(photo by Gina Ferazzi for LA Times)
In the 1960’s, Elmer’s dad started taking him along to ghost towns and abandoned mining camps, finding bottles & artifacts (junk) in the sand. At age
67, he began welding huge metal sculptures that integrate & hold the stuff –
which now includes more than 10,000 glass bottles. In this video trailer for “Elmer’s Factory” (an Onward Films
documentary by Christopher Lee), Elmer gives the clearest statement I can think
of on the purpose of art:
“I can pick a rock up off the ground, and I can make it into something. And it
won’t be just a rock any more. It can make you think."
Just to be up front, there's no financial motive here, either. When people offer to pay him to make sculptures for them, Long says:
"I
tell them, 'Build your own — there's my welding machine, you can use it.'
How could it possibly mean anything to you if you don't make it yourself?"
[emphasis added - See the complete LA Times story HERE]
How could it possibly mean anything to you if you don't make it yourself?"
[emphasis added - See the complete LA Times story HERE]
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Today's creation is another attempt at a tree insert for this year's Christmas card (the popup thing I wrote about yesterday). I wasn't happy with the shape of the earlier tree, which was from a cellphone photo I took the other morning; I wanted something more organic-looking.
I did a sheet of trees on watercolor paper with colored India inks (greens, blues and a dark brown color underpainting). The inks are waterproof, so you can do layers on top of layers (once they dry) and the colors won't run together; you can get a nice overlay of colors and shapes that way. To get jagged edges I used masking fluid, which is a liquid rubber-glue that you paint onto the paper so the ink won't touch the paper; when done, you rub it off with an eraser and the paper is white where it was covered by the fluid. I also scratched the paper with the sharp end of a bamboo pen first, so the inks sort of pool in the scratches and make darker lines of color when they dry.
This one turned out the best of the six (about 3" X 4") trees on the sheet:
I did a sheet of trees on watercolor paper with colored India inks (greens, blues and a dark brown color underpainting). The inks are waterproof, so you can do layers on top of layers (once they dry) and the colors won't run together; you can get a nice overlay of colors and shapes that way. To get jagged edges I used masking fluid, which is a liquid rubber-glue that you paint onto the paper so the ink won't touch the paper; when done, you rub it off with an eraser and the paper is white where it was covered by the fluid. I also scratched the paper with the sharp end of a bamboo pen first, so the inks sort of pool in the scratches and make darker lines of color when they dry.
so I scanned it in. I'll still have to tweak the shape in Photoshop before I draw ornaments, lights and a star onto it. I may post the final version in a few days.
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A word about copyright:
I just want to write about ideas, so I try to give attribution to everyone's work of all kinds. If I ever fail to give a credit, it's purely accidental and I apologize in advance.
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