It’s been nearly a year since I’ve posted anything. Lots going on to say the least. But for mostly recreational purposes, I’m starting up with some art projects; mobiles now, possibly some painting to come. This mobile is around 25 inches long when stretched out and about 15 inches tall. The “petals” are wood that I jigsawed and sanded in my basement workshop. Bright colors to brighten up a room and one’s mood.
Available for purchase here
Back to something more colorful. This one is about 24 inches across and just about 8 inches high not counting the string. Wood is painted with acrylics and latex paint. As all of the pieces are flat and parallal to the ground, it is best hung fairly close to the ceiling or in a very high space so it can be observed easily from below or hung over a stairway or similar space where it can be seen from above. In this way, the viewer can see the subtle movements among the different pieces, especially if there is some air circulation. The following views are from below, above, and side.
This one also has the “entity” label, because I feel it hints at something organic. I painted it orange on a whim and I think that could really work in some settings, but it not be as versatile as black. Of course, against the black background, it is quite striking. It is about 14 inches high by 7 or 8 inches wide.
With this mobile as with others, there are hints of fish and other animal forms, hence the title. It is made out of galvanized steel wire and lightly spray painted black. This “beast” is fairly large; about 45 inches wide. See close-up views below.
I like how this one came out: good balance and spacing while the overall shape seems to “work.” Next time, I will try to make it a bit larger. This one is about ten inches tall and four or five wide.
For various reasons it has been a while since I’ve posted. Part of the reason has been that I have been working on putting up an Etsy site to sell mobiles and wire sculptures. More on that in coming days. I have also been creating more sculptures and mobiles to sell, but I’ll also be posting them here.
Lately, I have been experimenting with wire only mobiles, such as the one below. The idea is to create interesting shapes and curves and have it all be in motion as it catches a breeze.
I should also say, that I have continued to work on photographing these critters. For the most part, I only spray the silver wire lightly so it can also catch the light at times, but this means that it is very difficult for those parts of the wire to show up against a light background.
Finally, I should say that naming these things is also a challenge. I see and meant to create animal shapes in the design, so I’m giving them titles suggestive of live beings.
Entity 1
Close up
Just put this one together a couple of days ago. It is about two feet long, but less than eight inches from top to bottom, leaving out the length of the chain. The largest wood triangles are about four inches long/wide. So, even though it has some large pieces, this mobile can fit into a relatively small space with low ceilings. It throws some interesting shadows too.
I have found it very difficult to photograph mobiles. In part, this is because they are three-dimensional, but an even bigger reason is that the way they take up space in those three dimensions constantly changes. There is no way to capture that in a single photo. Finally, there is the obvious fact that mobiles are mobile: they move. That character is completely lost with a single photo. I have a book that has photos of dozens if not hundreds of Calder’s mobiles and, as beautiful as the book is, it hardly does them justice.
So, going forward, I will be experimenting with short videos of my mobiles to see how that works as a presentation medium. And, if and when I have time, I will try to get down to the National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn museum in DC to shoot some of Calder’s mobiles as well.
I hope you enjoy this first attempt and please feel free to leave comments and suggestions.
This mobile is nice in a fairly small space. It’s over my desk at home at the moment. With a large number of different colored pieces moving together and separately, it captures one’s quiet attention.
The colored pieces are made out of card stock and painted with acrylics.
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