This man is Dangerous

This was in the US news media for about five minutes, but the arrest of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei this month is a tragedy on many levels.
The photo above of Ai holding sunflower seeds, part of an installation that he did.
He also has done more provocative work, such as a photo of him giving Tienenmen square the finger. He is a harsh critic of the Chinese government. He is dangerous.
I have strong feelings about this as should we all.
China should be concerned that it is forcing out or silencing it's creative peoples. The large scale production of poorly made, inexpensive products with little emphasis on quality is a sure sign of this. China exports millions of products, but they have very little creative influence in the world.
The little that they do have is potentially crushed.

Hey China, listen up. Do yourself a favor and drop this totalitarian bullshit before it is too late. See what is happening in the Middle East? You think you can keep people under control, but your control is self defeating. Each incident like this puts you more in the Bad Guy role.
Modify your outmoded government to allow personal freedom and creativity. Dare I say "Democracy"? Ok, baby steps...

but let Mr. Weiwei go!



http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/ai_weiwei/index.html

Making a Canvas

Well, it has been a while since I have posted. This past weekend I got a bee in my bonnet about making a large canvas.
To buy a 4' x 4' canvas would cost me over $100 and I wanted to do it for under $20.
I purchased a 5' x 6' piece of unprimed canvas for $11 at a local art store. The wood stretcher bars that you can buy cost around $15 for each 4' section, which would cost $60 just for the stretcher.
That was too much bread so I went over to the Portland rebuilding center and found some wood trim that makes a nice stretcher edge (I have done this before). The salvaged wood only cost me $6! Nice, but I will need to fabricate the stretcher.














Here is the profile of the wood trim. It has a nice edge that the canvas can stretch over without making too much contact. The trim is also real wood, which makes it lighter and stronger than MDF.
I cut the trim into 4' sections using my chop saw.
















I used by biscuit cutter to joint the pieces together. The biscuit cutter is a power tool atht can cut slots into adjoining pieces of wood to allow a wood "biscuit" to fit into each slot, joining the pieces together.
















I used glue to hold the pieces together. A metal square is used to true up the frame.
The wood trim that I used has a big cross section and probably would work without braces, but since I had all the equipment out, I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry.
I had some extra wood pieces in my garage that I cut with 45 degree angles and again used the biscuit cutter to join them to the frame. Now I have a solid stretcher frame to stretch the canvas over
.
















The camera makes the frame looked bowed, but it is very true and square.
Then I waited for the glue to dry and stretched the new canvas over the frame.
Then a prime the canvas with three coats of Gesso and I have a big 4' x 4' canvas for less than $20. Ok, so I have all the tools and some extra primer, but I still think that this counts as a money saver. I did spend about three hours making the thing. I did have enough wood to make an extra 2' x 2' stretcher. I should have thought ahead and got one more yard of canvas, but I can get that anywhere for a low price.
















Hmm, now I have to find something to paint!

Art on Wheels

This post was meant for another blog, but I made it here by accident. I am too lazy to move it to the correct place, so here it stays.
Since The Art of the Motorcycle was a recent exhibit at the Guggenheim museum in New York, I think it will be safe in my art blog.

This is another passion of mine. I am a motorcycle addict.
I ride a Kymco Super 8 150cc scooter at the moment. I had to sell my Yamaha FZ1 (1000cc, 120 hp, 0 to 60 in 3 seconds) bike because I needed to pay for a summer vacation. I rode my bicycle to work for a year and decided I was going to get killed. I was hit once during that time and other cyclists are not as nice or smart as I hoped.
The scooter is cheap and fun to ride and with no clutch or gears to worry about, a 60 mph top speed and 60-70 mpg fuel economy it is a good thing to have.

So here is my fantasy...some day maybe...before I get too old...












This is a 2003 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 sportbike. It is not to be trifled with or taken for granted. It is fast and light and will make you poop your pants and would be more than happy to kill you. I want one.
One like this was advertised for $4000 in my local Graig's list and it made me drool.
Well, this all depends on who you talk to. Some experienced sport bike riders say that the GSX-R is a pussycat and is an easy bike to ride fast.
Before I get too old, I would like to try one of these machines. I could and probably would ride it to work but I would need to take it to the track to get the true feel of the thing.
I would also invest $1000 in a leather riding suit, boots and gloves. My street helmet should work for track riding. Track day fees are around $200/day.
Motorcycle insurance can be expensive for one of these, but given how little I might be able to pay for one, I may just get basic coverage.
I would like to have a bike like this and a scooter or another bike. Here is a 2005 Honda CBR 1000, which is supposedly even easier to ride and just as fast (there is much debate of performance amongst 1000cc bikes.)











These kinds of sport bikes are called "Liter" bikes because of their one liter displacement.
This Suzuki Bandit 1250 is probably a better choice for someone like me. It is still fast but has a much more comfortable riding position. I could take it to the track as well. Insurance will be less.













This 1999 BMW R110oS is a neat bike. It looks good and is solid, but not even as fast as the Bandit, but it would be nice. It would be an appropriate bike for an architect.
Even this older model would likely cost more than the better performing bikes above.
It is arguably the best looking of the bunch, but these are all works of art in my book.

Landscape

This was a quick one inspired by a walk on Bybee Lake.
I wanted to do something a little looser.
I believe that Jen has already claimed it as her own...

More tomorrow

It has been a while since I have posted anything. Work and family stuff has been keeping me busy, but I have been painting.
I managed to get the Casa Di Bambini painting safely off to New Jersey in time for the Montessori school parent tour.

I finished the Civic Stadium Painting, which is shown below. I was not happy with the plain blue sky, so I added some wispy clouds that are actually clouds I saw over the west hills.
I still really like the shapes that are happening here and think that they make a nice composition.
This is a 30 x 40 painting and I have already made a frame for it.
I am hoping to enter this painting and two others in the Lake Oswego Center for the Arts Festival. The deadline is March 4th and I have the paintings photographed and need to get the materials in the mail.























My daughter wanted to paint with me and I needed to put a base down for some future paintings.
I still had a bunch of paint left over and noticed a painting of sunflowers that I had set aside (and abused) and decided that it needed a new background. I had fun doing the loose background and I think that the painting sings now.
It is no Van Gogh (see his Sunflowers), but it is pleasant enough.

Degas, you Magnificent Bastard!

Impressionist or Post Impressionist, whatever you may place him, his work is amazing.
I go to used book sales and pick up art books if I can. I saw one on Degas and for $3 figured I couldn't loose.
He was very interested in moments, small and subtle moments of reality.
I love this painting of the horse track. The subject is of the racers sizing each other up before the race. The whole scene glows with an either early morning or late afternoon light. They are probably trotting around on grass and I like how Degas made the choice to make the ground golden instead of green (it may very well have been golden like California gets in the summer).
He took great care in laying out his paintings. In every one you will find no error in perspective or proportion, which is amazing.
I admire his use of contour and color. Some say that many of his paintings are cold and aloof, but this one is warm and expressive.

Montessori Progress

I had a productive Sunday on this one and am almost finished.
I think that the window shutters are too light, even though they are in direct sun. They should be more blue-green and contrast a bit more from the stucco wall.
The curtain in the window is something that I made up. It needs a crisp shadow line to make it believable.