredibly fun and moderately successful sales-wise, in spite of the unexpectedly bad weather. I had never been to that area of the world, so I was very happy to visit. And be at an art sale so far from home.

This trip did entail a rather grueling 30 hours, cumulative, in a car, though, from Souther Appalachia to South Texas, so people can imagine how I feel now, LOL. Needless to say, saw a lot of coffeeshops.

Chattanooga, TN

San Antonio, TX

Baton Rouge, LA

Tuscaloosa, AL

Laurel, MS

Atlanta, GA (this was fun - was my old hangout from way back)

HOPE ALL are having a great weekend!

PFF - SS - Love Commemoration

Radical Love Revolutionizes Everything

Yeah, I don't blog anymore so sad :( I unfortunately am not one of those people who can have many long-term commitments, or, too many things in my mind at once - mind like a sieve no doubt!

However today I want to commemorate love, not only bc it's so close to V Day, but because the 24th is the anniversary of the date that I met my own husband, exactly 9 years ago. So... my love to him always! We both made the above wood. Actual wedding anniversary would be May, but the day we met was special, clearly! We have had many adventures in the short yet long time we've had together, and I only pray we have many more still.

Speaking of love - every couple of months, though I've quite abandoned the enterprise, I have a hankering to go back to the old haunts, and the 3 that I always took to the best were Sunday Sketches, Creative Tuesdays, and Paint Party Fridays. So I went snooping the other day.

So I find out that not only has "Mr Toast" at Creative Tuesdays closed up shop, but he has joined forces with Alexandra from Sunday Sketches!

Wow.. the things you miss when you're away!!

Their lovely union weirdly means a lot to me because, even through the roughly year and 1/2 that I DID commit to participating, I came to know both of them fairly well - just through their work, their art, and their own committment to their blogs. And though I didn't know them in person, and didn't exactly intuit it, somehow mysteriously, after I found out about it, it seemed PERFECT. Both are very dear people, sensitive, creative, hard working and disciplined - you can just tell. And both are very good looking too, so there you go! Luck all the way around. 

I also just really enjoy the whole meta narrative of it - art blogs, blogging co-ops, together in cyberland, together through art, and then in person.....and all the people who knew and followed them without necesarily knowing that THEY knew each other... and am just madly curious - how did it all come about? When did they meet? Had they always lived in Colorado together and one day ran into each other at Starbucks and said "HEY@! I Know you!!!" Or did wily fate make one move across the country to the proximity of the other? Did they meet because of the blogging, or was that just some bizarre accident, and proof of synchronicity? Enquiring minds would like to know ....

So I commemorate their union as well and congratulate them with this image of a recent art piece of ours "radical love revolutionizes everything". More images can be found at our facebook page, and I invite all who care to to stop by and say HI.

-- linking to Paint Party Friday & Sunday Sketches

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PFF - Epic Drawing

Hello all at Paint Party Friday!

I am hoping to make the rounds this week - I have been very naughty about being on line and connected, generally, which is why I've sort of given up on this process. Much to my detriment!

In any event, aside from all I do with my wood art, I have taken to working on this Epic Drawing. Its theme is dreams, the general sense of the oneiric landscape, as well as specific dreams/memories of the group of people I asked, and whom the reward was meant for.  Spawned by the Epic Painting Project,  the Epic Drawing was SUPPOSED to have been finished literally 2 years ago, and disseminated to everyone, in the form of little postcards sent out, cut out of the larger picture. But somehow it has not bloody happened. I feel sort of weird & bad about it, but I have faith that one day it will be resolved! Meanwhile....... I have fun working it.

This is it in its latest iteration.

So my question for all is.... should I cut it up into 4x6 postcard sized iterations and mail them to my buds, or should i spare the drawing and make copies and send them that way instead?

Hope all are well! Toodles

PPF - sleeping piece

Hi all at PPF! Here is another of the pieces Jimbo and I do - as usual, I draw the image with a woodburning tool, and he paints it. It is a collaborative process!

As can be seen, there are many shapes and drawings, as such the piece is hard to mount.

There's also a verse, though I forget exactly what the verse is at the moment. But this one also sold. In fact, this is a photo of it before it was carted away. THis one was actually one of my fave pieces - I really liked how the moon came out! I remember I was watching Twin Peaks on Netflix while I was drawing the moon. I'd never seen it before!

I want to thank everyone who went to visit my brother's silent auction last week! They were very excited about all the traffic they received. As well, they have raised a whopping $26,000!!

I myself got in on the action, by pledging for 3 pairs of toe socks and a lovely polymer clay rose brooch that apparently retails for $50, which I was able to get for $10.

Hope all have a great day!

PPF - sharing some wood pieces + silent auction announcement

Hey everybody at Paint Party Friday!! I haven't come to the party for a while, so I thought I'd stop by :D This is a brief example of some of the wood pieces that Jimbo and I make. The turnover is somewhat quick, so this one was briefly photoed before being whisked off by its new owner! We prefer it that way...

Also briefly wanted to share about a silent auction my brother and his wife have organized, expiring August 5th. They are raising $30,000 to adopt 2 orphans from Eastern Europe. This decision fills me with great pride, for I have always sustained that the value of the world will increase exponentially the more we take care of lonely, unloved children. I feel fortunate to know someone close who can do such a generous thing.

 Thus, I am happy to assist by donating 2 items to their silent auction. One is a print of a beautiful waterfall, the other is one of our many wooden sculptures. This is one of many products that we sell for $50 generally, but here it can be had for as little as $10! 100% of proceeds go to the adoption fees. Many other items being auctioned as well.

Auction live until August 5th!!

Please take a look if you're interested in acquiring some art for cheap + a good cause. In general, information on the adoption and other ways to become involved show up on the website, including a breakdown of the costs.

 Nice to see everyone again!

PPF - Ocean painting - finally!!!

Hi everyone at Paint Party Friday!

As always so sorry to have been gone for so long  but I did want to share that finally I managed to finish the giant ocean painting I had been talking about for a full year!!! This is a picture of it.

I actually finished it like a month ago (or maybe it was only a week? hard to keep track!!) but for some reason once you lose the thread of blogging it's hard going back. In any event, here it is.

Some lovely painting people I have on FB and G+ may have already seen this, and the WIP process. The process was fun! I began weirdly not committing to technique, with some weird garish alizarin crimson and olive green in the ocean and somehow, using linseed oil, managed to turn it into an indirect painting, which is what I wanted from the getgo. The only real impasto parts are the waves/froth of the ocean and some in the details re. the castles and such. And it is a real place called Vina del Mar from Chile. A nice town to visit. Got to view lots of photos to reaquaint myself!

Here is a link of the WIP from a Facebook album for all so inclined - if you do stop by do say hello!

I'm happy to be back! I'm sorry to have less time for this nowadays but I will strive to visit as many as I can, and will always 100% guaranteed visit/comment back on everyone who here visits.

PFF - more boats!

Rio valdivia my version

Hi all at PPF! As they say, 'stop me if you've seen this one har har///'

I went through a many paintings painting phase a month or so ago and still have not shared them all with the lovely PPFers so, here it is!

This is modeled on a painting by a CHilean famous painter called Arturo Pacheco Altamirano. As you can see, the painting I did is basically an identical study of that one. Not sure why I felt the need to do it save I was looking for styles and I have ALWAYS loved his style most of all! It is so wonderful and speaks of long-lost landscapes.

I would def. say his was crisper and better, heaps better, but to be fair the one I did above is in a really small canvas and I sought to finish in record time - don't remember how long it took now, but less than 2 hours.

Rio valdivia Arturo Pacheco Altamirano

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Fun to be back amongst the peoples again, even if only once in a blue moon. We are spending lots of time selling our wood relics, going to different fairs, etc. It takes a lot of time and energy but at least we sell something, LOL!

here is a facebook page of 'Marshall Arts', the pieces I make and sell with my husband Jim.

There today again! Wish me luck, all

(Connecting to Paint party Friday)

PPF - Canal Magdalena

Hi all at Paint party Friday! I am sharing a mini oil painting on Canal Magdalena, one of the many I worked on pre my big ocean painting. I really worked hard here to convey the true colours of the water and the somewhat stormy sky - or at least the mood, lacking that. It sure is hard catching the right tone, isn't it?

The place itself is a channel in the stormy cold South of Chile, near Puerto Williams and other such places. It was such a beautiful photo even though online I see nothing really about it, though apparently there's a rock band (from Chile) named after it! Who knew?

Have a great time!

ppf - studies of oceans and waterways various

Hi all at PPF!

Here I am continuing on beachy themes, all which I have mostly developed already on charcoal. THe one here is a beach in the northern town of Iquique in Chile - an interesting place way up north, near Peru, and very near one of the dryest deserts in the world, the Atacama. It's oil on some crazy oil painting paper I got for Xmas which seems to work out OK though is somewhat drying.

This one is the oil painting rendition of a sketch I had already composed in charcoal, and which I had posted for Creative Tuesdays and can be seen - in terms of info on the piece and the town it represents - here. BTW, Creative Tuesdays is a greatly fun blogging co-op! Biweekly challenges/prompts are given and we are then prompted to channel all our ideas into a common theme. Visit here for more. The piece is done on oils on a gessoed wood panel, reministent of my last year's painting project.

Hope all are having a great weekend! Will strive to look at everyone by end of Sunday.

PPF - painting binge

Greetings PPFers!

I undertook the 4 above oil paintings within less than 48 hours. That's almost 3 times my painting level during my Epic Painting Project of last year!

They are all the ocean, as can be seen, very specifically, the same wave, as seen here (last image on page). What I was seeking was to see how the colours showed up, regarding choice. 

So the bottom one is made with only blues, the one above that adds greens, the one above that adds yellows to blues and greens, and the last one adds purple, oranges, yellow, greens and blues. This last one is probably the weakest - but that's why I do this now, so as not to get stuck with some ugly-ass thing when the time comes to do it for reals. (this is still referring to a painting commission I received almost 6 months ago... wow!)

hope all have a groovy day!

PFF - Updates on previous piece

Hi all at paint party friday!

Here it is, then, the 2nd Friday in January. Hope the new year is being great for everyone!

Just wished to do a quick update on the woodpieces I posted last week. Our process here is that I do the drawings (as shown last week) and that Jim does all the colouring/painting - and that's what you see here.

Can't wait to start on my painting project for reals! Feels like I've been working on these wooden relics and set aside painting for a while.

some very exciting news for anyone who likes to work with illustrator/photoshop, or would like to but hasn't been able to afford it:

Adobe is giving away free downloads of the entire Creative Suite, version CS2.

Amazing but true! Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, all for absolutely free. It's an old version, but it's one I still have on another machine (a mac) which I purchased in 2005 for like $700 (and that was the student version, LOL). I was excited to find this link through a friend who hangs out in Linked In forums. Now I have the creative suite on my PC as well as my Mac :D

I downloaded it - the Photoshop seems absolutely fine, the Illustrator makes my screen look odd but otherwise seems to work. Would be interested in knowing if others do download it, and what their experiences are.

No idea how long Adobe will feel generous for, but here's the link: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html

have a great week and thanks for stopping by!