Wednesday, August 27. 2008
Carved Door
Leaves and keys are established, undercutting (which gives it a darker shadow and therefore visually more depth) and refinement has begun. The next stage should jump ahead a little quicker when removing material in bulk as opposed to plotting a course.
Previous
Previous
Saturday, August 23. 2008
On display
The completed section of the entrance sits out in our showroom on display while I work on the second of three carved panels. (latest update below).
It's creating a lot of nose prints on our showroom window.
It's creating a lot of nose prints on our showroom window.
Thursday, August 21. 2008
Progress
Friday August 22 - shape some leaves to their final gesture and refine the wren to relate to the positioning of surrounding leaves and branches. I work a little on each then move on to keep an overall context.
Monday, August 18. 2008
Carved Door Continued
Carving away on part 2 of the carving.
First I use a roto zip to make some stop cuts for excavating material
Then mallet and chisel away waste material to establish positioning and create the basic gesture of the leaves, using the lowest and highest leaves as reference.
When I carve, I try to treat each leaf as a world onto itself at the same time harmonizing each leaf to visually interact with it's surrounding leaf shapes and negative space. As a whole creating a colauge of dancing light and shadow ...thats's the goal anyway.
Chiseling and shaping leaves to their finished gesture
First I use a roto zip to make some stop cuts for excavating material
Then mallet and chisel away waste material to establish positioning and create the basic gesture of the leaves, using the lowest and highest leaves as reference.
When I carve, I try to treat each leaf as a world onto itself at the same time harmonizing each leaf to visually interact with it's surrounding leaf shapes and negative space. As a whole creating a colauge of dancing light and shadow ...thats's the goal anyway.
Chiseling and shaping leaves to their finished gesture
Thursday, August 14. 2008
Workshops
A few years back I hit a wall with my sign work and design skills. It didn't matter how passionate or dedicated I was to the craft my work was stale, rehashed and looked like it came out of the same box as the last - predictable. I knew I had reached the limit of my abilities and as a result no longer enjoyed my work. So I made plans and was accepted to university to become a teacher (hard to imagine now) It would have given me a steady paycheck and summers off to pursue my art interests.
One of my customers was John Wiggins, a great designer, marketing whiz and entrepreneur. He had owned an ad agency in the city for years and started a brewery in his retirement. He convinced me to not throw away the eight years I had invested it the sign trade and specialize in premium sign work. With a promise to take me under is wing and tutor me in design / marketing. For the next five years I would visit him at the brewery with designs in hand for review and critique, it didn't matter what he was in the middle of, he'd set it aside and make time to tutor me on design, type, colour and marketing theory.
He took me back to the basics and changed my entire thought process to design and the sign business . The genius was in the simplicity of his approach to design. It started me on a endless journey of discovery - I'll never be the designer I want to be but it'll be a great journey.
Every design that leaves my studio is driven by this design process each one taking on a life of its own in which I'm just a spectator. Clients usually mention they are curious what I'm going to "come up with" I answer "me too".
Some of my work and articles have been in Signcraft over the years and as a result we have had a few requests for workshops. One of them, Dave Gross was persistent with his requests - it made us get off our duffs and give it a whirl. They have been enjoyable - I've met some great people and kindred spirits. It's been satisfying to pass on what was generously given to me.
They've been exhausting though, a fair bit of prep, switching gears and recovery time - sometimes up to a week [ especially after that last crew I had
]
So one more at my studio in the spring, one in Hawaii and in Australia and pretty much call it quits on the workshop front . I need to continue with my own journey.
So, if you are like I was, feeling stagnant, stale, stuck, frustrated and looking for a fresh outlook then you'll get a lot of value from these workshops.
By taking the workshops on the road it allows them to be more accessible (especially for Aussies). For me, it gives me a chance to get out of dodge, see some beautiful country and present in a relaxed atmosphere free of distractions.
If the workshops have good attendance that would be great - a life experience. If they don't , that's OK too - it was never meant to be.
As posted on Letterville
More door pics tomorrow
One of my customers was John Wiggins, a great designer, marketing whiz and entrepreneur. He had owned an ad agency in the city for years and started a brewery in his retirement. He convinced me to not throw away the eight years I had invested it the sign trade and specialize in premium sign work. With a promise to take me under is wing and tutor me in design / marketing. For the next five years I would visit him at the brewery with designs in hand for review and critique, it didn't matter what he was in the middle of, he'd set it aside and make time to tutor me on design, type, colour and marketing theory.
He took me back to the basics and changed my entire thought process to design and the sign business . The genius was in the simplicity of his approach to design. It started me on a endless journey of discovery - I'll never be the designer I want to be but it'll be a great journey.
Every design that leaves my studio is driven by this design process each one taking on a life of its own in which I'm just a spectator. Clients usually mention they are curious what I'm going to "come up with" I answer "me too".
Some of my work and articles have been in Signcraft over the years and as a result we have had a few requests for workshops. One of them, Dave Gross was persistent with his requests - it made us get off our duffs and give it a whirl. They have been enjoyable - I've met some great people and kindred spirits. It's been satisfying to pass on what was generously given to me.
They've been exhausting though, a fair bit of prep, switching gears and recovery time - sometimes up to a week [ especially after that last crew I had
]So one more at my studio in the spring, one in Hawaii and in Australia and pretty much call it quits on the workshop front . I need to continue with my own journey.
So, if you are like I was, feeling stagnant, stale, stuck, frustrated and looking for a fresh outlook then you'll get a lot of value from these workshops.
By taking the workshops on the road it allows them to be more accessible (especially for Aussies). For me, it gives me a chance to get out of dodge, see some beautiful country and present in a relaxed atmosphere free of distractions.
If the workshops have good attendance that would be great - a life experience. If they don't , that's OK too - it was never meant to be.
As posted on Letterville
More door pics tomorrow
