Syds First Tweet

Syd is going to be on twitter!  The library is going to use this photo to urge folks to vote.

Stashing Pictures For Later Use

My search for the perfect looking oil well pump for my painting EIEIO is on.  Today, I put this photo from Google Images on my screen saver.  Peak Oil has not ever been far from my mind.  I live on a Peak Oil edge day to day.  The rest of society motors on, and I watch my gas gauge, plan my trips carefully, and thank the Higher Power that for now I am mobile.

For Sale Today

I took a few minutes away from art today to try and sell an old users guide to a camera I no longer own.  It keeps my skills with eBay auctions sharpened.  Who know, I may end up selling paintings in the future on eBay.

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Hi skymetalsmith, Your item has been successfully listed on eBay. It may take some time for the item to appear on eBay search results. Here are the listing details:

Kodak M340 EasyShare Getting Started Guide Item Id: 331332349445 Starting price: $6.00 End time: Oct-05-14 10:56:46 PDT Listing fees: 0 Revise item | Go to My eBay

Please Save This Owners Manual

I took some time this morning to try and sell an old owners manual....instead of just throwing it in the trash.  Hopefully someone out there needs it.

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Plein Air Painting Competition

Ohio Plein Air Society members who will be painting 'plein air' or 'fresh air' throughout Licking County.  If you didn't join us last year for this exquisite event, don't miss it this year!  Sunbear Studios and Gallery is honored to be hosting the Society's Annual Competition the first week of October.  Painters will be arriving from all over Ohio as well as other states to compete for coveted awards and prizes.  Alexandria, Granville, and Licking County locations will again be the beautiful subject matter for these painters, with the final judging and show/sale taking place on October 5 from 11:00 A.M to 3:00 P.M. in front of Sunbear's gallery.  Come on the 5th and feel the excitement as painters display the results of their work done completely on location during the event.  Awards will be given at 2:00 pm.  Find beautiful and meaningful works for your own collection!  See www.sunbearstudio.com or the attachments for more information.

Sunbear is happy to have Jennifer and Dick Kinsley performing with hammered dulcimer and acoustic guitar!  This duo from Granville, Ohio plays Roots Music (traditional, folk, Americana, and music of the British Isles), including tunes of the Shakers and Irish harpists. They've performed for many events and concerts, such as Granville's Candlelight Walking Tour and Lancaster's Frontier Spirit 1799.  They'll be outdoors in front of the gallery from 12 noon to 2 P.M., the best time to come!  Light refreshments will be served in the gallery and you are welcome to browse both the gallery and antique shop downstairs.  
You can find the details of the entire event attached, including the Pre-competition Event "Granville Portraits en Plein Air" taking place October 1 & 2. 
Don't miss any of this lovely fall event at Sunbear and in Granville and enjoy work by some of the country's leading plein air painters!

Syd Says To Vote For The Library

Syd wants you to vote for your Licking County Library.

Adding Deer Energy

A librarian helped me seek out the name of the French post impressionist artist who did these "Jungle type" paintings. 

"Henri Rousseau is perhaps the most outstanding painter who never received a proper education in art." is the quote from the page I read about him.  I spent the morning trying to figure out where to insert my animals for the painting.  White Tail Deer are plentiful still around Ohio, and deserve to be recognized along with the Three Sisters, Polk Weed, Yucca, Sunflower, and Sage.   

Blank Canvas Today

A blank canvas was added to the collection today as I have an idea that I would love to see in paint.  At the same time, I don't want to neglect the canvas's already started.  I hate to waste paint, so I always work with many canvas's at once until one of them reaches out and grabs me to be finished...as the schoolhouse painting called.  
I took out a pesky tree in EIEIO, and added color to my Polk plant in 3 Sisters Dancing In The Pale Moonlight.  The pesky tree interfered with my barn, and the Polk plant needs some prominence.

Pesky tree almost gone.
















And now, we are starting to see the Polk Weed come out of the plant kingdom (Ohio).  This is how I work.  A series of paintings with an inkling of an idea, then additions, subtractions.  It can take years to finish a painting, but in weeks paintings sprouting seemingly out of thin air. It all depends on the amount and quality of my art supplies.  Right now, jewelry is being neglected as I need supplies.  My barb wire American Dream catcher is on hold till I can purchase 30 feet of thin cable.  I work with what I have and am damn grateful to be able to do that.  If I lived how "the system" would have me live....there would be no art supplies, no cat, and no car.  I am grateful, and more than that hopeful for a commission, a sale, an in kind donation.  I won't hold my breath.  I will just keep on keepin on....until the next thing happens.

The Places I Have Lived

The places I have lived since running away from home as a teenager would fill volumes.  Recently, a librarian ran a check on my past residences and the list was about a third of the places I have moved to and lived.  For awhile now, I have revisited some of these places to make photographic record as I wasn't always mindful of photography.

This is a painting on slate that I did for my mother after she remodeled the house I grew up in.

I lived for several months in the 1st Apartment in this little house that is still on Summet Street in Columbus.  I don't have any outside pictures of that place even though I was taking advanced photography classes at Onio State that year.  I do have some inside photos of that place in my archives.  

And of course the old schoolhouse I remodeled and lived in 1989-91.  This blog has photos throughout the years of other homes I have made.  Sometimes when I start thinking of all the places I have hung my hat I am reminded of Wayfaring Stranger. 

Home At Last

The Quilt Of Elizabeth Brim has reached its final destination.  I finished the metal quilt in 2012, and it toured Ohio 2013.  Last Saturday the buyer came all the way down from Michigan to retrieve it, and take it home.  It is very satisfying to finish a work of art, sell it, then see it hung in a home.  Most of the art I create is with my own walls and home in mind.  Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to afford to have art in my house.  It has been the same with my jewelry.  If it were not for commissions and sales, I would have a very hard time surviving.

It was my hope to make the metal quilt on a door, but the right door did not present itself to me while I was doing the project.  Putting art on doors as it turns out has always been present in my mind.

Can you imagine quilt panels on all five panels of this old door?  No telling what art I might have been able to produce had the "swindlers" of the good church not stopped me.  Indeed, it was a door exactly like this one that I had in mind for the quilt project. 

Memory Is Sweeter

The two little trees in the foreground of my painting have grown and multiplied.  I had a little coal pile between the two doors and firewood all along the west wall...ax, hatchet, chopping block, monster mall, and wood wedge.  I didn't trust myself with a chainsaw.  I would like to think that I could handle the labor of cutting kindling and hauling in logs for a wood burner at age 56.  It was hard work.  It took all summer to collect the wood for winter.  In the winter I had to get up by 3 am to put another log or piece of coal in the fire, or the water beside my bed would freeze.  That only happened a couple times LOL.  After a year of it, I wanted to write a Mother Earth News article about how these building could be converted for less than $5000.  Before I put the plumbing in, I had to use an out house.  That outhouse is now behind the old school and almost a pile of kindling.  So sad to see the neglect, after the loving care.

Home Was Where The Heart Was

Almost 30 years ago I painted this heart with a target on the inside of my front door at the old schoolhouse.  I revisited the site on Saturday and discovered that it is the most colorful thing in that very dim building.  It is hard to imagine how frightened I must have been to have taken the time to paint this.  I had a 22 Remington Rifle and a Colt 38 at the time...lots of wild and rabid animals that needed put down.  Worse was the two leggeds that came out to cause trouble.  Had I shot through the target, it would have killed the person on the other side of the door.  Most of my visitors were friends, but occasionally men would show up lookin for trouble.  I realize that the song 18 dogs would have been the mood and spirit of my anxiety level living out in the country in a town inbred.




Poor little house in the country
18 dogs and an M-16 for company
Those cowboys coming over the horizon
They’ll be looking for some hospitality

Come on in, boys, the door is wide open
But I warn you my dogs are born to win
I’ll take the greatest of pleasure
In watching you torn limb from limb

There’s rumors starting down in the village
Those cowboys haven’t been heard of since the day
But if anybody comes ’round asking questions
Well, I’ve got it worked out what I’m gonna say

Come on in, boys, the door is wide open
But I warn you my dogs are born to win
I’ll take the greatest of pleasure
In watching you torn limb from limb

Poor little house in the country
18 dogs and an M-16 for company
Those cowboys coming over the horizon
They’ll be looking for some hospitality

Come on in, boys, the door is wide open
But I warn you my dogs are born to win
I’ll take the greatest of pleasure
In watching you torn limb from limb

Yes, I’ll take the greatest of pleasure
In watching you torn limb from limb

Made My Deadline In Time

Framed and ready to go and show!

Old School

 It is hard to imagine that I lived in this old schoolhouse in 1989, but I did.  It is still standing as of today.  My friend Louise and I made a trip out there today.  I wanted to see if there was anything missing from the painting that I could use to finish up.  Very sad to see the place in such disrepair.  If you want to visit the old schoolhouse sometime here is the google address.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/4569+Pleasant+Valley+Church+Rd,+Zanesville,+OH+43701/@40.0098264,-82.1319994,16z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8837f48375288f27:0x5315708f9f7dc0a8

As you can see my painting is like it, but as the building deteriorates, nature is devouring it.  Louise found some of my writing to my "landlords" who are now buried in the cemetery across the road.

Also, on the inside of the front door my art.

This was art I made with a purpose.  If a person were standing outside that door, the heart of that person would have been approximately parallel.  Inside the heart is a target.  I can only imagine that my 38 colt would have not only hit the target, but also the person standing on the other side of that door.  I wasn't scared, just prepared!

The drawing I made in 1989 and the painting I am working on now inspired me to return to the old school.

I am reminded that nature bats last!

Upcoming Juried Show

 













This painting is not finished yet, but it may be the closest to being finished in time for the upcoming Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry Juried Art Show.  I have a week to finish the painting of the old schoolhouse in Hopewell Ohio.  I was waiting for the leaves to turn...for inspiration etc.  I will need to learn how to burn a CD.


Call for Entries in the Sixth Annual Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry Juried Art Show
by Amy McKay
The Columbus Metropolitan Library, the Ohio Arts Council and the Friends of the Library are once again partnering to bring arts opportunities to artists and the public by presenting a juried art show at the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Main Library. The three organizations have collaborated for more than a decade on the Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry (OOVAR), a database that showcases the work of more than 1,200 artists from Ohio and around the world.
The Sixth Annual Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry Juried Art Show will feature original works of art by Ohio artists. Work will be selected through a blind jury process of distinguished art professionals, which includes a representative from the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the Friends of the Library and a professional juror.
The artwork will be displayed at the Columbus Metropolitan Main Library in the Carnegie Gallery from November 5, 2011 - January 8, 2012. An award of $1,000 will be given for Juror's Choice and an award of $500 will be presented for People's Choice. People's Choice Award ballots will be accepted through November 26, 2011. The cash awards are provided by the Friends of the Library.
The juried show is open to all living Ohio artists 18 years of age or older. Entrants must be registered in the Ohio Online Visual Artist Registry at www.ohioonlinearts.org. There is no entry fee. Up to three images may be submitted on CD. Work must be original and created within the past three years. Deadline to apply is Friday, August 26, 2011. Additional requirements apply.

Outpatient Surgery Today

Today, I will be coming to Columbus for out-patient surgery.  I love Columbus, and moving my medical decisions and actions to Columbus is the first step to moving back.  As I step through the door to becoming an elder I wish the comfort and safety of advanced competitive medicine....which we don't have here in Nerk.  I have been averaging about 2 Doctors appointments a month as it was years that I did not keep up with all that.  Last month it was my eye exam, and Rheumatology.  This month Dermatology, and hopefully an annual Dental exam and cleaning.  It is a cycle that I am off center, as I was displaced and am only now recovering from my losses. 

Adding Pokeweed

The painting on the right in this photo is called Three Sisters In The Pale Moonlight.  It contains the August full moon which is when the moon is the closest to the earth I am told.  Everything else in the painting is Ohio related.  The sunflower, Buckeye tree, yucca plant, sage, and of course the three sisters (corn, bean, squash).  The clay jar is the color of Ohio Clay when fired.  This painting will take awhile as I am not sure what all will end up within the borders.  Yesterday, I added pokeweed which is a plant that is plentiful right now, but poisonous.  I am told that the berry of the pokeweed was used to sign the Declaration Of Independence.  Native Americans used it to dye their baskets.  Using a living plant is always better than trying to use a photo.  It is important that I not expose my art students to unnecessary poisons.  Most commercial art supplies are in fact poison, so it is an ongoing challenge.

The painting in progress on the left is an autumn painting.  This spring I found my favorite local tree and have periodically snapped pictures of it as it progresses.  I needed to see its framework, without leaves, that I added yesterday.  A week ago the tree looked like this.

It wont be long till I can see what this giant is like in fall splendor.  There are no trespassing signs near the site, so I dare not push my luck and try to get any closer.  I love this tree, and I hope the tree destroyers stay away from it.  I suspect it has been here since the birth of Newark, maybe even longer.  Not many of those trees left, and I am honored to put this one in one of my paintings. 

Call For Art

My beginners will be working towards projects today that could be entered in Accessible Expressions Ohio 2015.  I realize it is early, but it is important to plan and set goals.  If not this show, then there will be others.

 http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Call-for-Art---2015-Accessible-Expressio...

Syd In Concha's Cauldron

Sometimes I look for Syd for a long time before I find him!  Last night, I found him in Great Grandmothers cauldron.  Perhaps he is already thinking about his annual Halloween pose.