Moon set

by Hank

 Winter is finally here; my Delaware River is slowing down.

A Long Winter

by Hank

Hank here. It’s been a l-o-o-o-o-n-g hard winter. Several weeks ago I looked at my wood pile and decided I wasn’t going to make it through the winter with the wood I had cut in the fall. So I decided to buy a truckload of firewood. 

Over the years I have worked with many different types of figurative woods -- oak, cherry, maple, hickory, ash and  birch.  In that truckload of firewood, I found a NEW-TO-ME grain pattern.  I had only heard of this pattern and never saw it until now.  Take a look at  CURLY ASH!  

Winter Approaches

By Hank

As winter approaches, our busy show schedule is at an end.  The last show, at the Cooperage in Honesdale, was last Saturday.  Three of us were going, but with the heavy snow, I was the only one who managed to get there.  I was surprised to see a lot of customers. 

The next gallery shows will be some time in the spring.  It’s a good time over the winter to rebuild inventory and to experiment with new ideas or old ones never completed.

As for myself, I plan to rebuild inventory and to work on some new kinetic sculptures – a promise I made to myself a long time ago.  The idea of gathering new materials and new tools can seem overwhelming at times, but I keep remembering, a house is built a brick at a time.

You Never Know. . .

by Hank

Several years ago I was asked to show my woodcrafts along with five other craft artists at the Catskill Art Society when they were in Hurleyville,  NY. The show was low-key and if I remember correctly, I sold two or three pieces.

Several months later I received a phone call from a women asking me to create and  install a decorative wood plaque in a new retail store in NYC. Of course I did the installation and was paid very well for it.

When I asked her how she heard of me she told me she saw my work at the CAS craft show, and contacted the  curator to find me

.

A few weeks ago I showed my work along with the other members of The Catskill Artists Gallery at Port Jervis, NY at a street fair. The show was well attended, but had very few sales. In the afternoon a woman approached me and asked me if I was interested in doing an industrial sculpture for a local business. 

I met with them a week ago to talk the project over and to give them an idea of the cost.  Time will tell if get the commission.

I am one of those people who learns by doing -- the more I show my work, the more I learn.  You can never tell where commissioned work will come from.

 

Riverfest Poster

by Hank

Recently  I was working on a Poster for the Narrowsburg Art  Fair “Riverfest,” sponsored by The Delaware Valley Arts Alliance. The poster will be sold at auction on July 28, which is a fund raiser for the DVAA.

The idea of joining several slats of wood together forming a visual pattern is not new to me; I have been doing this with my vases for a long time. Of course the vases are cylindrical and the poster is flat.

Joining the wood was no problem; neither was sanding and sealing the wood. That’s where the “NO PROBLEMS” ended. The first coat of polyurethane went on OK, but the second coat went down spotty and dusty. That’s when I should have walked away from the project for a day or two, or at least a few hours. I sanded the second coat out and put on a third, then a fourth, and a fifth, each coat worse than the previous one.  I finally tried spraying on the top coat but this only made things worse. What a mess. 

I don’t usually have these problems finishing a piece, so I decided to strip off all the poly and start over again. A wise person once said “to do the same thing over and expect different results is madness.” 

The next day I super-cleaned a different brush, thinned and strained the polyurethane and started over. The poly went on the wood like a stamp on an envelope. When the second coat went on and dried the poster was finished.

I try to follow the philosophy, “I never make a mistake, because when I DO it, it is the right thing to do.”  It’s only  afterwards that I know it was a mistake. 

      

When is a Piece of Work Finished?

by Hank

When I had my studio in Manhattan, I specialized in still life (if it didn’t talk back, I photographed it).  I worked with large format cameras (4x5 and 8x10) so the subject stayed in front of my camera after an exposure, unless I was photographing food.  I would add highlights, open shadows, and adjust the exposure one sheet of film at a time until I was satisfied with the picture.

A photograph was finished when I could do no better.

Today, I still keep those standards except that I view the changes on the back of the camera and then on my computer screen instead of a light box.

Whether it’s a photograph or a wooden vase, it seems like there is always one more thing to do to make it finished.  Prints have to be signed, matted, framed, and finally a hanging device added.  My wooden vases need at least three coats of polyurethane, with sanding between coats to remove the excess, then making the signature permanent, and finally a coat of paste wax.

A piece is finished when I say it is.

To Give or Not to Give

by Hank

To give or not to give: that is the question. We as artists are often asked to give our work away to organizations as a way of raising funds for them.

I am often asked to donate my art work to raise funds for schools, radio stations, environmental groups and art organizations. At first I was flattered, but over time I have become resentful. I often walk into someone’s home and see my work on a wall.  I ask, “where did you get that picture?”  The response is usually “I bought it at auction.”  I wouldn’t mind so much if the fund raisers gave the artist a small percentage of sales; let’s say 10%. Some organizations even ask that you pay to POSSIBLY have your work published for nothing more than a credit line. I wonder if the printer has to pay to do the printing?

One of the most asked question artists ask other artists is “what do you think my work is worth?” A good way to find out is to put your work in a fund raiser for an art organization, keeping in mind some people are looking for bargains but others may reach further in their pockets to help the organization. It is also a way to support a group without reaching into your pocket.

Remember, just because most of us enjoy what we do, does not mean it’s not work.

Bottom line, it’s up to the artist to give or not to give.

May Apple

Concept

A message from Hank:

Finished Vase

Concept  comes first. It is up to the artist to translate an idea into reality.  Often this is a trial and error process -- it’s knowing what ideas to keep and work with, and  what to put in the garbage can.

The idea of waterproof wooden vases didn’t just happen; it started when I looked at a barrel planter and thought to myself “flower pot cover.” After I made one, I realized the inside had to be waterproof. Paint didn’t hold up; neither did automotive undercoating.  I tried polyester resin only to learn that it did not adhere  to hard wood, it had internal crazing, and  it  smelled awful.

A friend who saw me struggling suggested epoxy resin. Problem solved.  It’s waterproof, it  adheres to hard wood, has little odor and no internal crazing.  It was like putting a stamp on an envelope -- it just worked.

The flower pot cover soon  morphed into an artist’s  paint brush holder. I saw the paint brushes as flowers and the waterproof wooden vase was born. I showed  this work at craft shows and craft  galleries; people said they loved what they saw, but I made no sales.

Cherry Burl First Cut

I kept at it. I knew I had a good idea, but something was missing. Up to this point I was working with store-bought wood.  A friend, Brian, also a woodcrafter, gave me an apple wood log.  

At first I didn’t know what to do with it; to use it, I had to make boards out of it . I turned my table saw into a mini saw mill and boarded out the log. Unlike store-bought wood, It was full of knots and worm holes. I made a vase out of these boards and – BINGO -- it sold. I soon learned about book matching (arranging the panels so the grain patterns match at the edges), and how to do a  compound miter, which lets me make a tapered vase.



Rough Assembly

Nobody lives in a vacuum, and we are all influenced by our senses.  I can think of very little that is more  satisfying  than having an idea, applying what I have  learned, and then  turning that idea  into reality.



Cherry Burl Boards