Hi everyone. This is the top secret project I've been working on. It's a birthday gift for a client from her husband. He'd spoken to me about it months ago, and was going to keep it a secret until Sat, but spilled the beans last night, so it's okay for me to show you guys.

What a sweetie husband huh? Happy Birthday Karen!
(You can click any pic to enlarge)

I like to work big, but I also quite like working "fine", precise cuts and welds, making the steel look delicate. In representational work, I pride myself on making the piece balanced correctly. People and animals are able to stand on their feet in real life. With sculpture the weight is different because of the material, but it should still be balanced. Then I know I've got the biomechanics down. This guy stands fine on his own slender legs/feet.

It was kind of a trick covering all my welds, but I've sort of got birds down now I guess. It's very tedious working with tons of tiny feathers, but I like the result.

Brian (husband) wanted the piece done in unfinished, clean steel for a "silvery" look. I like how the heat marks from the cutting edge the feathers. Fun project for some really nice people.

I've been thinking a lot about what direction my work will go this year. It's tempting to make sweeping statements like, "I really want to concentrate on big pieces," etc, but for now I'm going with, "I want to only work on things that excite me creatively."

It's tricky-- this being an artist gig. Your primary drive is your creativity, but no one is going to pay you for sitting around having cool ideas, and the world certainly doesn't owe you a living. Last year I got a little nervous and did more market chasing that I should have I think-- making some repetitive stuff I wound-up not liking that much.

This year I'm going to try to avoid that, and also explore some new venues for outdoor sculptures. If anyone has any good ideas of places to scope out (that might want to sell what I make) let me know.

Thanks!

Oh-- also, don't forget to comment. That drawing (previous post) is still going on until Feb 8th!