Nyssa.com

My site was moved to a new server, in the interest of modernization and ease. Sadly, something happened to my gallery software during the move. I, now, have the unenvienable task of re-linking all of my images. I’ve uploaded my images to Flickr, and will see if their service is easier to use. But, it may take me awhile to re-link and re-image all my goodies. Sigh.

I am happy to announce that I have been invited to participate in the 2008-2009 Pabst Blue Ribbon Art Tour!!!

“My Flavorite Flower” was a “flavorite” with the judges (har-har). PBR has purchased this happy flower and it is going on tour! A piece of my art is going to see more cities in the U.S. than I have… strange.

I will keep ya’ll updated with the city listings as they become available and I expect to see everyone at the Austin showing in 2009.

Check out the PBR 2008-2009 Grand Prize Winners.

Betsey, this PBR is for you! …and since I didn’t win the year’s supply of beer, sadly, it will be a single, rather than a sixer, but it will be at the bar of your choosing.

Recently, I’ve been converting my t-shirt designs from old-school silkscreen color separations into vector art. Once the image has been converted, I can do almost anything with it.

Because of this hard work, YOU can now buy one of my original t-shirt designs . Woo-hoo!

After much research, I decided to use a company called “Printfection .” It is an “On-line, on-demand printing service.” They do the “credit card processing, product manufacturing, shipping, returns and customer service. ” I do the obsessing and designing.

I bought one of my t-shirts as a test to see what their quality and service is like. I received the t-shirt in 8 days, which seemed like a long time. But I’m quite happy with the print quality. And the t-shirt is 100% cotton (made in Honduras). The design is not an “iron on,” it is printed “using the latest digital printing technologies” (whatever that means)

Even though my designs can be slapped on a million products like tote bags, mugs and hoodies, I’m sticking to T-shirts and a mouse pad, for now.

The snazzy mouse pad is for people who aren’t into wearing t-shirts.

If you have a burning desire to see another of my designs on a product like a cutting board or with spaghetti straps, let me know and I might be persuaded…

I may design something for the coaster products, though… as having personally pimped coasters sounds too cool.

I took photos of a sculpture I finished a while back. Actually, I just added the weapon today. The original version was of two winged demons locked in combat. Now, with the addition of a ferocious weapon, the combat is mortal (for at least one of them).

This piece is made of copper wire, solder, and an exacto blade. The warriors are not soldered together. They actually come apart, in case I ever feel like changing the pose.

I like the idea of two demons fighting each other. How would you know which one to root for? There is no “lesser of two evils” in this case. There is only victor and vanquished…

Last night, in a marathon, 4 hour, art-making session, I finished my Whirling Dervish piece.

This is my first piece that incorporates movement and lights. The spinning LEDs are the “whirling part” of my Dervish. I was inspired to take this step by the Robot Group .

The wire leads to a battery pack that uses two AA batteries. My next step is to add a momentary switch, so that the Dervish only whirls while you press on a button.

I found the electronics part in a spinning toy and knew I had to do something with it. Watching the spinning lights reminded me of Whirling Dervishes and trances. So, I knew I had to design something to hold the electronics that would seem dervish like.

It was a lot of fun making this sculpture. There was much soldering, engineering failures, curses, burns and finally… success! Keeping the motor in place was a challenge, as was keeping the splattered solder off my legs… ALWAYS wear pants when playing with molten metal.

I look forward to using the new skills I’ve learned and incorporating more cool toys into my wire sculptures.

To see this sculpture in action, check it out here

I decided to assess the projects I mentioned from my post in April 3, 2007… to see how much art-related stuff I got done last year.

Canceled Projects:

1. [Worry Bugs] Didn’t like the results (sculpture).
2. [Compromise tryptich] Canceled by patron (sculpture).
3. [Muscle Body #2] Lost interest (print).

Still In Progress:

1. [Venus 2005] May get finished in 2008 (painting).
2. [Consequences] Still need to repair (painting).
3. [Cog Heart] Never found the right sized canvas. Still a possible painting.
4. [Brain with Holes] Still thinking about it (possible painting).

Finished 2007 Projects:

1. [Tiki Head ] Sculpture finished!
2. [Demon Warriors ] Sculpture finished!
3. [Shattered Woman in Flames ] Painting finished, now just “Woman in Flames.
4. [Muscle Man #1] Finished!

New Projects started in 2007 and finished before Apr. 2008

1. [Pain is a Reminder ] I finished this in July 2007. I don’t know why the photo says it was taken in 2006…? This was one of the most straight forward paintings I’ve done to date. The original sketch is what actually ended up on canvas.
2. [Fallen Warrior ] A small wire and found art sculpture, including fireworks!
3. [Robot ] A tiny mixed media found art sculpture, inspired by hanging out with The Robot Group.
4. [Foam Work] I’ve been learning how to carve & paint foam. I haven’t created anything cool, yet.
5. [Horned Demon ] I learned how to solder in August and created a couple of copper wire sculptures.
6. [Zip zap jousters] I created paper jousters that sit on tiny remote control cars.
7. [Pabst: My Flavorite Flower ] I made a sculpture out of beer cans. It was fun and taught me a lot about working with aluminum. I might make some more beer can flowers.

So, out of the 11 projects mentioned in that post, I canceled 3, have 4 still in progress and finished 4. But the impressive part is I added and completed an additional SEVEN projects! My total for projects completed: 11! Thats an average of almost 1 per month! Yay!!

Well, I just submitted my entry into the “Pabst 2008 Art Contest .” I had 59 minutes to spare, so I’m kickin’ back and drinking a well deserved PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) and preparing my taste buds for a year’s supply of beer (if all goes well).

I’d like to thank Betsey for letting me know about this contest. And if I win, I will totally be bringing some beer by… and if I don’t, I may bring you just a six pack!

I was wondering what someone’s heart would look like if it got burned away. What would be left?

This painting answered that question for me. I don’t think you can tell from the photo (click on it to see the larger version), but there is an under-painting of sinewy veins that make the shape of cogs. It is my belief that healing and life can emerge from ashes. The nails are providing protection and time for the healing to happen.

I completed this painting in four months. It was sold before I finished. The signature was still drying when it was delivered to the new owner.

I spent the weekend adding photos of my work to my online gallery .

This image is of my latest piece, “Horned Demon.” It was made with copper wire and solder. It is about 7″ tall.

I also finished this in July. I’m going through a period of being obsessed with the heart. This is acrylic on canvas. On the original, the blue is much richer. The white is actually chrome and very reflective.