Hot off the Workbench

I just finished these three pieces. The first is the first carving I've finished since I've been back in Alaska I call this piece "Story Fish". It was inspired by a traditional Yupi'k fish that was originally done in bone with scrimshaw on it. The original had tons more drawings, entire hunting and animal migration scenes. My fish is red cedar driftwood with a pickled stain and drawings in acrylic. Glass beads are inset for the eyes. The fish is 12" long by 3" wide, and is mounted with a brass rod on a natural driftwood base, so it can swivel to show the other side.

The drawings on this side are, top to bottom: sandhill cranes grazing on the tundra, a seal chased by a big fish, traditional design.



Story Fish side B
Sandhill cranes in flight, reindeer herder followed by his dog (at the base of the tail), his herding dog, and two reindeer, numerous fish swim along the bottom, framed by traditional design elements.


The other two pieces are more of the shadow boxes. The first one is called "Greet the Sun". It is gouache on paper, with a root tree, covered with brass wire and glass beads. The robin is carved cottonwood bark. You can't see his nest very well, woven of copper wire, with three blue glass bead eggs. The box is hand-built of poplar, with acrylic paint and glass beads. Size is 12.5" x 5" x 3" deep.


The third piece is "Sockeye Run". It is goauche on paper, with carved cottonwood bark salmon. The box is hand-built of pine with acrylic paint and glass beads. Finished size is 12.5" x 5" x 1" deep.










View from the top showing skeleton fish - painted on all four sides. It's spawning season when the reds run upriver!

More New Works

This one is titled: "Houses on the Hillside"; it was also a view from my cousin's living room - accross town, looking toward Barometer Mt. This box is a little smaller than the others - about 5.5" x 5.5", hand-built pine, gouache on paper, carved wood, glass beads, acrylic on wood.



Side view showing painting on frame.



Here's another piece I did this spring - titled "Secluded Cove". Gouache on paper, wood box, glass beads.

New Work

This winter, I worked on a new series of shadow boxes. Since I didn't have my carving tools or any wood to carve (since everything was under several inches of snow at any given time), I made some gouache watercolors, then built the boxes for them. I sold the first two below at the Crab Festival Art Show over the last weekend in May.

"Tidepool Starfish", 6" x 6", gouache on paper, poplar box, glass beads. acrylic.
Front view.

"Kodiak Winter Crows" - 6" x 6", gouache on paper, poplar box, glass beads, acrylic, carved cottonwood bark, root.

The view from my cousin's living room is of the Baptist Church. All winter, there was almost always a crow or eagle perched atop the steeple. All of the birds were hungry, and hanging around town looking for scraps and garbage.

Front view.



















And here's the Father's Day gift I made for my dad:
"Little Red Dory" - 5" wide x 9" high; gouache on paper, carved cottonwood bark, foil paper, glass beads.
Front view

Side view

New Zoo Review

I'm baaack! Well, technically I never went anywhere, but my Blog sure did! My original Elderberry Dreams Blogspot page got zapped from my Google account, through some inexplicable reason. So, please join me in my new Blog venture - which is really just a continuation of the old one! I will post photos of my recent artwork soon. I just participated in the 7th Annual Crab Festival Art Show - and sold 2 of my new shadow boxes!

Here is a picture of my new home - an old Kodiak house that was probably built in the 1930's or so - it's right in Town, I can walk to work (and get there faster than driving and finding a parking space!) Commute time: 2.5 minutes (compare to my former commute time of 60 minutes each way daily, not counting the waiting time for the bus in Seattle!).