Sun Stone Man: Latination 5

This September Metro Galleries had another installment of it's Lationation event: Cinco De Lationation, curated by Don Martin. It is a time to artists to create works that reflect Latin heritage.

My entry to this group show was a statue of a head that I call Sun Stone Man.

The front is the face of is a figure from the center of the Aztec sun stone, the sun god, Tonatuh. I continued the design from the sun stone around to the back.

Front

In the center of the back, instead of having the sun god again, I used a figure that is Mayan to represent the mixing of cultures. No one of Latin heritage is completely from one tribe, we are all products of the melting-pot.

Back

Latination 5 will be on display for the month of September at Metro Galleries, Bakersfield.

For Further Reading:

Metro Galleries

Watch: Aztec Sun Stone

Aztec Calendar

Aztec vs. Maya Calendar

A Better Easel

What began as a chair ended up an easel, and was a spider for a little bit in between.

Chair, Spider, Easel, Better Easel

The original intent was to make something for an art exhibit, Have a Seat for the Arts back in 2011. I made a bar stool then made a spider out of that. When it didn't sell, I decided to piece together the lumber to create an easel, because normally they are relatively expensive and hard to find. The picture on the bottom left was the easel I used and carried around for a while. 

I take my art all over to work on or to show, and don't like to be limited to a small sketchbook. However, in my travels, the old easel hasn't held up so well. Sure it fit in my car, but there weren't enough screws to hold everything together and it kept biting me. Some parts came unattached or fell off as it was lugged around. Designed specifically for a certain canvas, I thought it would work for everything but did not. And besides its ability to hold canvases, the old one didn't look much like an easel.

Easel, holding a 16''x20'' canvas

This is the third time I tried to rebuild this easel. It was still worth it to make my own because this one's custom made. It looks more like an easel now. There are supports on each side and a bigger base on the bottom. I had to cut the supports at a wacky angle to fit the height I already had and the base I wanted. The middle is still a track for the holder to go up and down.

Spider Head

I repainted the whole thing and added some decoration. I painted the new parts yellow and blue to go with the pink. The line designs painted on top ended up changing as I went. Doodles are fun. I also gave the spider head some eyes and teeth.

Back side closeup

 It’s a lot better now that everything is secure. It works for big canvases as well as smaller ones. Carrying it around is easier too because there is a beam on the back to hold on to.

For Further Reading:

Form Follows Function: A Revision

Up-Cycling With What I Got

Don't Panic

To Build A Canvas

     In my art adventures, painting has been one of my main focuses. I was always interested in using new surfaces to paint on. In my beginnings I had always bought canvas from the store paying whatever price they demanded and not really knowing if it was overpriced, or even good quality for my money. Over time fellow artists asked why I didn't make my own canvas. Eventually I learned how to at Cal State Bakersfield, then learned more when I worked as an artist assistant for a project by a more established artist. I have been building canvases for two years now and have made dozens of them. This particular blog will show how to build a 3'x3' canvas my way.

Supplies

     SUPPLIES: 5'x5' canvas cloth, two pieces of 1''x2''x6' lumber, staples, four 2'' screws, pint of gesso, water.

Tools

   TOOLS: sandpaper, miter box and saw, right angle ruler, measuring tape, pencil, power drill/screwdriver, hammer, staple gun, mixing container, painter's stirring stick, wide bristled paintbrush. 

Lumber

     I use 1’’X2’’X6’ white-wood from Lowes because the six foot one fits in my car. Home Depot has 1’’X2’’X8’ lumber, and they may be able to cut it down for customers but they will not cut at angles (they never help me). When choosing wood from the pile, make sure your pieces are straight. Wood tends to curl at the knots and is undesirable for building canvas. Twists might not be visible at first, but a closer glance will show twists. For this project we only need 12feet of lumber, with at least 32'' extra. It is always a good idea to have extra if something goes wrong.

Measuring Tools

     With Measuring tape and right angle ruler mark where each piece will be cut. The miter box helps ensure straight lines when cutting. Place the lumber on a cutting piece in the miter box. Clamp the lumber down so it doesn't move. The line you drew on the wood should line up with one of the cutting grooves in the box. Keep in mind, the longer your saw is, the more times the teeth on said saw will be able to cut through the wood. I prefer using a hand saw because I can stop at any time with far less fear or losing a finger... or hand. For even faster cutting use a power saw.

Miter Box, cutting piece, clamps, saw

     There will be four pieces of newly cut  lumber with inverted 45degree angles facing the same direction, each 3feet long. With the extra lumber you will cut four more pieces that are eight inches long, also with 45degree inverted corners. The small pieces will support the structure. The supports will help keep the corners at a Right Angle. Some patterns  put a support piece through the middle if it is a large canvas. 

Corner: 8'' support with two 3' pieces

     Arrange the now cut pieces the way they will fit and make sure everything will goes together straight. Staple everything in place, leaving space for the screw to pass through on each corner. I use at two inch screw for this project. 

Power drill/Screwdriver with drill bits

     Drill holes for screws to fit. Start with a smaller drill bit and work your way up to match the size of the screw being used. Screw together each corner. Only screw each corner once, making sure you have two on the top side and two on the bottom, for appearance. (The Amish way would be to nail a hole into the wood where the screw would go, remove nail, and screw with St.Phillips screwdriver.) If the wood is thicker, like a 2''X2'' thick, more screws can be used going in different directions as long as they do not touch.

Stretcher Frame

     When stretching a canvas we can do this the easy way, the hard way, or the super-hard-mega-death way. There are different kinds of canvas that have different textures and thicknesses. Pioneer Paints, in Bakersfield, sometimes has varying textures of canvas, but it is always quality for painting. Some artists use Linen as canvas, it is much thicker and preferred for larger surfaces. Fabric stores usually do not have anything titled "canvas" but you can improvise. If the canvas is wrinkled you can iron it, or if you want to get tricky, wet it before stretching.

     When cutting canvas, cut a little piece and tear the rest along the grain all the way across. Be mindful of the selvage side. The selvage side, as indicated by a pattern across the fabric/canvas on one side, is the length that comes out of a loom when the cloth is made; This will indicate which direction of the cloth is more stretchy.

Canvas

    First, see which side of the frame is smoother, because staples may stick out. Next, place canvas so it has equal space on each side of the frame. There should be at least two inches extra after wrapping. Staple from middle to one side and do this going around in a circle. With a closer look, the grain of the cloth may be visible, in which case staple evenly along that. Be sure to pull the canvas to make all sides flat. Staple on the back of the wood, not the side; Gallery Wrapped style.
      Next, staple from middle to the side in the other direction until all the sides are done, but leave room on the corners for the closing fold. (When stretching multiple times, use shorter staples first so they come out easily. The canvas can be sprayed with water between stretches to make it stiff and can be stretched more when dry.) When doing final stretches, use thicker staples so they will stay (1/2''). MAKE SURE TO LEAVE CORNERS FOR LAST. 

Folded Corner

     On the last stretch, fold the corner in Hospital-Bed style: Tuck in the flap, pull away from the side being folded on, and fold flat. Staple this in place. Make sure all corners are facing the same way on each side; ie two corners facing right, two corners facing left.

Back of Stretched Canvas

     At any time, a canvas can be removed from its stretcher, which is why I only staple the supports to the frame, not screw them (I only screw in the major pieces). Once the canvas is stretched you can begin applying gesso.

Mixing Cup, Brush, Gesso, Stirring Stick

     Gesso is used to prepare the surface to paint, when it dries you can use any medium on it (oil paint, watercolor or acrylic). Without gesso the canvas will not absorb paint. Gesso is made of chalk, glue, white pigment and water, however making it from scratch at home would be impractical. It can be like frosting a cake or painting a house, depending on how large the canvas is. The gesso I buy usually has to be thinned so it can be easily spread. It sometimes comes in other colors such as black, but may be more expensive.

     I usually use three coats of thinned gesso to cover a surface. Sand the surface between coats, or after, to make it smoother and easier to paint detail work. Be careful; over sanding may cause need for stretching again. To be sure a canvas is completely covered in gesso, hold it up to the light; if there are any tiny holes of light peeking, it needs more gesso.

 DO NOT MIX OIL BASED PAINTS WITH WATER BASED PAINTS, THEY WILL DISINTEGRATE THEN EXPLODE.

Notes:

     Remember, tools only need to be purchased once, but supplies are things you will buy much more frequently, so think about buying in bulk if you have the cash and storage space. If you are not going to build canvases often, ask a friend if you can borrow their tools. 

     Michales has gesso, and pre-made canvases for sale. Be sure to get a coupon from Michales.com or the newspaper ad for 40-50% off one item. Michaels accepts coupons on smart phones. Canvas, Stretcher Bars, and gesso can be purchased at larger Artist Supply stores like DickBlick and Utrect. Walmart has some tools available but it is only basics. Be sure to check if the dollar store has basic supplies first. 
     Building your own canvas is better when making large surfaces; however, it is impractical to make small canvases at home, such as 8''x10.''

     Also, if you were wondering, it costs me about $25 in supplies to build at 3'X3' canvas.

Yours Truly, During a Demonstration

For Further Reading:

Michaels Arts & Crafts

Pioneer Paints, Bakersfield

Dick Blick Art Supply

Utrect Art Supply (usually cheaper than Blick)


Gallery Wrapped

On Folding a Hospital Corner

how to gesso

Form Follows Function: A Revision

"Bad easel, go sit in the corner!" -yours truly

After some intense painting, the base of the spider easel failed me. So, yet again, I had to fix the problem. This time there was no messing around; no thinking about extravagant fantasies of how it could look pretty; no speculation on what might work for the precise functions I need my easel to do.

The problem with the base was that it was too narrow to steadily hold the upper half straight. In a frustration during a late night painting session, I kicked the front base off and used my old easel the rest of the night.

I searched through my supplies to see if I had any extra wood to use. There was one unmade canvass stretcher. For a moment I thought of taking the stretcher apart and fiddling with it to make something pretty, yet functional; however, being behind on my painting schedule already, I hammered that onto the base fit to the front.

New Front Base of Easel

Then I took the wood that was the base of the front, the same piece I had kicked off in frustration, and attached that, along with the original base for the back, to the back leg. This was also to remedy the structural problem.

New Back Base of Easel

Back in the beginning of my intense painting session, before the base failed me, I tried using the tilted head to hold my largest canvass, but it was unstable. Although the original intent in keeping the face was to give it some attitude, I need this to be functional. So another amendment I made was to straighten out the spider face to make it able to hold larger canvasses. This is reinforced with a spare screw from the hinge kit I purchased. I also fixed one of the fangs that I thought might easily fall off.

Spider face revision

I am now out of nails and only have a few spare screws left. If this creation happens to need any more repairs, I just may send it to a nice farm and start again.

Revised Spider Easel

Today I used it to hold my largest canvass and so far it worked. After I decided I'd keep these amendments, I painted the new wood but kept some small things as reminders, like the word "CROOKED" in pencil on the back (when it is no longer crooked) and unpainted holes around the new screws, of the long, long process.

Crooked note on back of easel

Of course, new paint drips will happen periodically from projects, but that will happen as I paint more.

It was a chair. It was a spider. It was crooked. It was a faulty easel. It is fixed, for now.

PS. Don't forget to wear protective gloves.

Up-Cycling With What I Got

First all the wire holding the midsection together had to be unraveled. I squashed that into the shape of a brain, just for fun. Then I unscrewed everything and pulled all the nails apart. (NOT FOR BEGINNERS, WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES). Measurements were taken for how tall it needed to be to accommodate my largest canvass. It had to be close to the height of the easel I already had so it would fit in my studio.
 First all the wire holding the midsection together had to be unraveled. I squashed that into the shape of a brain, just for fun. Then I unscrewed everything and pulled all the nails apart. (NOT FOR BEGINNERS, WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES). Measurements were taken for how tall it needed to be to accommodate my largest canvass. It had to be close to the height of the easel I already had so it would fit in my studio. 
For a long time I wanted a good sturdy easel to paint on. The ones at the craft store were very expensive and none looked the right size. I bought a cheap "display" one and used it for years, but it wasn't sturdy enough for larger canvasses. As I met more artists over the years I saw their easels. Some had the expensive ones. Some got theirs from a friend but didn't know where it originated. In studios in college there were what appeared to be custom ones. This month I decided to build one myself. I already had previous woodworking experience; all i would need is new materials and a plan. 
I brainstormed based on what I saw in person and what photos I could find online. Back in August I built a spider, out of a bar stool I made, for the Chair Project. Once the exhibit was over, the spider came home with me and lived in my garage for a few months. Even though the idea of the spider was to be non-threatening, it looked scary in the dark garage. It was also taking up some space I park my car in. Looking at my wallet and then at the spider, I decided to disassemble the spider and re-use everything. This is called "up-cycling," the reuse of the whole object, that had one use, to make new and better things. In re-cycling useful parts are taken from objects and the rest of the object is thrown away. SAVE THE TREES!

                             

Spider to Easel

The pieces of wood were nowhere near the height I wanted, so I improvised. I put the taller pieces together and fasened them in place with another piece of wood that was then nailed and screwed on. After that, I checked my plans to see how tall the back leg had to be. This was also determined by how much wood I had left. I built a base with the extra wood.  Next I made the canvass holder. This one is sturdy enough for larger canvasses. I nailed some pieces together and drill holes for the cap screw. The way I built it, the canvass holder is adjustable to accommodate bigger or smaller canvasses. 
The only part of the spider I kept was the face. I wanted it to be a reminder of what it once was. A few days later, I bought a hinge, and other pieces I didn't already have in the spider. I put the hinge on aligned to the front and back parts but when it stood up, the whole thing was crooked to one side. I tried to pull apart the faulty base but it cut me. I imagined the spider biting my hand. It didn't want to change. ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTIVE GLOVES! By then, I was out of patience and called it a night. 
The next day I took apart the base and checked the tall pieces for alignment. I drew right angles to the edge of the wood, and it turned out the bottom of the tall piece was crooked, not the base. A newly aligned base fixed that and it was complete. It wasn't the easiest of projects. It took several days of work. This was possibly longer that it would have taken if I had used new pieces of wood, but up-cycling is green for the environment. This lumber has gone through another conversion. It seems more useful to my needs, for now.

Spider Easel

The best part is that it fits in my car so I can take it places as long as it doesn't bite me again.

"Don't Panic"

     "Have a Seat for the Arts" is a charity group art exhibit. Metro Galleries and The Foundry gave artists the task of creating, painting, or sculpting a chairinto a piece of art. This is the story of my "chair."
     The search for an inexpensive wooden chair that I could dismantle for a sculpture was fruitless; I couldn't find any that I could bare to tear apart and I was ona budget. So I built one of my own in the boiling heat of my backyard on what were my last days of summer.
     I decided to make a spider out of my chair because there are things in this world that bug me. Sometimes I place spiders in the bug category, after all, they do bug me, but they are really in a category all their own: arachnids. The truth is spiders eat bugs and would be okay to co-exist with humanity, if they didn’t bite us too.
     Cutting some of the chair legs apart, unscrewing most attachments completely, it slowly formed a spider. It didn’t seem exactly right the first try, so I cut a few more pieces from similar wood for an extra set of legs.  The basic shape I made was clumsy and wouldn’t stand alone. To amend this problem, I nailed feet to each leg and reinforced every elbow and knee with extra nails.

Spiderchair Process

 With leftover chair-wood, I fashioned a face with screws for eyes and nails for pinchers.  After all the amendments, the spider still retained a bit of her personality by refusing to have all feet in a symmetrical order. For the color I imagined a light blue or a purple. When I arrived at the paint store, there were cans of black, red,gray, and brown spray paint. At the end of the aisle there was a can of CameoPink. Steering clear of a “Spiderman” or black widow theme, pink was the best choice.

Spiderchair

Creating this sculpture was about overcoming my fears. The whole time I was sawing, nailing, wiring, etc., I thought to myself: "This is a spider. You're supposed to stay away from these things." Even as I was in the middle of sawing, a little brown spider came to visit. I paused to stare at it for a moment, and them promptly retreated inside until he left. This sculpture had to become an exception to the rule because I knew every corner, every foot; I knew how it came to be. It was no longer alien, but something one could keep as a pet. The CameoPink only compliments that. I affectionately call my sculpture "Don't Panic." Had the sculpture remained a chair, it might not have been noticed, even though it was hand crafted by yours truly; It's better this way.

Have a Seat for the Arts

About the Exhibit:

"Have a Seat for the Arts" is presented by Metro Galleries and The Foundry Artist Collective. Each chair will be displayed at various places in The Arts District of Downtown Bakersfield, and will be for sale by silent auction where 30% of proceeds will go directly to charity. The exhibit is part of October's "First Friday," aka "Art-Walk," October 7, 2011, from 5-9pm.