2016 Progress Report: March

March was an interesting month. There was a lot going on all fronts. I was busy trying to get several ceramic projects done at once while finding time to work on my mixed media projects. Then away from the college at home, several digital projects were being worked on. As busy as March sounded, it would be nothing compared to the nightmare of a month that April was. What I have here are 15 pictures from March. When I get around to doing the April post, there will be a lot more pictures.

3/2/16: I'm continuing the chicken wire work.

3/2/16: A few hours later, I made a little bit of progress.

3/2/16: This came a long way since the previous week. I wasn't quite able to finish it yet, however.

3/9/16: Chicken wire work on the front is complete. I burned myself with hot glue multiple times during this process.

3/9/16: Chicken wire work on the back is complete. The flat part of the back will remain bare for the eventual name label that I'm going to make.

3/9/16: I eventually finished this. It's looking better than it was before. I'm still not sure about those tentacle-like pieces on the end. I feel like I should have take a different approch to that.

3/9/16: My newest future sagger piece. The basic construction of it is finished but it needs to be fixed up a bit.

3/16/16: I'm going to be working on another 2-panel drawing. The bristolboard is on the left while the foamboard is on the right. The foamboard will be used to make sure the bristolboard has a flat surface to lay on.

3/16/16: This is a project that I haven't touched since 2012. It currently goes by the title P13. The bristol board and foamboard in the previous picture are intended for this piece. I deliberately left some parts uncovered until after the drawings are finished.

3/16/16: The back of P13. Having to mofify older projects is often the most difficult thing for me to do. I can't just throw tnhem out because a lot of monet had already been invested into them.

3/16/16: This is coming along slowly.

3/16/16: Another future sagger piece. I wanted to try and create skinnier pieces.

3/16/16: Another skinny sagger piece.

3/23/16: I was working on the overall layout of the back of P5. Had this been a project that I started from scratch and not some unfinished project from years ago, the canvas would not be on there yet.

3/23/16: The canvas I used here looks a little dirty. This is because the canvas I use when working on clay projects is often cut up and used for projects like this. Over the years, I've become good at improvisation. Sometimes, the tools and equipment used for working on projects end up becoming part of a project.

A Brief Update: May 2016

A little while back, I said I would have some things to announce in probably 2 weeks or so. That announcement never came. I've been so damn busy over the last couple of months and I really haven't had time to make any posts that would have mattered. I say posts that matter because I only make posts when I feel there is something worth posting.

Anyway, since the last post, I have March pictures to post, April pictures, May pictures in another week or so, show pictures, new buttons to put up for sale, new ceramic pieces to put up for sale. On top of that, the work I've finished this month also needs to be posted. April was a shit storm of a month for me with so many things going on at once. May is currently the month where I'm still cleaning up from April. So over the next few weeks and months, everyone will know about all of the work I've been doing lately and will soon have an opportunity to buy some new stiff from me.

That's all that has to be said for now. I hope to have the next post ready soon.

2016 Progress Report: February

February was a busy month for me. I started on four different projects throughout the month plus some other stuff that wasn't captured on a camera. I have 10 pictures for February so look at them and enjoy. The next entry may be an announcement and it may come in the next 2 weeks or so.

2/10/16: This is the first project I started this year. With sculpture/ceramic pieces, my goal this year is to try and create work that looks strong on all sides since I felt some of my past work has had a very strong front side but also a somewhat weak backside. This project by the way, is currently titled P4.

2/17/16: This project is currently titled P32 and is a project with a summer theme. This project is supposed to have sort of a mystical vibe to it, treating the sun as sort of an ancient symbol.

2/17/16: This is the back of P32. This design is based on what I learned from working on The Tragic Forest in 2015. When this is complete and hanging on the wall, it will stick out at you, not look down on you.

2/17/16: This project is currently titled P23. The form has not been completed yet.

2/24/16: P4 has been bisque fired. It will eventually be fired in a raku kiln.

2/24/16: P32 is starting to take shape. It isn't as flat as it was before.

2/24/16: The wood pieces have been added. Eventually, the hooks for the hanging wire will be attached to the wood.

2/24/16: We started the chicken wire work. This will end up taking a long time.

2/24/16: The final form for P23.

2/24/16: The beginning of P24. This piece had a rough start.

2016

Happy 2016, everyone! I know for most of you, New Year's day was nearly 2 months ago and is now a distant memory. For me, I've been struggling to get 2016 off the ground and the year still feels new and fresh. The good news is while January was mostly a quiet month, some progress has been made throughout February and I'll talk more about that soon enough.

Every year, I end up posting this to-do list. From my past experience, some of the stuff on the list gets done but much of it does not. This year, I'm taking a different approach. I made a document of projects that I would like to get done, but it is a document that was designed only to give me a starting direction and most of it relates to what I can do in the near-future. There are other things like the youtube channel, the website and things like that that I keep promising to do but fail to deliver on. So I decided not to promise those things. I'll still be in the process of working on them but I won't talk about them until there is something to talk about. That is why these things will not be listed in the document I made. The projects that I have scheduled for the fall and winter were done so because I already know that with my schedule as it is, I have no chance of getting that stuff done over the next few months. So I think it is a fairly realistic document. Since this was made some time ago, I am happy to say that several of these projects are currently being worked on and have made substantial progress. That is all for right now. My next entry will consist of more pictures than text.

My outline of what I plan to work on this year. The 'P' in each name stands for project and the number is how I have it listed in the files of unfinished projects that I have organized on my computer. As many of you may know, these are the names I refer to my projects by until they are given an actual name.

2015 Progress Report: December

While the rest of the world is currently living in 2016, I'm still living in 2015. I apologize for taking so long to post these. I'm not going to say too much right now. I completed 25 projects in 2015 and I'm happy about that. The only other thing I can say for right now is that 2016 will be full of surprises!

12/2/15: This survived the bisque firing. Despite its small size, the piece is surprsingly heavy.

12/2/15: This survived the bisque firing. Like the other one, the tail at the top broke off prior to the firing.

12/2/15: The final piece of the year that survived the bisque firing (not counting the sagger pieces that were refired). In 2015, I did not have a single ceramic project that exploded during the firings.

12/2/15: After being dissatisfied with the initial results of this sagger piece, I had it bisque fired so I could start over again.

12/2/15: The same thing as before. I wasn't satisfied so I had everything done away with. Out of the three Sagger firings I did, two of them had to be done over again.

12/8/15: Strangely enough, only one side of this raku piece turned out okay. So I decided to glaze it again and have it refired.

12/8/15: This piece is glazed and ready to go to the raku kiln.

12/8/15: Even after glazing this, I tried to make sure that the texture work was going to be intact after firing.

12/9/15: This i the one sagger piece that didn't need to be done again. It looks much better now that I polished is.

12/9/15: This is the final results of the second sagger piece. At this stage, it has not been polished yet.

12/9/15: The final results of the third sagger piece. At this point, I had not polished it yet.

12/16/15: Doing the label for this one was tricky.

12/16/15: The label work for this one was much easier.

12/16/15: Some people ask how I come up with the names for these pieces. With work like this, the name usually doesn't come along until the end. The process of naming these often involves a lot of reflecting on my time with the project and thinking about what I'm seeing when I'm looking at the near-final product.

12/16/15: Soft molding paste work and painting is done.

12/16/15: Quite a bit of molding paste work was needed here.

12/16/15: The felt is in place and the polymer gloss has been applied. This project is done.

12/16/15: This one is finally done.

12/16/15: I'm getting one after the other done. The others would have to wait.

12/30/15: Another tricky piece for applying a label. I personally don't like the labeling work I did here. It's a little sloppy in my opinion.

12/30/15: This one was a little tricky as well even though the large labels are usually easier to work with.

12/30/15: I didn't have too many problems with this one.

12/30/15: I'm finally done here.

12/30/15: This was a pain in the ass but it is done.

12/30/15: I managed to complete 25 projects in 2015 and this is the last one.