"Garden Octo" Mosaic Concrete Sculpture

Finally got around to mosaicing my concrete octopus sculpture that I created last fall in Oakland's Institute of Mosaic Art. He was a lot of fun and is covered with all kinds of fused glass bling!

Mosaic Salmon Sculpture in progress 3

Yay! All of the three salmon are grouted and they look so pretty and shiny! I just need to do minor clean up and then seal them. Each salmon weighs about 25-35 pounds. I also need to figure out how I am attaching the copper tubing together to form a circle. We might drill holes and then bolt them together. It will be fun to see it when it is done.

Mosaic salmon sculpture in progress 2

Happy New Year's Eve! I am currently working on the third of the three salmon for my concrete salmon sculpture. The sun is shining, so I thought I would take a couple of pictures of how they look so far. The glass has been adhered to the concrete and next I will be grouting them with charcoal grout...all of the black outlines should look pretty cool-I'm excited!

Mosaic salmon sculpture in progress

Happy Christmas Eve! I have been working away on my first large concrete sculpture (looks a little like a giant salmon wreath!) since I took my classes this summer. This will hang outside underneath the peak of a roof. Each concrete salmon is between two to three and a half feet long and has a copper tube through the center of it. I first sculpted the three salmon from polystyrene foam and then coated each in layers of concrete and fiberglass mesh for strength. After the concrete cures, I will mosaic each fish with a variety of stained and fused glass. I can't wait for that part!

"Rhinestone Rooster" hanging sculpture

Tis the season for little gifties. This is a fun one..."Rhinestone Rooster" a 6x6 hanging sculpture of acrylic on wood with clay and glass accents for $125. It can be found in Art Spirit Gallery's Small works invitational show

Spokesman-Review Commissions

After returning from Australia I got to work on a fun little project for a couple of my favorite journalists Jim and Rick who are retiring from the Spokesman-Review. Jim is an avid flyfisherman and loves cutthroat trout and Rick is a salmon guy. Although I had a few ideas to go on...when they opened their gifts at the retirement party last night, the final paintings ,commissioned by the Spokesman-Review, were a surprise.

Link to a nice write up in the Spokesman's outdoor blog

Here are the very nice thank you emails I received from them today. "Just hung the painting and it looks great - toasting it with a Winterfish ale, to be followed by the salmon dinner we deferred from last night since the retirement afterparty went so late. Had lots of compliments on it, one of my fellow retirees who got an iPad said he wished he would have thought of something more creative instead. So thanks again, and have a great rest of the holiday season - Rick"

"I LOVE it. It's perfect. It captures exactly the feeling I wanted. Both pieces were a big hit at our party and you have a few hundred new admirers. I couldn't have dreamed up a better retirement present." -Jim

This is why I love my job!

Australia

Yay! I am back from Australia...it was an excellent trip. I have my photos posted on face book if you want to take a look at them. Now it is time for all of the gift shows. I have work at the Tinman Gallery "Best of 2011" group show, which opens this Friday December 2nd. I also have work at the "Small works invitational" group show at the Art Spirit Gallery in CdA, ID, which also opens this Friday.