Colorations

Ewe Hoo....Sneak Peek

2010-10-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

My mother has a friend who collects sheep. Well, not actual sheep but pictures of sheep, statues of sheep..you get my meaning. Anyway, my mother wants to give her friend a tile with sheep as the subject matter but with a pun at its heart. The theme was to be "lamb on the lam" which conjured up a lot of ideas. Meredith, Mark and I kicked around a few ideas: a lamb wearing sunglasses, a lamb standing on top of another lamb, a pair of sheep acting as decoys while a lamb runs away in the distance.

Originally, I was going to draw a picture to give to Meredith and she was going to make the tile. When I started working on the drawing, though, I was having too much fun and so Meredith suggested that I make the tile. Well, I ended up making 20 sheep tiles on the first go around so I think I'll stick with sheep for a while and go back to the girffes later. Here is a sneak peek at the sheep tiles in progress.

Tiles

2010-09-22T03:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the latest giraffe tiles.

The Safari House

2010-09-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Every time we come back to the Safari House there is another new "critter" of some description. This time it is a taxidermied squirrel who is living in the knothole of the tree trunk which makes up the stair rail in the entry. He is buddied up with some new African birds who are perched just down the tree trunk and next to the monkey cage.

Under the Oaks

2010-09-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we participated in a pottery show and sale in Wake Forest. The weather was perfect, the people were nice and there was free music....what more could you ask for? The giraffe tiles had their second outing and were well received and we sold quite a bit of jewelry, too.

I'm ready for another show!

Of course the chandelier at the Safari House Involves Monkeys!

2010-09-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

We're back at the Safari House again to try to finish our projects before December. While we were away, our friend, Greg, sculpted a pair of monkeys holding lanterns. They are hanging above the alligator dining room table. Greg did a masterful job as I think you'll see in these pictures.

Down on the farm

2010-09-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

I spent most of last week holding down the fort at Meredith and Mark's while they very kindly took our mother up to see our brother. It was a very peaceful week and I was happy to get out of the rat race for a while and look at trees and fields instead of concrete and telephone poles.

Here's the view from the studio door, with a field of newly mown hay. On the other side of the same door there is a tomato garden. The tomatoes have just about petered out but the stalks make a perfect home for this lovely big spider. I have always called these "writing spiders" but their proper name is Argiope Aurantia. Whatever her name, she is a fine specimen. She caught herself some lunch while I was there.

It was a very quiet week, so I got a lot of tiles glazed and Meredith fired them yesterday. I'm eager to see how they came out. Pictures to come soon.

Back at the Safari House again

2010-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Once again, we have a new project at the Safari House. We're staining and varnishing the foot rests for the Alligator table and the bar. The one for the table is completed and installed and we're waiting for Stan to carve the other one.

Back at the Safari House

2010-06-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

As the title says, we're back at the Safari House. This time around we are working on the kitchen counter top. We're making it look like an African stream bed, complete with fish, marshes, rocks and sand. This has been a really fun project. My only regret is that I couldn't figure out a way to work a giraffe into it. Some of these pictures give you a "fish eye view" of the project and some give a long view. The platform at the end of the counter top is a pull out platform that is going to hold a hand crafted fish bowl that my sister, Meredith, and I are going to make. I'll post more pictures when the project is complete.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm posting the last giraffe today because I'm going down to the farm tomorrow to help Meredith carve tiles for the Safari House backsplash. I wanted to think up something that marked the end of the project, as I did with the final February giraffe taking a bow. I googled "giraffe waving goodbye" and, lo and behold, a photograph with the caption "giraffe waving goodbye" came up. I made a drawing based on that image.....seemed too good to pass up. I hope no one takes offense at the giraffe's backside. He's just waving goodbye.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Next to last.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

Number 29 is smiling because we're celebrating Tony's birthday today. He's not getting any pie, either.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is TGIF 28.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Twenty seven down and four to go.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here's 26.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Giraffe 25.

31 More Giraffes and a baby girl

2010-05-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

She has arrived! Anna gave birth on Friday morning, verrrry early, to a baby girl. Her name is Mara Jade and she is absolutely gorgeous. Everyone's healthy, everyone's happy, all's right with the world.

Here's a picture of a giraffe.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Meredith and Mark are in Norfolk awaiting the appearance of the new bambina, so I am going down to the farm for a few days while Tony holds down the fort here. I hope to be able to work on some more giraffe tiles while I'm there. I'm posting the weekend's giraffes today so I won't have to worry about it over the weekend. Here are 21, 22 and 23.

31 More Giraffes and a new baby

2010-05-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

My niece, Anna, and her husband, Baptiste, are expecting their first baby any day now. I thought the occasion called for a giraffe picture celebrating love of family, so this is it.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is giraffe 19.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

This is eighteen.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

And number 17 has arrived.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Halfway there!

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-15T17:10:00.001-07:00

And number 15.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is funny-faced fourteen

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here's lucky thirteen.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here's the "hump day" giraffe.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Here's another suggestion from Jay.......a giraffe wearing half glasses.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

My brother, Jay, suggested that I draw a giraffe with "bubba" teeth. Here's that fine lad.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-09T16:25:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!!

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is number 8.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Number 7 is having lunch.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Number 6 looks as if he's speaking his mind.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Here's number five.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here's number four, munching away.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

We had a really busy day today, so I'm getting to this late. We delivered a chandelier back to its home after gilding it with sterling silver leaf. It was a lot of work, but made a big difference to the appearance of the chandelier.

Oh, and here's a picture of a giraffe.

31 More Giraffes

2010-05-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

OK...I know it is May 2nd and I didn't post yesterday. I already posted the first May giraffe in April so I'm counting that as #1 for May. Here's #2.

Giraffe Tiles

2010-04-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

I want to make more giraffe tiles and I decided that I needed more images to work from. So....the challenge is on again. I'm going to try to post one giraffe drawing a day to www.onemilliongiraffes.com every day for the month of May. Wish me luck and stay tuned for more giraffe fun. Here's May One in advance.

Giraffe Tiles

2010-04-25T11:21:00.001-07:00

I just finished carving another batch of giraffe tiles and wish I had some more tile blanks to carve. Can't wait to get these glazed and fired!

28 Giraffe Tiles

2010-04-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

The first of the giraffe tiles are done! There are only six of them, but it's a start. They had their debut at Meredith and Mark's spring show this past weekend at their pottery www.whynotpottery.com. Of course, my favorite one went first. I brought home some more tile blanks so I can get some more giraffes going. I'm having too much fun.

Twenty Eight Giraffes Plus One

2010-03-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

I thought I was finished with the 28 giraffes project, but my sister, Meredith, gave me a newspaper picture of a giraffe and it was so appealing that there just had to be one more.

This is "Plus One".

Tiles

2010-03-19T07:25:00.001-07:00

Two Sundays ago I spent a lovely Sunday with my sister and brother-in-law at their pottery in Seagrove, NC: www.whynotpottery.com. Meredith and I made components for jewelry and she also showed me how to make tiles. I came home with some tile blanks which I'm transferring the images from my 28 Giraffes project onto. I am almost finished carving them and can't wait to see them finished. This has been really fun and really different from what I usually do. Here are some pictures of the tiles in progress.

A Lion's Tale (and Mane)

2010-03-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

I did something today that I would wager a dollar that no one else in the world was doing: I put a hair weave on a stuffed lion. We were at the Safari House (big surprise) where a gnarly stuffed lion lives on the deck outside the family room. This poor lion must have lived a rough life because he was nearly bereft of hair on his head. He was balding. He was headed for cue ball status. He was about to join the Hair Club for Kings of the Jungle.

So the homeowner got me a huge bag of human hair (made in China) and I went to work with my trusty hot glue gun. At the end of the afternoon, after a lot of attaching, snipping, teasing and feathering, that lion had one fine, fine mullet. Here are before and after pictures of "Mane-ard".

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Eight

2010-02-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Number 28 is taking a bow to mark the end of this project. It's been fun, but I'm ready to get on with something that brings in money!

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Seven

2010-02-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

We have been helping our friend, Stan, with his project at the Safari house. He is creating animal print cabinets by carving leopard spots, giraffe spots and zebra stripes out of various exotic woods. We spent yesterday sanding giraffe spots and, at the end of the day, I made a giraffe out of some of the spots and took this picture.

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Six

2010-02-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

I'm down to the home stretch!

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Five

2010-02-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

There's nothing left of this giraffe but the spots.

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Four

2010-02-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Leslie sent me the picture that I drew this from. This is Bea the giraffe and Wilma the Ostrich and they live in Busch Gardens Tampa. It's an unlikely friendship, but fun to watch..........

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeDOKVbAb6Q

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Three

2010-02-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

My brother Jay suggested that I combine a giraffe and a brontosaurus. Here's Giraffeosaurus.

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty Two

2010-02-22T06:14:00.000-08:00

There is a running joke on onemilliongiraffes.com about pigs trying to get into the project. www.onemilliongiraffes.com/?id=6696 www.onemilliongiraffes.com/?id=26025
This is my contribution to the joke.

Faux Finishing, Venetian Plaster

2010-02-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

The giraffes have been a great diversion and I plan to keep my pledge of sending one a day to www.onemilliongiraffes.com, but I started this blog to have a place to post pictures of my work.

These pictures are of Venetian plaster and faux encaustic finishes that we have done. Venetian plaster is a particular type of plaster which is typically applied with a 4" stainless steel trowel. The plaster is applied in layers and the layers can be all the same color or several different colors, depending on the desired result. This finish has a luminous quality and is reminiscent of marble.

The first picture is a faux encaustic. That is to say that it is a faux finish which looks like Venetian plaster but is, instead, accomplished by using multiple layers of colored glazes. I guess that makes it a "faux" faux finish. This is Posta Tuscan Grille, which is in the new Marriott City Centre in downtown Raleigh, NC. We painted all four dining areas and the bar. For more pictures of this go to www.postatuscangrille.com

The second picture is the Venetian Plaster that we did at Southern Prime steakhouse in Southern Pines, NC. We rolled a coat of metallic bronze paint on the walls first and then troweled the plaster over it in a way that allowed the bronze to show through. The third picture is a close up of this finish. The site for this restaurant is www.southernprime.net

The fourth picture is of a type of plaster that comes pre-mixed in metallic colors. For this effect, we layered silver over gold.

The last picture is of a Venetian plaster which was applied in the traditional manner and then coated with a metallic top coat.

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty One

2010-02-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here's another of Leslie's ideas.

28 Giraffes, Day Twenty

2010-02-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

My sister, Leslie, e-mailed me some giraffe ideas that I have been trying to work up. I'm not sure I did it justice, but here's the first one.

28 Giraffes, Day Nineteen

2010-02-19T04:38:00.000-08:00

A zebra and a leopard mated to create this giraffe.

28 Giraffes, Day Eighteen

2010-02-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

I sent in a funny one for today.

28 Giraffes, Day Seventeen

2010-02-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here's the Hump Day giraffe.

28 Giraffes, Day Sixteen

2010-02-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Giraffe Sixteen is having a lovely meal of Acacia leaves.

28 Giraffes, Day Fifteen

2010-02-15T04:42:00.000-08:00

It's Blue Monday, so here's a pensive giraffe.

28 Giraffes, Day Fourteen

2010-02-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

I know this is corny but it is Valentine's day, after all. Does this take "necking" to a whole new level?

28 Giraffes, Day Thirteen

2010-02-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Here's lucky thirteen.

28 Giraffes, Day Twelve

2010-02-12T17:20:00.000-08:00

I had a not-so-great day and got home very late. Sketched this giraffe in about 10 minutes so I could get it in.

28 Giraffes, Day Eleven

2010-02-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

Even though I got REJECTED yesterday, I'll continue with my pledge. Here's Eleven.

28 Giraffes, Day Ten

2010-02-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

This is a giraffe shoe that I made for a friend's Christmas present last year. I took a wooden shoe last and had Tony drill holes in the heel so that we could attach legs made out of crochet needles and then I painted it in a giraffe skin pattern in metallic gold and bronze. I submitted this to onemilliongiraffes but they rejected it on the grounds that they thought it was store-bought and not handmade. I don't know whether to feel insulted that they thought I would cheat or flattered that my little shoe looked so good that they thought it was store-bought.

28 Giraffes, Day Nine

2010-02-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

Here's number nine.

28 Giraffes, Day Eight

2010-02-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

Here's looking at you, number eight.

28 Giraffes, Day Seven

2010-02-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

There had to be a really foolish one eventually and Seven is it.

28 Giraffes, Day Six

2010-02-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

OK.....I love them all the same, but if I HAD a favorite..........

The Safari House alligator table

2010-02-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

We are finished for a while in the Safari house. The project is not completed, but we have some other things to get to. I thought I would post a few pictures of the things that we (and our friend Greg) have been doing there. The first picture is of the family room. I painted the mural of the homeowner with two elephants beside her and Tony and I plastered and glazed all of the walls in this room, the hall and the kitchen.

The second picture is also of the family room, but shows the Rhino mounted over the fireplace. Tony and I sculpted all of the stone ledges that are in the family room and kitchen, including the one that you see here.

The third photo is one I took of the family room while I was on a 16' high scaffold in the kitchen.

The fourth picture is of the "roots" in the sun room, just off the kitchen.

The final picture is of the dining room table (in process). Our friend, Greg, sculpted this alligator table. There is a huge glass table top that sits on the alligator's back and stools that slot into armatures under each leg. I might be wrong, but I don't think there's another dining table in the world like this one. I told Greg, though, that no man I know is ever going to sit at the "business end" of that alligator.

28 giraffes, Day Five

2010-02-04T18:13:00.000-08:00

I've been drawing giraffe faces for this project, so I thought I would change it up a bit. How many giraffes are in this picture?

28 Giraffes, Day Four

2010-02-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

I drew this giraffe last night. She looks very pleased with herself. The scanner function on my printer is malfunctioning, so I had to take a digital picture of the drawing.

28 Giraffes

2010-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

This is today's giraffe. He looks a little like he's blowing raspberries.

28 Giraffes

2010-02-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

It's day 2 of my pledge to send a giraffe a day to www.onemilliongiraffes.com and I did a quick sketch of a giraffe font to send. We haven't been able to get our of our neighborhood since Friday because of all the snow and ice that we got, but we braved the slushy streets today to go over to the Safari house to set up scaffolding. We're trying to finish the tree root sculpture on the ceiling in the kitchen. When we're done, it will look as if the can lights are surrounded by knotholes, roots, vines and stones..... at least we hope that's what it will look like!

One Million Giraffes

2010-02-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I'm going to try to send one giraffe a day to www.onemilliongiraffes.com for every day in February. Some of them will be giraffes that I've already drawn, sculpted or painted and some will be new. The one I'm sending today is a picture of a giraffe lamp that I painted last year for the Safari House project. This lamp was made from pvc pipe by the homeowner's son and the resulting lamp was so tall that I had to paint it in pieces and then re-assemble it at the Safari House. Yes, those are "roots" growing out of the ceiling.

2010-01-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

This must be my week for giraffes. I finished the giraffe mural picture and now I have just found out about an amazing project involving giraffes. It seems that someone named Ola Helland bet his friend that he could collect one million hand made giraffes by 2011. Anyone and everyone can send in one or more giraffes to his web site: www.onemilliongiraffes.com. The giraffes can be drawn, painted, sculpted out of any material (there is one sculpted out of a banana). The only caveat is that it has to be a hand made giraffe.....nothing store-bought or computer-generated. I took a copy of the giraffe I just finished and did a little embellishing on it and then sent it along to Ola in Norway. As Ola says on his website "turn off the TV and draw a giraffe." Even if you don't send one in, at least go on to the website and take a look at all the gorgeous, funny, creative, inventive giraffes (he has collected over 500,000 so far) that are posted there.

Snow Day

2010-01-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

Brrr, it's cold outside so I have been looking for a picture of someplace warm. This is a small-scale mural I painted a few years ago for a client's beach house. Can you feel the tropical breezes yet?

The giraffe tile mural

2010-01-28T16:59:00.000-08:00

My partner, Tony, and I have been working on an interesting project, off and on, since 2006. This project is in the home of a woman whose father was a big game hunter in the 1970s. As an homage to her father, the homeowner is redecorating her home in a "Safari" theme. One of the things that we are working on is a collaboration with my sister and brother-in-law, Meredith and Mark Heywood of Whynot pottery: I have designed and drawn a mock-up for a mural for the kitchen which Meredith and Mark are going to bring into being in the form of a hand-made, carved tile backsplash. We have been taking measurements, tossing around ideas, making glaze samples and trial drawings for over a year and we delivered the final drawing to Meredith and Mark today. Now that my part of the process is over I can't wait to see the final product. I neglected to mention that the subject matter for the backsplash involves a giraffe eating from an African Acacia tree out on the African veldt. Here's the giraffe's face......