Saturday, August 30, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Head and Train work

Yesterday I start off the day with "War Medicine" Looking like this. You can barely see one of the three scars that I added to the arms of the warrior on the bicep of his left arm and on the forearm of the left arm. These would have been scars caused by a glancing bullet wound on the bicep, and a cutting wound on the forearm. There's also scars on the right forearm and on the left eye of the warrior. I'll take better photo's for tomorrows entry.


I had to rework the face of the warrior a bit so I removed the front head piece of the headdress so I could work on eyes and eyelids as well as the forehead.


Then I started to work on the trade cloth train that hangs from the back of the headdress. I added a White Ermin Skin, then brass crosses and finally ribbons. These would have been things he'd seen in a vision and thus would be magical. The reason would be known only to him.


Then today I added two knives to his belt. The large knife in the front would have been his fighting knife. I made it a bowie. the knife on the back of the belt would have been for scalping. This is were I left the piece this afternoon.


I then started working on "Ain't No Cowboy's" head by removing the hat. I needed to work on her eye's and forehead as well as her lips and mouth area. I will sit with my model, Lea Ann, next week to fine tune the face even more. That was it for today.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Old Friends and Wax Feathers

Dr. Harvey and Joyce Goldberge stopped into the gallery to see me today. Here Harvey attempts to adjust my clay.... Harvey and Joyce(not shown) are old friends of mine. They own several of my pieces.



Well after visiting with the Goldberges I took all the feathers on "War Medicine's" headdress off. I wanted to clean them up. Over the last 12 months, they've gotten pretty banged up. I decided to redo the 7 feathers in wax. Below I show the process.





Here you can see at the end of today the feathers are starting to multiply.


Drove to Carson Nevada this evening after my appearance and took this as the sun was getting low over Sand Harbor on Lake Tahoe. Later everyone....

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

August 2008 Tour - 2 Clays over 3 Days

I started my appearance at the James Harold Gallery Monday of this week. Here is the progress I've made over those 3 days.
I started the week working on "Ain't No Cowboy". Working on the boots. Getting the height of the two boots to match. Then I went back to work on the spurs. Adding buckles that you can't see in the photo's below, then fine tuning the rowels of the spurs, from the quick sketch one to the more realistic ones.
Didn't work on much else on her. Finished working on her yesterday afternoon at the end of my appearance.


Here are photo's of the clay as I finished yesterday. You may notice the coil of rope is now of wax covered twine.


This morning I got back to "War Medicine". His left hand was falling off at the wrist, taking with it the shield and sword sheath. So I had to do some major repairs. I started by cutting down to the armature in the left arm and removing half of the arm. Then I wrapped bailing wire around the armature and forming a loop where the hand would eventually be. I then tied wire around the loop for the hand to attach the Sheath to the hand. Then I formed a horseshoe shaped wire and nailed the sheath itself to the body of the Indian. Then I reattach the shield to the hand by tying wire through the hand armature and through two holes in the cardboard of the shield. Then screwing the bottom right part of the shield to the leg.




Here are final photo's of "War Medicine" at the end of this day.

Well I'm back in the gallery at 1 pm tomorrow. I'll add if I have anything tomorrow night. I'm so ready to get home.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Been Off For A Week

Took over a week off. It's been just swell.I thought I'd add a video that I shot as I passed the Great Salt Lake, as I was leaving Utah. In it I crossed the Bonniville Salt Flats where the Land Speed Records are set.




Thought I'd share a photo I took of Emerald Bay on the west shore of Tahoe.




Monday I start my appearances at the James Harold Gallery, here in, Tahoe City California. 1 p.m to 5 p.m..

Sunday, August 17, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Leaving Colorado to the tunes of Amy

On my way to Tahoe City California. Here is a video of the beauty of the Rocky Mountains of Western Colorado. I'm playing an album by Amy Mathesius, called, "Colorado Blue". She performed at the Breckenridge Fine Art Gallery last night during my appearance there. Her photo appears below.



Here is the youtube link for the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQSUV4nKD18

Well that's it for today.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Last Day at Breckenridge - Saddle takes shape

A short video of me leaving the Hotel Frisco, in Frisco Co. and driving to Breckenridge. At the end of the video I promised to do a tour of the Gallery. To tell you the truth, I forgot to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkSTy4t_r8o

Pictures of me working on my clay. In the first photo, Heather and Jane (Breckenridge Fine Art Gallery) watch me with some humor... not sure why. The second photo shows me explaining what I do to a few gallery patrons.


Spent the whole day fine tuning the face of Ain't No Cowboy, and working on the saddle. Here are the final photo's today of that piece.


Tomorrow morning I start my last leg of my August tour. I'm heading to the James Harold Gallery in Tahoe City California. It'll take a couple of days to get there. So not sure I'll be adding for a few days. Check back in Wednesday of next week.

Friday, August 15, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Long two days - Thunder and Lightning

I am so whipped tonight. I went for 14 hours straight yesterday, packing my stuff, and leaving Gallup New Mexico in the early morning, and arriving in in Breckenridge Colorado in the late afternoon. Unpacking all that I loaded that morning, then checking into the Hotel Frisco in Frisco Colorado and carrying all my cloths and stuff across a very muddy uneven road to the hotel. Going to bed very early and up very early to get to Silverthorn this morning for a TV interview. Picture below shows Paul, director of the Breckenridge Fine Art Gallery, the TV Shows host, and me, just before the interview.


Well here are a set of photos of the cowgirl piece. I worked all day on the face of the girl, the spurs, and the fenders of the saddle. The wax was not working well today. It was really grainy. I was using a 60 watt bulb instead of a 100 watt bulb to soften the wax. Not sure if that's the reason the wax was acting up.






Tomorrow is my last day at this gallery and then I'm off to Tahoe for the final leg of this trip. I apologize for not being more detailed in what I'm doing. Just to hard to talk to people, and to take continuous photo's of what I'm doing.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Ain't no Cowboy - Boots

Today I spent the afternoon working on the right boot. I had been putting it off because it's so hard to make the second boot you do, like the first boot you did.
That's about all I did today. Just researched the spurs and with wax started them as well. Picture of clay at 5 pm tonight. Oh I had a lady, Amy, who was mopping the floors in the show room, made a comment on her waist and how I can adjust it. I did what she said, because I could see what she was talking about. The adjustment worked. Improved it.





You take any good comments and employ them. Sometimes you get to close to a piece and you know something is not quit right, but you can't see it, till someone with fresh eyes looks at it.
As you can see the face still has a lot of tightening to get it to a finished state.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Last Day of Gathering of the Masters

Irving Toddy's grand daughter, Aidah, was so cute today, dressed in a Navajo outfit, Irving's mother once wore. I took this video of her playing with her brother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjTSftORqQ

here Irving Toddy and Baje Whitethrone go over my "Ain't no Cowboy" clay.




Again Irving's Granddaughter, Aidah, applying to be my apprentice.



Here are photo's of the cowgirl piece. I did both arms today.



Today at 6 pm, Orland Joe, Kenneth Whirl, and John Boomer, all artists in the Gathering of the Masters, entertained at a reception held for the artists. I recorded several of the songs, but the sound in all but one was very bad. John Boomer was just running a test song on his guitar and harmonica. Here is that short video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-W52A8Hb7E

Sunday the 10th will be a day off, because the Southwest Indian Cultural Center will be closed. I'll be staying in Gallup till sometime this next week, and working on my clays, in the Center. Then I travel to Breckenridge Colorado, for my next to the last appearance I'll be making this summer. I'll add to the blog sometime next week. So keep checking in. Love you all.

Friday, August 8, 2008

August 2008 Tour - What Clan Are You?

First day at the Gathering of the Masters at the Southwest Indian Cultural Center, in Gallup New Mexico. Here are a few photo's from today.




Here is a video tour of the show. Again, easier to upload to Youtube than here. Motel connection just isn't reliable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFrirpnUepc

Now an explenation of the heading of this days entry. The Navajo have had as many as 80 different family clans (http://www.members.tripod.com/~wulfspirit/navclans.html). I was jelous of the fact that I had no clan to claim. So Baji, Irving and I sat around talking about what clan would I be a member of. Last name Lemon... Had to be the Bitter Fruit Clan... So I'm from the Bitter Fruit Clan now. I now belong. :)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

August 2008 Tour - A day off

Just did laundry and wrestle with my cell phone company. I sat in the park next to the Basilica of Saint Frances in Santa Fe New Mexico. The bells began to ring and I was on the phone with a friend. first part of this video was at noon today. The second part was as I was walking back to my van at 5:10 pm. It was just starting to rain. I tried to upload the video here on my blog, but it just wouldn't upload, so here is my YouTube copy of the same a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjXvXLWybjY

I also video taped a tour of the Frank Howell Gallery in Santa Fe. Here is the video, again the one I downloaded onto YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcc15_9XTIA

These are a few photo's I took near the Basilica. Oh I now know where Santa resides in the summer... lol.


It took me till today, the 7th of August to finish this entry, because I couldn't upload the two videos. So here are a couple of photo's of my drive from Santa Fe, to Gallup New Mexico. The sunset was in Gallup.




Tuesday, August 5, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Ain't no Cowboy - Starts to take shape

Yesterday I started to add the shirt to the girl. Rolling the clay and laying it strategically on the girls torso to form the bases for the shirts wrinkles. Then I fill in around the rolls. Taking a wire tool I texture the shirt. Her shirt will be partly open.



I work on the face some more and then start adding the braids. I decided to go with braids because the loose hair wouldn't work in a working condition. Then I add the hat, and start to shape the brim.



Got back to my room yesterday just before it totally started to downpour. Cooling off everything Finlay. It was great. Love wind and rain.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

August 2008 Tour - Two days at the Frank Howell Gallery

Saturday and today, I worked on the figure of "Ain't No Cowboy".


I found that the lower legs were to long so I decided to build a base up to bring the level of the ground up to where the bottom of the boots need to be.




I started to work on the face as well. Here is a speeded up video of that.

Here are few pictures I took tonight as I left the gallery for my van. I have one correction on the last post on my blog. Turns out the Basilica was actually built in the 1860's. Here is a brief history of this beautiful building.
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
The cathedral was built by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy between 1869 and 1886 on the site of an older adobe church, La Parroquia (built in 1714-1717). An even earlier church on the same site, built in 1626, had been destroyed in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. The new cathedral was built around La Parroquia, which was dismantled once construction was complete. A small chapel on the north side of the cathedral is all that remains of the old church.



I saw something in the Bell tower opening from the side of the Basilica. I telephoto'd in on it and it turns out to be a ceramic Owl.



The last two photo's are of a monument to a Conquistador with the longest name I've ever seen. The plaque first and then the bronze.