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!

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 - 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 - Valparaiso

hi all at paint party friday! its good to be back. i took a global blogging sabbatical but now would like to get back with it. Generallywhen i get so overwhelmed that i lose the komentum or inclination to visit other bloggers, I take a break. then, when i get the desireto see what everyone else is up to, i log back in.

this piece is called Valparaiso which is the best place in the whole world. No exceptions. I would go onbut am postung from a keyboardless tablet which is kind of a pain ha ha! this painting is just a draft whichI may or may not improve Hope everybody is grear!

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 & SS - a public service announcement

The following painting is 3ft x 3ft and is, alongside another smaller still life (oil paintings both) gone - dissappeared.

I wanted to take the time to share folks in art blogs my cautionary tale.

Sometime last year, i began to think about maybe hopefully possibly dedicating a more serious attitude to what one might call an art's career. and went out looking willy nilly for places to display. I settled on a restaurant 30 minutes from where I live. Later on learned for many reasons why displaying at restaurants is such a bad idea - people go to eat, not look at art, you appear as an unserious artist, etc - but at the time I figured, I'd rather the large thing be on display somewhere than gathering dust in my garage you know?

I remember this was, say, last September. I showed up with my two paintings, signed a release of liability (wear & tear, damage, etc), and never bothered about it again.

I decided this week to get my art back since I've been managing to make some sales of my own, etc.

Turns out the restaurant is out of business, was out of business for I don't know how long-  the new restaurant only could say they had been there a week, and to contact either the original owners or the building owners. No number or email works for the previous restaurant owners, and I have yet to hear back from the others.

So - I might have lost this painting, for good. A good 3 months went into it, not counting expense of materials.

I wanted to warn others to please, please take care of what you do with your art!

1) I agree with what artists have previously said, don't waste your time with restaurants or coffee shops, unless these stores are willing to purchase your work outright. It's a waste of time for all concerned, and essentially free decoration for a business that has no interest in reimbursing artists for work

2) Don't be like me - check up on your art! Inconceivable for places and things to go belly up like that, from one second to the next, but it does happen. In fact, if you have your work at a place (store, cafe, etc) and you haven't monitored it for a while, please go check up on it! now, right now! And either bring  it home or verify it's ok

other than that have a good weekend - seriously prob. won't get around to visiting anyone till well after the weekend is over - busy at craft fairs, etc

am conneting to paint party friday and sunday sketches

Paint Party Friday - late and a bit on edge

Thanks much to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday for giving many of us this cool chance to paint!

Chose to, in a pre-boat-painting mode, take out temperas and see what I could come up with. Was discussing with a friend earlier that it is very difficult to come up with something creative out of wholecloth, with nothing photographic or life-like to refer to. It's an interesting problem - coming up with new stuff. Part of it is brave - confronting the blank paper with no plan or preconceived notion. Part of it I think involves having the ability to channel the freefloating creativity existing within so as to come up with something specific. The third test of course is being able to access the skills and techniques of painting/rendering with no outside guidance (IE no model of any sort).

These areas are one I have lacking which is why free form things I do come out a little weird. Hence, this man that reminds me of some of the weird things I had to cook up for life drawing class! On the other hand, one's mood informs what comes out and this piece captures the fact I feel more than a little 'on edge' right now.

Was at a community meeting last night and ate waaaaaay too much sugar - then over to the pancake place for biscuits and such - and this comes out! In the interim undergoing the stress of translating my project idea to reality - don't know. On edge. This is what being on edge looks like I guess.................

Paint Party Friday - Sad House

paint party friday - tempera

I don't know why the house is sad - poss. because it's the dark moon and I am sad, because all I wanted has failed to come to pass and it's pretty much my fault, my doing, etc. And because it takes so long to paint a simple painting and then you might not be happy with it. Or just because it resembles some of the sad houses, abandoned, in the area. A mix between a barn and a house, not having seen inhabitants for ages. Also 'sad' due to 'blue', and the blueness of it, which denotes the sad.

Anyway - this was all tempera on paper - with some acrylic thrown in for good measure. I saw some people utilize cool background effects and I tried for that.

I have used this method before - same paints, then epoxy resin and cardboard/sheetrock back. Lasts forever and looks insanely cool. The difference is astounding between the re epoxy and post epoxy as can be seen here