Yes, it’s been a while since I last posted. Yes, my mac has been reminding me every day!!!

I am excited to tell you that I have ordered my Carvey CNC milling machine from Inventables.com (you can’t see that I’m acting like a star-struck fan). This baby will let me mill shapes in all kinds of materials - think doing my dog portraits in beautiful wood inlay, creating custom cut artwork in acrylic, dimensional work in wood, corian, even foam!

This reinvention of myself has been enabled by my selling my steel shop as a turn-key Artist Shop (yes, lessons were included). It was impossible for me to invest in the new tool setup without making changes. As all artists know, we evolve or die. After 25 years doing steel work, I’m super stoked to work with materials that do not require a chiropractic visit after!

This is just one of the new tools I am getting, the other will be a 3D printer. Now that I can print in metals, I will be able to sculpt in anything, scan it with a 3D scanner, and print it in almost any size.

I really enjoy letting my brain play in a new sandbox, I’ve been learning new software and thinking of new ways to express myself in new media. So stay tuned to see what I create! I expect to have the Carvey by Xmas :-D

MY CARVEY HAS SHIPPED!!!

This nifty 3-axis milling machine will arrive here on the 15th, I can’t wait!!!!! This is one of the pieces of equipment I have been waiting for since I sold the steel shop. Now I’m diving into learning Fusion 360 and getting my creative juices flowing - stay tuned!

It’s all done!! Mounted on base, clear coated, signed and ready for the Florida’s Finest show at Art Center Sarasota. Reception is July 6, 5-7pm, show runs until August 11th. 

I’m working on finishing The Gift to enter in Art Center Sarasota’s next show, now that I have an actual deadline it helps me get going!! (I’m sure some of you can relate!) I’m using Golden acrylics mixed with Floetrol, GAC 200 and a bit of glazing liquid. I primed the inside of the 12” hemisphere with XIM primer and let it dry for a while. 

I’ve been fascinated with the Acrylic Pours I’ve seen friends doing and wanted to play with that effect. The interior is inspired by that.

The figure is coated in bronze, many thin layers, and will have some sort of patina when it’s all done. The sphere she is holding will be silver, representing the Gift of Light she brings.

At this point, I like the exterior left natural - rusted and gnarly, that way the contrast between external and internal is highlighted.

After watching too many YouTube videos about acrylic pours, I wanted to give it a try. I’m playing with striated colors in my head for the concentric rings piece. So far I’ve tried a couple of recipes and learned a few things, I’ve primed the rings with Kilz for good adhesion. Below are pix of pours on unprimed steel complex curves. I’m not thrilled with the look of the pour, experiments will continue…

Still musing about how I want to either make a mobile or use pins on some sort of backing (wood/steel/corian??) to create a wall piece that still moves with ambient air flow…