Saturday, April 30, 2011

Link to "Sardine Escape by Jacqueline" album on Jennifer Swanberg's FaceBook

WhaleFest Artwork Finished

The WhaleFest show has been up all during the month of April. Today is the last day of the show at Next Page Bookstore. Here are two of the three pieces I had in the show:

"Spawning Salmon" 11"x 7". Gouache on watercolor paper, carved, painted cottonwood bark, hand-built poplar frame, glass beads.




Sardine Escape" in progress. Gouache on watercolor paper, carved, painted cottonwood bark, repurposed sardine tin:



I'll have to post separately to a link to the photo album for the finished "Sardine Escape" album, which my sweetheart Jennifer captured beautifully with her camera.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

I am so looking forward to seeing Werner Herzog's film in 3-D:

http://youtu.be/ttUbdaZKNDE

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Whale Fest in April

Working on some pieces for the upcoming Whale Fest art show. We are allowed three pieces, up to 24" x 24". Size is not a problem for me, since I usually work small. First piece I've been working on, and am posting photos of work in progress will be a shadowbox - river painted in gouache on paper, with carved salmon sporting their spawning colors floating across it.

These are the little fish - carved out of cottonwood bark. The egg carton gives you perspective on size - the largest just over 2" long, the smallest about 1.5" long.



The fish represent salmon in their spawning colors. Kodiak is home to 5 species of Pacific salmon: Chum, Coho, Chinook, Sockeye, and Pinks. The fish are carved out of cottonwood bark, and then painted with Daniel Smith's new watercolor ground. I then painted them with gouache and pearlescent watercolors.



The salmon will float above the gouache watercolor river, that will serve as the background of the shadow box. I build my boxes out of 1/4" poplar, which I have to stock up on in Anchorage. Kodiak's only lumber supply store doesn't carry poplar boards. I will finish the box with a plexi-glass on the front, affixed with wire brads and decorated with glass beads. The finished box will be 11" long x 6" high.



Here's a similar box I made for Whale Fest a couple of years ago, called Sockeye Run: