One of my tiny turtles wins big at miniature show

Athos the turtle - second place for sculpture MPSGS 2011

Athos got second place for sculpture!
To be true to the headline I suppose best in show or something would be big, but I was having too much fun mixing up the big and small.

Well it's definitely something to be thankful for on this holiday feast.

That's the the pic they took of him for their exhibition page on their website (I suspect around Nov 2012 it will be all different, for the then current show, but for now it's the right link!)

I believe this is my third second-place win for sculpture with the MPSGS, which is very gratifying.

Here's how Wikipedia introduces them...

The Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, D.C. (MPSGS) is an invitation-only organization dedicated to the promotion and encouragement of the practice of producing fine art in miniature. This miniature art society is headquartered in Washington, DC but includes members from around the world. Founded in 1931 by Alyn Williams, the Society is the second-oldest organization of its kind in the world and the oldest active organization of miniaturists in the United States.

Anyhow, happy Thanksgiving to you. 

Unfortunately, and true to (wobbly) form, I know I'll eat too much!

.
Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

.

Diner napkin scribble

What self respecting artist blog would be complete without some spontaneous napkin scribbles?
Here's someone else having breakfast at The Pantry here in Santa Fe.


.
Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

.

Rodin and the jigsaw puzzle

I needed something small and flat to cover my wine glass (I don't like fruit flies landing in my wine).

I pulled this old Taschen postcard book of Rodin off the shelf. It was just the right size.
Of course I got a bit distracted looking through it while my wine sat unprotected.

It has some pictures of The Burghers of Calais.

I found myself looking at this portrait...

His city has been starved into submission, and he (along with a few others) are offering themselves as a sacrifice that the rest of city might be spared.

I stared, contemplating the poor man's state of mind at the time.
Of course I was also marveling at Rodin's work. Sensitive and powerful, and executed with consummate skill.

I knew about the story behind the piece, and started to wonder how I'd feel differently about the portrait if I knew nothing about it.

Or what if I was mis-informed, and believed the face was reacting to some other turn of events...

Let's say this man has been working on assembling the worlds hardest to do jigsaw puzzle on  his kitchen table.
Puzzles are what he lives for, and he's been working up to this one all his life.
He's been toiling away for several months on the final stages alone, and is nearly finished.
Only this morning his house was cleaned top to bottom, and all the trash was picked up by the trash van for the celebration to come, with all his most fanatical puzzler friends invited...

Almost done, the floor around the table is of course spotless. Now he sees four spaces left in the puzzle, but only three puzzle pieces left in the lid of the box....

So, if that was the story behind this face, would that change my feelings instead of knowing what was really going on?

Of course it would, on an emotional level it wouldn't have nearly the same impact since it would make me feel differently about the person in question and the gravity of the situation.
Although for a few die hard puzzlers I'm sure it would resonate even more!

But I'd still feel the same about it on another level, where I'm just in awe of one person's ability to convey so much expressive form, so artfully, with just a lump of dirt.
 ...............................................

Here's a description from the Wikipedia page on The Burghers of Calais...

"The story goes that England's Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais, while Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege, and starvation eventually forced the city to parley for surrender.

Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out almost naked, wearing nooses around their necks, and carrying the keys to the city and castle. One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first, and five other burghers soon followed suit, stripping down to their breeches. Saint Pierre led this envoy of emaciated volunteers to the city gates. It was this moment, and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice, and willingness to face imminent death that Rodin captured in his sculpture, scaled somewhat larger than life.

In history, though the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband to exercise mercy by claiming that their deaths would be a bad omen for her unborn child."

Oh, incidentally, here's another Burgher...

This one kind of made me think of a leaner version of Marlon Brando's Godfather for some reason...
Oh, and no fruit flies landed in my glass, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear!

.
Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

.

Snakes alive (but not for long), it must be Halloween!

Around Halloween last year I jumped out of the car to help a snake off the road.
Turned out to be a rattler, and I had nothing to help it with, and the road was busy, and it was right at the entrance to our local community college.
So in pretty short order it became snake jerky.

It was the first rattler I've seen around here, every other time I've escorted a snake off the road it has been a harmless, non venomous bullsnake, which does do a remarkable rattlesnake impersonation.
Here is a video of a very large bullsnake I found on YouTube. It's demonstrating its hissing vibrato, and head flattening routine...



Yesterday I found my neighbor in the process of using a spade to hack off the head of a pretty small rattler (other neighbors have done the same thing to at least one bullsnake I'm aware of: a case of mistaken identity).

Well, in this instance it was definitely a rattler. So guilty as charged I suppose. Maybe a foot long, with 2 little buttons on its tail.

Even with its head off, it was wriggling all over and its mouth was opening and snapping shut repeatedly.

I reckon if I'd found it I would have got it in a plastic bin and let it go, away from houses somewhere, which is what I did with a baby hognosed snake a while back.

Anyhow, a little unsettling knowing while Meridee's gardening there could be more hiding out amongst the hollyhocks...

Besides that, here's the latest Kickstarter project news... I got double the funding I need to get my Winged Angel Mice up and running (or flying), so THANKS BACKERS!!!

They're still available for pre-order if you'd like to get in touch via email etc, although once they're in galleries it will be retail price only. I'm expecting that to be around Feb sometime.

Have a spooktastic evening!


.
Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

.

An artistic assault on the ears

I read a great little article which explains why 'museums are bulging with visitors who come to view works they secretly detest'.

Something happened in my twenties which this article reminded me of straight away.
It's why I think the author's  main point is right on the money (there's a link to the article at the end of this post).

Here's what happened...

A friend of mine has a musical genius brother who was participating in a recital of his latest composition at London's South Bank.
I persuaded another friend of mine, Jeremy, who is also a splendid musician to come along too.
I thought he might enjoy it since I had it on good authority the composer in question was extremely talented and capable.

After the lights went down and the composition started Jeremy and I were both in for a bit of a shock.

In the dark, it sounded like some people with their shoelaces tied togehter were trying to steal the instruments, or perhaps a bunch of animals with xylophones and pots and pans strapped to them were banging into each other.

Sounds clanged and squealed. 
It was worse than listening to a construction site.
At least there you could discern the rhythm of a jack hammer.

The players emerged from the dark as spotlights were employed.
I hoped their visibility might cause them some embarrasment, perhaps enough to squeak out a tune.
But the music remained relentlessly awful.

We were just at the start, with a couple of hours to go.
Jeremy just got up and left, since he wasn't a friend of the family.
I had to sit there, for what seemed like an eternity, for fear of seeming rude.


After all, I knew the composer, and was there with his brother.
And I was a friend of the family.

And I fancied his sister.
So there was really no escape for me.

For a while I kept hoping this torture would evolve into something bearable, but eventually I just stoically accepted my fate and sat it out.
At least until the interval, when I darted off for a strategic 'emergency bathroom break' and headed for a bathroom somewhere far across town.

On the way I had a drink with Jeremy, who had been nice enough to wait  outside.

And now, with no further ado, I urge you to read THIS ARTICLE and discover the secret of how the 20th Century art scene got away with it (although of course it's not over yet)...


Besides that, my Winged Angel Mice are still available for a half price pre-order on Kickstarter (click HERE to see more).

.
Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

.