March 5th, 2024: Worked all day on updating my website. I may be pretty OK at painting and drawing, but web design is not my forte, which is why it took all day, even with Squarespace’s “simplified” web design tools. Precisely because I’m not all that good at it, I’ll avoid it entirely and drink wine instead this evening… Started this blog to talk about my art. Since I haven’t yet figured out how to build a blog in Squarespace that will keep the most recent entries at the top, you’ll have to scroll down to read the latest… If you know the secret, please use the “contact” page and send me instructions!

March 7th, 2024: Went to the opening reception for ‘residents’ of the Archie Bray for work completed during their residencies and met many of the artists (see pic). For anyone not acquainted with the Bray, it’s one of the world’s most highly regarded ceramic arts institutions. Definitely worth a visit to see their work, which will be on display for the next several weeks. Amazing stuff.

March 10th, 2024: I’ve been asked why I haven’t posted much in the way of new art for a while… I’ve been working on a bookcase in the basement instead. It will hold all the books and ‘stuff’ currently clogging up the unfinished basement room which will become my studio… which is the next project. The pic below should explain why the bookshelf took so long. It’s complete enough at this point to start loading it up, but it still needs face frames and cupboard doors on the bottom part.

March 23rd, 2024: I’ve been working on a “pedicure throne”… it’s basically just a platform for the pedicure chair to sit on, so that the nail technician doesn’t have to bend over so far to do the pedicure. It’s for Rockstar Nailz here in Helena. I’m thinking leopard wallpaper covered with epoxy glaze for the two sides that will show as it sits in the corner… what do you think?

April 5th, 2024: Been thinking that as the “staff artist” for the Fat Happy Dragon Co. (FHDC), maybe I should try adding wings to the logo… I printed out the logo and added small wings (this fat happy dragon weighs too much to ever fly with such small wings, but nevermind)… asked the FHDC CEO (my wife) what she thought, and she definitely favors wings. I think overall I agree, and even with the wings I think it still avoids the “Game of Thrones” look (a plus in my book). Check out with / without below, and send me a message: what do you think?

April 9th, 2024: I’ve had a partially sketched-out drawing taped to one of my drawing boards for around three or four years now… started as a Fat Happy Dragon Co. (FHDC) Christmas card, but I just couldn’t decide what to do with it. Finally picked it up and decided to finish… here’s what it looked like when I last abandoned it. I’ll post progress in a couple of days, and then I’ll post the finished drawing to the FHDC page on this website…

4/11/2024: Below: Went to a veteran’s “recreational therapy” workshop at Omerta Arts here in Helena today. We worked with clay sculpture, which Omerta threatened to actually fire and thereby preserve for posterity. I tried to create a wave, a la The Great Wave off Kanagawa (a woodblock print by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, from 1831)… my wave attempt was somewhat less than successful, so I decided that there was no harm to be done by adding a little humor - a very alarmed little guy in a clay boat.

4/12/2024: Below: Here’s that toy store sketch (see my March 9th entry above) as it appeared this morning… shooting for completion today!

Success! of sorts… the finished pic is now posted on the Fat Happy Dragon Co. (FHDC) page of this website (take a look!). Peeled it off the drawing board, and had to use a little naptha along with some sanding to remove the masking tape residue. That’s how long this sucker has been waiting for me to finish it. Yeesh.

Next up: a suggestion by the FHDC CEO (my wife, Tina) — a “book dragon”.

14 April 2024: Nearly finished Tina’s ‘Pedicure Throne’ today. The idea is that the client sits on a chair placed on the platform, so that Tina will save her back because she doesn’t have to bend over so far while doing a pedicure… Of course it’s got leopard side panels! A little paint on the exposed plywood, a set of stairs, and it’ll be good to go.

16 April 2024: my studio has finally risen to the top of the ‘must do’ priority list… first task: learn the basics of “Sketch-Up” so that I can submit a reasonably professional-looking plan for the building permit! Once the studio is done, trust me, I’ll be painting my *** off!

24 April 2024: Still learning “Sketch-Up”, but other tasks keep coming up… today’s: pruning the fruit trees in our back yard. Meanwhile, I’m thinking about how I can use up all my left-over acrylic paint by doing a series of Yellowstone views…

10 May 2024: I’ve got some catching up to do on this blog… but first and foremost: Helena (Montana) ArtWalk is today, from 4-8pm. Thanks to the good people at Omerta Arts for taking up sponsorship when the downtown business group decided to drop it. It’s important for several reasons: it gives exposure and the potential of sales to area artists; it emphasizes the importance of the arts as part of Montana culture, community and economy to our citizens; and also importantly, the participating downtown merchants report that they have a significant jump in sales numbers both the day of, and for several days after, the ArtWalk. With that, back to the blog…the next few entries will be dated when they occurred instead of when I got around to posting them (i.e., today)…

25 April 2024: Another session of Veterans’ Recreational Therapy at Omerta Arts. I worked on a distorted head and a larger ‘wave’ sculture. As you can tell by this and my mahogany piece “awash” on my three dimensions page, I have a thing about waves… and yes, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Japanese artist Hokusai is an influence. Interestingly, the biggest waves I’ve seen -personally- were on Lake Superior, not the Atlantic or Pacific…

In order to keep the weight of the wet clay from collapsing the ‘wave’ on itself, I had to put a couple of pieces in place to hold it up, as shown below. These were carved out later, once the clay was dry enough to stand up on its own. Although I’ve worked with pottery before, I hadn’t done clay sculpture to speak of, so it’s been a learning process… one thing I’ve learned: you have to hollow out your pieces, or when they go into the kiln they will trap steam inside and explode apart. Since pieces by several artists all go into the kiln together, “that would be bad”.

The distorted head below:

3 May 2024: Came up with a use for a bunch of cool-looking small pieces which were cut from the adjustable shelves for my bookcase (pic of bookcase above)… (below): A quick couple of lines on paper to guide me, a bit of wood glue, and voila, a small sculpture. I decided that once it was done, it should get an epoxy glaze coat. The finished piece is on my three dimensions page.

7 May 2024: Started a new drawing (below) for my “the Fat Happy Dragon Co.” (FHDC) series… at the suggestion of the FHDC CEO, my wife, it’s a ‘book dragon’. The dragon is sitting on top of its horde of treasure… it will be very dark, with illumination from the entrance and from the candles above the dragon. Got this far before it was time for a major decision: do I use cross-hatching and stippling to create the dark interior of the cave, or do I go with ink wash, or both?… (as of 10 May, this remains undecided).

When the CEO tells the Staff Illustrator (me) to make a ‘book dragon’, well, the Staff Illustrator had best get busy! :) … so I’d better decide soon how to finish this piece!