Commission after commission!

This week brought closure to a delightful project I’ve been working on for some time.  It’s an elaborate, large format commission piece that features an extended path with trees and flowers.  It is personalized with fabric from the owner, including a rich purple cloth from their wedding houpa.  My rule is that I won’t show an image of the completed work until the patron sees it first, so I can only give a sneak peak of a small section with the promise that I’ll post the entire image at a later date when their home renovations are completed and they can accept delivery. 

Bringing that project to a conclusion means I’m putting more energy into the next two commission pieces on my plate.  The first will revisit a favorite piece, “Summer Salad.”  It involves creating a lot of detailed vegetable pieces to scale.  This week was devoted to assembling the sliced tomatoes.  I put the outside skin on the six slices I prepared, leaving the project of layering on the details of the meat and seeds in the cross-section.  The cherry tomatoes for the piece are almost as cute as the ones that are coming off the vines in the garden.   

There aren’t many actual tomatoes as I’d like, since some creature of the night is stealing all the big tomatoes and some of the little ones, but I’m getting a taste.  I’ve built all of the shapes that I need for the mushrooms from felted sweater pieces, over which I’ll needle felt soft grey carded wool to make the surface look realistic.  Ahead of me lie the radishes, celery, onions, broccoli and cucumbers.  I promised to complete the piece by mid December, so I feel like I’m on schedule with all my other responsibilities.  The sliced vegetables seem to have attracted another big-headed ant, though.  They asked me to create one more worker for the exhibit at Wonderlab.  

 The reception for the ant exhibit will be held during First Fridays on November 6^th from 5 to 8:30.  The ants will be provided, but it will be BYOP (bring your own picnic!). 

As I scurry into new projects, my exhibit continues to hang at the Convention Center in the Rogers room.  I realized that I neglected to take a photo of one piece before I hung the show, forcing me to zip back in to grab an image of “Looking at the Water”.  I had so much fun making the lawn chair and posting it on Facebook before I attached it to the piece.  

 So many people thought that I had reclaimed an old seventies-era aluminum lawn chair by replacing the fabric.  When they saw the piece on the kitchen counter top for scale it became clear that it was a miniature.  Still, the piece seems to bring back fond memories for a lot of people. 

Life is building to another crescendo this week.  Monday begins the last week of rehearsals for the “Phantom of the Opera” show that begins on Saturday, October 18^th.  It continues for two more Saturdays, and they’re trying to sell out the shows to help cover the extensive costs for the elaborate falling chandelier and hundreds of costumes, among other investments.  You can see the evil monkey atop the ornate music box and the dead body I created for the show too—it’s incredible how much has gone into this production.   

Tommie is a chorus member and Jacob is in charge of the lighting.  Grandma will come to town for opening night and Jim will watch, cook, and keep everyone calm, so it’s really a family affair.  Oh, and speaking of my sweet husband Jim, he made me two apple pies on Saturday.  One went to a party and was consumed, but the other provided a slice for my Sunday morning breakfast with espresso. 

I should also mention that last week was the public school’s Fall Break.  I needed a break too, so the boys and I drove south west for a day adventure to French Lick.  It started with a beautiful fall drive along winding roads.  The little towns, with their unusual names and cultures seem very different from Bloomington.  We started with go-kart racing followed by a stop in an arcade.  

The boys deftly played a five dollar advance into enough tickets to buy us all tiaras and moustaches, which became the official family attire for the trip.  We found a hole-in-the-wall pizza place where the waitress was a little taken aback by our attire.  Then we played a round of mini golf (still in costume).  We have a family rule that the winner buys the ice cream, which of course turned out to be me.  No ice cream place was in sight, so we decided to venture into the West Baden Springs hotel so the boys could see the grandness of the dome from the inside.  As we approached the front door, a sharply dressed fellow asked how he could help us. 

You might or might not think that tiaras and moustaches were appropriate attire for the fancy hotel, but he let us right in and even became our tour guide.  He gave us lots of details about the history of the place and the renovations that were done.  I’ve seen pictures of the place, but until you’re standing there to experience the scale and the grandiosity of the place it is hard to appreciate.   We ended up having ice cream at a parlor in the hotel before the boys found an ornate chess set and board that was actually an inlaid table.  They played while I wandered the hotel to get a better sense of the space.  All in all it was a perfect day out and a break in our routine.  But now it’s back to art!  And the Phantom!  He says that tickets are available online, so we hope to see you there!

Until next week,

Martina Celerin 

Strawberry Shortcake for Breakfast

The highlight of my week came early - the culmination of months of work when my two extra large commission pieces were hung in the spacious kitchen of my generous patrons. They hired a professional with two assistants; they showed up with ladders, stud finders and laser levels. Toss in the artist and we had an unbeatable team. I have to say that when I stepped back to admire the pieces I thought they looked very nice. The rewarding part for me was seeing how well all the untested elements ultimately came together—the new large formats, the necessary large scale of the vegetables and hands, and my new strategy for attaching the heavy piece to the frame.

My next stop was in Indianapolis on Wednesday morning after a harrowing trip through rush hour traffic to the north side of town. My vision of pleasant driving through sleepy Bloomington neighborhoods, where people wait at four-way stops until you go through, are not shared by Indianapolis drivers. I was showing my weavings and Re-Bead-ery jewelry at this year’s Indiana Recycling Coalition meeting, held at the Hilton North and organized by recycled artist coordinator extraordinaire Marilyn Brackney. The hotel support people were wonderful, helping me haul all my stuff to its spot. The meeting people were enthusiastic and positive. My art was well received, even if sales weren’t the best, and I had a nice time chatting with the participants. The only downside was driving back home, again through rush hour traffic on 465 around town. I am sooooo happy that I’m not commuting to Indianapolis on a regular basis!

The last part of the week I did my best to hide myself in the art studio and try work on my latest commission. I completed the trail on my piece based on ‘A Walk in the Woods’. I really like how it looks. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to pull out the warm coppery tones that I haven’t worked with in a while. I even found an old coaster that had one layer in a coppery tone. Nothing in my materials bins are safe! I incorporated a lot of different fibers that I wanted and I think it looks really nice.

The rest of the news is all family stuff. My three boys tested for new belts at Monroe County Martial Arts. The younger boys got their blue-with-a-black-stripe belts, one level below brown. And my more and more agile hubby Jim got his blue belt in the same test. He was the junior belt, and with his long reach many were a bit worried that he’d spin out and accidently kick someone near him, especially the parents of the little girl to his right. It was Friday the 13^th, and 13 people were testing. Luckily, lightning didn’t strike, no one was hurt, and everyone went out for pizza or ice cream at the end. Hooray! Saturday morning brought the first round of strawberries at the farmer’s market. Jim made biscuits, I cut up the berries and added the sugar, and the boys requested the fat-free vanilla ice cream for the top. That’s Sunday morning breakfast at it’s best.

Until next week…

Martina Celerin