Things Not Known

Well. I was given an award by a very nice individual, Almost Precious. This has happened before... but I tend to be struck dumb by the occasion. This time I suspect the lassitude of my brain waves match the occasion and I feel a centrifugal force of expression. The challenge was to talk about 10 things not known about myself. I'm thinking 4.

One was a tree I climbed in first grade. My mother told me not to climb this tree, but it was a perfect tree to climb. It wasn't my fault the limb broke and I fell to the driveway below, breaking a toe. I wouldn't've climbed it if it hadn't been good.

I rode a Suzuki 550 to Sturgis one year, not knowing about the Harley rally happening there. Accidents happen.

Red is my favorite color. But so is green. And orange. Purple black grey white and yellow. I also love pink and turquoise. To me, favorite colors are a list, discussion, debate and relist. I think there is a reason that colors are assigned to politics. If I believed in past lives, I hope I mixed colors for Caravaggio.

And the 4th is for flying. As a kid my most vivid dreams were of flying. One time I remember seeing my mother walk down the hallway from the crack at the top of my partly open door, during a "dream." My poor Suzuki 550 left me one brain fog morning as I flew up over the end of a car. The landing was tough, but the moment of shocking freedom memorable. The glimmer of hope I have for the future is the possibility of jet packs.

"Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,"

hahahaha... well that is known. I love poetry, though sometimes in recent years I have to recreate the personal environment for poetry. It is always worth the experience. Cheers.

*I'll have to think about the passing on of this award! Though I am curious what Suldog might say bad about me.... lol.

Mechanical Beauty

I got into light metals when making masks. The masks I made at the time were paper mache, and I spent an inordinate amount of time on the surface. I used modeling paste with the paper to build them, acrylic gel stuff to seal the back, but left the surface natural (For most of them. Some of the older ones were painted. Most all of the masks are gone.) To get a smooth surface, I had to sand and repair with added modeling paste and sand and repair over and over again. The pay off for all that effort wasn't much. But it got me thinking, that I really had to change mediums. (lol.) So I took a light metals class.

That light metals class was a blast. I loved the metal. During that time I wanted to do some metal mechanical masks. And with one I wanted to make a figure... That mask has stayed in my brain. Perhaps it's better there. It lead me to learn figurative sculpture, to the east coast, and now onto jewelry somehow. Several clips I've seen recently have reminded me of the intriguing beauty of mechanical creations. The first clip is an incredible one of Theo Jansen's Sandbeests.


And this next clip if a fun one of a simple mechanical brooch. It doesn't say where this is from, so sorry, I can't credit it.