Creative Every Day: Creatures Real & Imagined

I get announcements in the mail for tempting exhibits like this one. Busy as I am, my eyes are always bigger than my datebook allows. Even so, I manage to get to most of the shows I wish to see… under duress… the day before they yank it to put up the next show, HA! I squeaked in to see this exhibit on Saturday, July 3 @ 5pm (gallery closes at 6pm). Whew, close call, as usual!

As a result of my visit, I painted this textured rooster, shown above. You can get a closer look by clicking on the photo. It was inspired by a beautifully patterned painting in the exhibit, entitled “Roosters in the Mist” (Marlene Samaf). There were all kinds of wonderful things there, which I was unable to photograph because an alert attendant was milling about (no photos allowed). It’s hard to be discreet when you’re the only one in the room. Damn! I saw a handblown glass deepwater fish I really wanted to show fellow sketch-exchange artist Steve, and I also saw a very fun sculpture-fountain made of salvaged metal & a pump by Marty Kelley, called “Whizzer.” It was a dog. You can probably guess how Mr. Kelley incorporated the pump in order to make it a fountain? What a great garden decoration it would be! Out of my price range, rats.

I told my husband about it, since he has been welding salvage sculpture lately. He made this bird for me last week. It uses a rake (wings) & the cutter from an old sicklebar mower (head). I loved its literal toe”nails”! One of these days, I am going to take my camera to the town dump with a blog post in mind. Technically, it’s been a “recycling center” for decades now, but we still call it the dump. To creative thrifty persons like ourselves, the town dump is a gold mine. I usually scout the “swap shed” for art materials while Ken digs for useful things in the scrapmetal heap. There’s even a “junk” sculpture garden there. When out-of-town friends visit us, we actually include the town dump on a list of local sight-seeing options.

Tags: art, creative every day challenge, found object sculpture, imaginary creatures, rooster, salvage sculpture, sketchbook