I'm definitely not famous, but my fat little kitty is my muse.  I love Iber.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/22/artists-and-their-cats_n_7112320.html?ir=Good+News&ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000023

Bane Cat

I was laughing hysterically at these videos last night!  This is definitely my kind of humor.  A tyrannical villain of a cat ruthlessly terrorizing it's owner.  Craig thought that I was going to fall off the couch because I was laughing so hard!!!!  Bane Cat is da bomb!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ywjpbThDpE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoi-4u_yfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRTcxyTM_QU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcz8Q2E6oMU

A large charcoal portrait of our colt Ira by Croatian artist Nenad Jankovic.  We have it proudly displayed in our master bedroom. 

Some photos from the 2013 Horseflicks filming.

Regional Art Exhibit

Yesterday evening was the opening reception for the regional art exhibit.  There were 167 entries total in the show.  And I've got to say..... we have an amazing amount of talented artists in this area!  Tons of great art work in one place.

Roberta put my two sculptures next to each other in the middle of the gallery and they looked fabulous together!  Gribble was a little bit long for the pedestal, but he still looked alright...

The judge, Terri Hopkins.

This was a clay sculpture that I really liked a lot.  It had some nice iridescent kiln-fired color hues, and it reminded me of a conch shell.  Very pretty!

A local stained glass artist entered his work.

I LOVED this one!  There was some definite steampunk vibes going on with this piece, and I was totally diggin' it.  It was a pendulum style of art that had a little suspended weight on the end that would swing in constant motion.  Really neat!  

The little paintings of the hands were cool too.

I wasn't the only artist to enter bronzes in the art exhibit.  This was a local fellow who had a snake theme going on in his work.  He did the ice cream cones above, and also the platter of snakes below.  I thought that he should've won at least an honorable mention.... (but that's only my opinion).

Without further adieu..... here he is - the Steampunk Steed!  The bizarre little equine terminator himself.  Half organic and half machine, he's a creation directly from the cusp of my demented mind.

I picked out the base parts from the scrap yard on Wednesday, and Craig quickly welded it together for me.  The rust colored gear spins around like a turn-table for a view of the other side with all of the tiny gears! 
     


On one side he's a golden marbled aged stallion.

And the other side is the gear bones that make him work.

The Steampunk Steed

I picked up the 2014 bronze yesterday from Enterprise, OR.  It turned out really GREAT!!!!  I don't have any finished photos of "the steed" yet - as I'm still putting the inside parts and the base sprocket together on him.  But very soon I will have a completed picture to share with the world.  He's a complicated little buggar!

Saturday is the drop-off deadline for the Open Regional Art Exhibit, so I'm in a mad tinkering rush to get him all put together in time.

Here are some process photos that I took while I was at the caster:

I found these two little gears online last year.  I have no idea what kind of machinery that these are from, but they're the perfect size for my sculpture.  So I took them up to Tim to see if he could make them work.  He drilled out the two shafts so that the custom pegs for the bronze could fit into them.  Contrary to how they look, the gears actually do work and turn!  I love old rusty stuff.

Craig is helping to hold the sculpture while Tim knocks out some "nerds", or air holes in the metal.  (Nobody seems to know why they call them nerds....)

Tim, a.k.a. the Foo-man!  Getting ready to fire up the torch for some patina work.

Tim is one the best bronze patina artists in the world.  He can create some truly unbelievable colors on metal.  I'm beyond thrilled that he is doing one of my pieces!!!  The steampunk steed has a very cool custom brushed marbled effect that Tim did with sulfuric nitrate.  The finished look is totally awesome!

I had to say hi to Arnold when I was up there.  This piece had a sheen of brand new metallic raw blue when we visited last year.  It's copy #4 of 7 that will go to Mr. Schwarzenegger's home in Los Angeles when it's finished.