Did I travel to this gorgeous location to paint it? I wish. No, it popped up randomly on my laptop login screen, and I tracked it down so I could treat it as a painting exercise.
Cannon Beach
Cannon Beach as seen from Ecola Point, Oregon. An absolutely stunning location we visited last July. Managed to get this painted over about a month, which is pretty speedy for me.
Illumibrate Preview / Ukraine Benefit
Usually Illumibrate is held every March at JUMP Boise. Sadly, the event got canceled this year due to the Omicron Covid-19 variant was surging. And a shame too, as I had been leading a team of artists and volunteers in building several pieces of sea-themed black light-activated art.
But when the Omicron wave abated, the powers-that-be at JUMP looked around for an excuse to show everything they had been working on. The result: a partnership with a local church to raise funds to benefit those affected by war in Ukraine. It culminated in a two-night event featuring live music. The art was arranged in a main centerpiece with nine sub-installations around the room.
Good news: Illumibrate will be back for 2023, and this work will be on display!
More info –
JUMP Boise: https://jumpboise.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JBDaniels-Art-103699161740609
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jbdanielsart/
The fish were all made out of reclaimed cardboard. For the midsized ones (angelfish, manta rays, tuna), I handmade the prototypes, and then Jesse at the JUMP Maker Studio digitized the pieces and used a laser cutter to cut them out. Volunteers assembled them with hot glue and packing tape.
The larger fish (hammerhead sharks, moray eel) were custom-built one-offs. Each one was over 6 feet long. Details on the fabrication of one of the sharks:
The large coral centerpiece was made from recycled styrofoam blocks that JUMP had somehow scored for dirt cheap. They were cemented together with gap-filling insulation foam and then carved back. We tried several approaches for the carving, including hot wire/hot knife (toxic odors) and an angle grinder with wire brush wheel (carved fast but made a horrific mess). But in the end, it was a trusty bread knife that did most of the work.
MegaDoge
This year, JUMP wanted something big for Illumibrate. The result: MegaDog! At over 20 feet tall, it’s far and away the largest project I’ve attempted.
The structure is framed with steel conduit, followed by steel wire and chicken wire netting to flesh out the shape. The skin is plastic sheeting taped together with packing tape, then spray painted. Each leg has a 26 gallon water tank to help stabilize the structure against wind.
The original frame did not come together well, and had to be torn down and rebuilt to a new design. The skin did not hold up well, with the spray paint flaking off almost immediately. Originally there were plans for a different, more expensive and professional skin, but with time a limiting factor we had to go cheap and fast. Artistically I’m not crazy with the results. The teeth came out too angry, the proportions aren’t quite right, and changes to the frame made it less clear that he’s supposed to be curved around chasing his tail. A well, next time better prototyping will be needed. The structure proved to be very stable though, surviving wind gusts up to 60mph only hours after it went up.
Whale Shark on Fire
The local community center Xanadu is holding an “Art on Fire” fundraiser later this month. Art will be auctioned off, and whatever doesn’t sell will go up in flames. I didn’t have anything suitable on hand (unless the event hosts like the smell of burning plastic), but that’s remedied easily enough with a new project. 100% cardboard, which ought to burn up nicely. Link to the event: https://ibaartauction.afrogs.org/?fbclid=IwAR3toZulcbsjhhVuvwMq5Q7FnsSQbEvSJ-enaGa_–NRF7cf5PcSW7KARC4#/index
Had much more fun with this project than I thought I would. In total it took about 1 month to build during spare time, which is far shorter than the 4-9 months it took for each of the previous large paper fish projects. And the results came out better than expected. Might have to do more work with cardboard.
It’s 6ft (2m) long. Hot glue was used to hold the cardboard together, with paper packing tape to smooth out and define the surface.
Artist Sit Down
I was quite privileged recently to be the subject of an artist sit down done by Boise Art Scene. Check it out!
Pinecone Lamp
A friend gifted me a lamp base. Well, it came with a shade too, but it was small and cheap, so I went ahead and made a new one. The shade has a wire frame with heavy art paper for the leaves. Including stand, it’s about 5 feet tall.
Giraffe Family
Illuminated giraffe family made for JUMP’s Illumibrate festival, March 6, 2020, Boise, Idaho. They are life size, reaching up to 16 feet. They were lit from the inside using LED lights sequenced to be controlled by a digital theremin that members of the audience could operate. Surrounding them were several foam trees fabricated by JUMP and also lighted and controlled by the theremin.
This was a collaboration with the JUMP team and several other volunteers. Special thanks to JUMP team members Maggie Soderberg (administration, approval, financing), Jesse Cordtz (coordination, technical support), Amanda Fitch (head sculpture), and Mark Freckleton (wiring). Also a big thanks to Ross Butler and his team for lighting, sequencing, programming, etc.
This project was a rush with little more than 2 months from conception to completion. I never liked how spindly the legs on the big giraffes came out, but with the time constraints and the fact that most of the body work had to be completed before it could be lifted up onto the legs, this was the best that could be managed. I’m working with the JUMP staff to rebuild the legs (particularly the thigh areas) to give them more bulk, as well as redesigning the knees, and adding in feet, which we didn’t have time for.
Though more time would’ve been appreciated, we were lucky: if the event was a week or two later, it likely would’ve been shut down by the growing pandemic.
Trying Out Painting
I started playing around with acrylics last year. Found I could do well enough so long as there’s a reference photo to follow. Painting something from scratch? Not so easy. Here’s a few paintings I sent off to family members for Christmas.
Spider
Commission for a local corn maze