Corona – Motley Artist

Posted on April 6, 2020April 10, 2020 by RRRodgers

Holy Cow – Still Sheltering in Place

The shelter in place continues…. you see me here with a make made by my wife. She is a quilter and talented fabric artist. She is making masks to donate and is now also making scrubs for the local hospital. I am proud of her and will be helping wherever I can to make supplies to donate. We only go out once a week or so to do the essential shopping. We will continue to do the shelter in place till the end of the month, or when they say it’s ok to go out. I really hope that we will have the various markets I was planning to attend.

I am doing my part to help the economy, I have had to order more paper from Dick Blick since I am doing so many paintings. below are a few of my recent ones. I have also broken out a stash of large paper for some of my new series of driftwood accent frames in large formats. I had to order new blades for my band saw, cutting driftwood for my lamps and frames, I discover a few embedded rocks and broke 3 blades in 3 days. Ordering other lamp parts as well, we are keeping the delivery guys busy.

Holy cow is right, these were done for a friend of my wife who loves cows. These won’t make it to my gallery for sale, but they were so much fun I will do more.

I have also completed a few more of my driftwood accent frames. The Bluebird on a branch and the Cedar Waxwing are hanging on the wall in the living room. I am really happy with the way the painted branch fits is an extension for the driftwood. I find that making the driftwood accent frames is an exercise in fitting and adjusting.

Digging into my bin of driftwood puts many ideas into my head, I am working on 4 new lamps and 3 more driftwood accent frames.

With nice spring weather and temps in the 50’s, the outdoors is calling, winter was not kind to the yard so yardwork is now a priority during the nice days.

Stay Safe….

Posted on March 22, 2020April 10, 2020 by RRRodgers

The Joy of Shelter In Place – Coronavirus

A week if shelter in place has let me spend a lot of time in the studio. I have been able to finish several paintings, make more frames and build a few lamps. I like spending the time working on new projects and some worked and didn’t, the ones the need work (failures) are on a shelf waiting for inspiration.

The featured piece on the blog is a painting that will not go on the market right away. It’s a unique frame and painting and was an experimental piece. I can see it being a future series, when I can find the right materials.

I finished several paintings a few are in the gallery below.

My new paintings included one of our previous dog Jill, a wire fox terrier. This one will not be for sale, my wife has already claimed it.

My wife the dog and I spent time on the local beach scavenging for driftwood and stones for my lamps. Niko was in and out of the lake swimming several times, I know its mid March but she is a lab and her tail wagged the whole time. The driftwood will have to be dried before i can work with it.

I pawed through several pieces of driftwood from my storage bin and came up with a few pieces that inspired me. These lamps are a little shorter at 22″ with shade, than my prior version and I am waiting on new sockets to finish them off, I use a dimmable socket and didn’t have any to finish the lamps.

I decided, with the shelter in place mandate, to order them and not go out to the local hardware store. Once I complete them they will go up for sale.

More to come ….

Posted on March 18, 2020March 21, 2020 by RRRodgers

Winter Market and Coronavirus

I was able to participate in the Westport NY Winter Market on March 14, 2020. This a winter farmers market held in the Heritage House. I had been planning on this market to be my first of the year, well before the craziness of the Coronavirus started. I build stands for paintings that were made to clamp to a table. I had to bring my own small folding table, along with a couple of other tables, and using my bins with a top to hold a rack of my paintings. I had a 8′ by 6′ space to display my art, I pre-staged the layout in my home based on the limits. I was pleased with my small space, it came together quite well.

My wife had invited a few of her quilting and master gardener friends and many of them came, despite so many other events being canceled. Some of her friends had seen my work at my home. I recognize the need to build a mailing list and contacts, this will be a challenge for the future.

I was able to sell a couple of paintings and I made contact with a few people that requested other paintings. I didn’t want to start with commissions for their requests, so I will make them on speculation. All the new requests were derivatives of projects I am already working on. Once I complete items, I will let the people know and if they want them then we can close the deal. I was able to sell some note cards that I had made to test the market for such items. I was surprised that they were a good seller and had request to extend the cards available. These will be an item for every show.

Of course my first show coincided with the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. several events had already been canceled and as of writing this almost everything is being put on hold.

With the Winter Market complete , I am hoping that the one in April will go off as planned.

Coronavirus

With the first instance of the virus being reported in the area, the shelter in place recommendation I think it will be an interesting spring. I will take this time to make more art and work on projects around home. My wife and I are not “High Risk” but I am glad that I know that I now work for myself and had planned on taking a year to get everything in place. I will admit that my retirement investments have taken a large hit, but I am sure it will all come back eventually. I’m not one to panic and my wife and I both flexible so I don’t worry about the future. I am going to enjoy my time working for myself and building my art business.

I have ordered a few supplies and I will make a lot of art to build up an inventory of products, and take time to explore more areas of interest.

I have already worked on several new paintings in the last couple of days, with one new one that I have great hopes for almost completed. It mixes a couple of materials an I like it so far, so this is a teaser for a post later in the week.

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