All Hail Lil Seezer! Part I

If your insomnia has been getting the better of you recently and you have been visiting my blog from time to time you might remember that last year I wrote a POST regarding the piece Bro Kin. In a portion of the piece there was a Julius Caesar bust.  Not being content to just make a 2-D Caesar, I felt that the time was right to make a 3-D Seezer as well.

So here we go!

I start by making the internal support structure out of plywood and lumber.  For the keenest of observers, you will spy a single piece of stained green lumber left over from Terry Rathje's and my sculpture Vestibule -which was part of Terry's solo show (Questionable Architecture (LINK TO TERRY'S SHOW)) at the Figge Art Museum back in 2013.  Anyway, both of us are slowly, but surely repurposing the wood we used.

Another look at the base for Seezer through the arm of Captain Galactikka (look for the Captain in an upcoming post!).

I add two arms, and some chicken wire to create the body.

Then I take the whole contraption outside and hit it with several cans of spray foam.

The foam flows around all of the layers of chicken wire, expands and hardens, to create a pretty solid sculpture body.

The foam cures by pulling moisture from the atmosphere.  Until it hardens, it is a wickedly sticky mass of unpleasantness.  A hearty misting of water really speeds up the hardening/curing process.

Then I leave him outside to soak up a few rays.

The next step is to take an old serrated steak knife a carve along the profile in order to smooth out (cut off) all of the bumps.  This gives Seezer a smoother profile.

I am going to coat the spray foam with painted/gesso-ed fabric.  But before I do that, I run strips of duct tape along the foam, so I can then hot glue strips of fabric on top of the tape.  I use the fabric strips as anchor points for the larger sheets of fabric.

Then I just start building up the surface with fabric.  Since Seezer is a pop culture icon/mascot of consumer culture kind of guy, I feel it is more than appropriate to cover his surface with another pop culture material -old blue jean denim.

Then I just paint, add fabric, paint, add fabric, repeat until it is all covered.

Then I add an old flannel bed sheet.  In this particular case, one that holds a contribution from the jet-setting/globe-trotting, Buckstrum (RIP).

I've added the laurel to Seezer's head.  I still have eyes, pizza, and toga embellishments to fabricate.  We'll cover that in All Hail Lil Seezer! Part II!

Let's close with a detail shot of Seezer.

Next time we'll take a peek at Captain Galactikka in the 3rd-Dimension!!

Alternating Currents 2019 Pop-Up Show

Our Pop-Up show for the 3rd Annual Alternating Currents Festival is a thing of the past.  For three days, Phil Laber, Heidi Hernandez, Terry Rathje, and I put together a little show of our work.

A little publicity for the cause!

Check it out a few images from the show!

A detail shot of one of Philip Laber's pieces.

You can check out more of Phil's work by checking out his website: https://www.philiplaber.com/

A detail from one of Heidi Hernandez's cool pieces.

You can check out more of Heidi's work by going to visit her website: http://heidihernandezart.com/

One of Terry Rathje's robusto pieces.

You can explore more of Terry Rathje's work by visiting his website: https://www.terryrathje.com/

As a "blog-only bonus", I will close with a moment Phil Laber captured at The Current Hotel (http://www.thecurrentiowa.com/) of Terry Rathje and I chatting on a couch.  If you'd think with me sitting next to such a cute and over-sized Teddy bear that I wouldn't have the time, nor inclination to give Terry a fresh batch of 'the stink eye',  you'd be wrong...

Next time we'll take a look at some sculptural endeavors...

A (More Complete) Tale of Three Carvings.

Recently, I showed the beginnings of three carved panels I have been working on in the studio.  Time to dive more in-depth with their color/paint.

None of the three have official titles thus far (since they are intended to be polyptych panels).

Adding some green and orange to the mix.

Still waiting for a couple more colors.

Here it is paired with an early version of its canvas partner.  Ultimately, I may pull a few colors from one panel to help (partially) unify them with each other.

Finally I add the bright yellow and red.

The color palette for my next panel.

It's hard to say "no" to a bright green.

It's also kind of difficult to say 'no' to a pale pink.

It is mostly painted, I just need to add a couple accent colors.

Just like that, it's (mostly) complete!

My last panel is getting started with a sweet blue.  I apply the blue first and then make the rest of my color decisions based off of the it.

Whoooa!  Action shot!

In response to the blue, the second and third colors are lighter (and warmer!)

They are fairly similar colors, but if you look at the painting palette below, I started with the orange color in the bottom left.  After that color dried, I realized it was too orange for what I wanted, so I mixed a slightly new color and then painted over it with the color from the top right of the palette.  I only added a bit of yellow ochre, titanium white, and burnt umber to shift the orange to something more pleasing.

Enough technical talk, back to the painting.

Ready to be paired with another panel or two...

Next time we might take a look at some sculptural ideas I have been working on.