I'm Totally Nuts For You

All of you.  That's right.  I love you, and all of my other friends, and my cats and just about everything on the planet.  It's great.  Except maybe snakes.  Snakes scare the crap out of me.  This is my piece for the
"Lovers and Haters" show at the Hive Gallery.

It's good to do one again after a little while off from these group shows.

I have some more stuff to blog about soon as well.  Actually the images are already scanned in and everything, but I am 90% certain this blog is going to be moving to Lewis Acrylics dot com soon, so I haven't been adding as much as usual since I will have to export all of the posts to the blog over there.  I will give plenty of advance notice so you can change your pointers though.

Hope you have an awesome January 27th.
Peace
-Mike

The Jar Project is Complete

I am finished with the Jar Project. I feel quite good about the finished product too, which is great. I received the final checklist and reminder list and saw that the jar top wasn't allowed to be painted, but I also notice that we are supposed to remove all labels from the outside of the jar, so I just sanded off the paint, because Smuckers insists on emblazoning their jars with their logo all over the cap as well as on the paper on the jar.

I also added a small handwritten biography to the underside of the jar cap and repainted Cuddles himself so that he shone a little brighter in the glass jar. I think it looks pretty great. Check it out!

And here is another view from straight on so you get a better idea of the colors used.

There she be. More to come soon. I've got some more in the works and I'm pretty excited about it all. I am also going to be teaching a class of fifth graders soon, so we'll see what comes of that as well. For now I must go, it is nearly impossible to type with a cat sitting on your hands after all.

Peace
-Mike

The Jar Project: Goals Reached in 2011

The Jar Project is a show that as I have informed you will be at Whitney Art Works here in Portland, ME. It will be the first time that I am showing in a well recognized East Coast gallery. I am very excited for the opportunity.

I thought that I would begin the year by showing a little bit of the process behind this piece. I had intended to use the overlapping blocks like I described earlier. I set out with 7 or 8 painted blocks and looked at the different compositions that I could make with them, thinking that I would only incorporate the blocks in the final product. I wasn't really into the final piece with that in mind, but more into the process, which from the perspective of the post-modernists may not be a bad thing, but keeping in mind that this is a project about jars and things that are kept in them, it seems important to think of the object within the jar and therefore this post-modern thing just won't work on this piece.

So I said to myself, self, I need some cartoons in this bad boy. My friend Mattie came over and I started drawing out a squirrel for the inside of the jar. Later that night as I was walking home I found a piece of what I assume was a cross on the side of the road at some point, but had found its way to the road way. The piece of wood read "Cuddles / We Love N Miss You / 1 - 2008 to 8 - 2010. It's kind of a sad thought, but really got me thinking so I started working with this:

I decided to add some direct references, another block and to paint the lid of the jar and came up with what I presently have. It interested me to put the monument of a pet within a glass jar much as we keep the living animals in captivity within a glass jar, cage, or at least our doors and windows in our houses. Anyway, here is how the piece currently looks:

I am not sure at this point how close to done the piece is. I kind of feel as if I should paint the squirrel more, but I am not sure that it is necessary. Either way, I think the piece is a big step for me, and I am excited with the results.

See you soon.
Peace
-Mike