clifton metal works

2012 Show Planning and Schedule - Photographs

2012-01-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

It's that dreaded time of year when we have to start thinking about what shows we are going to apply to and what we're going to show. Many people think that it's straight forward but nothing could be farther from the truth. Many countless hours are spent: scouring scrap yards, creating samples, researching art shows to apply to. Then we have to take photographs; clean up the photographs; resize the photos depending on how individual shows want them; and finally adding them online or to a compact disc, creating photographs, or even having slides printed (although that is really becoming a thing of the past.

I'm going to focus on the photography aspect for now that I've created a number of samples. I wrote earlier about different processes with the hearts that we've created for years and really happy with the direction were going. We're actually going to be showing mostly this new work at shows this year, and we're still doing our other work but it will be limited to about three shows. We'll add more to our website once we get this sorted out when the "come join us" and/or "rejection" letters start coming in this spring.

Above is a four foot tall heart that is about 12 inches wide and two inches deep.

Mackie and I tag-teamed on taking photos today. We hung each piece individually, and she took three photos from different angles. Digital cameras are great because it allows us to instantly see what were doing; this has saved countless hours and developing fees working this way. I then took the photos and added them to my laptop and began working the next magical steps...Photo editing. Regardless of what anyone says, there's always something to do. Pictures don't just magically come from the camera. Almost but not quite.

I take the image and remove the background and then add a generic background like the one above. I don't do any re-touching to the photos. If we don't like the color or exposure, we take it again. It's so easy with the digital camera and way quicker than using all the fancy photo-editing tools. In my case I don't have a clue how to use 99.9% of them.

The heart about is created from recycled metal shelving strips of various colors. Note how I keep it real simple and use the same background for each image.

I've finished editing five photos tonight and still need to work on the booth shot with our new wall art to get ready to apply for shows beginning next week. Over 70% of 2012's applications are due by January 31st! That's when the pressure really starts.

The Side Door Heart Opening

2012-01-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Last night Mackie and about 50 fun art loving, food loving, and even barley pop loving friends enjoyed our celebrating our new heart display at the Side Door at 425 SE Washington in Portland, Oregon. It was great to see everyone and especially nice to see the impact our work makes to people.

We have a great life and great friends, and we're very fortunate to have such a following. It's humble to recall that this all started because of the metal scrap piles around the West Virginia family farm where I grew up as a teenager; my varied work career from working in machine shops in the Auburn, Washington area; to working with the cable tv, telephone, and power companies; to our friends who seek us out at art shows throughout the country, our art galleries that spend countless hours supporting our work; and, most of all to my amazing wife Mackie who continues to encourage me.

All these factors contribute to the way I look at what others discard. The hearts in the two photos are made from recycled metal shelving of different sizes and colors. I love working with metal exactly as I find it. Of course I add a lot of elbow grease in cleaning up the metal with wire brushes, steel wool and then finishing it off with several coats of wax buffed out to a nice shine. It's a lot of work but you are worth it.

The left heart with the varying color stripes is about two feet tall by a foot wide and was created from shelving that was about four inches wide. I had to cut the sides off and grind the sides down before I welded it onto an inch and a half tall frame. The standing heart in orange with the diamond plate is about 16 inches tall by 12 inches wide. It's created from the same metal shelves. Turn the heart around and their is lots of plumbing parts, tools, and copper springs to give it a real industrial look. The red heart's skin was created from a piece of three foot by eight foot steel shelving that I created three cutouts in and rivited a piece of polished aluminum diamond plate in it. I like them all but the red one is really special.

I love feedback. You can leave a comment here, and I'd love to get back to you and add you to our mailing list so you'll get updates on where we're going to be at.

2011 Overview

2011-12-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

2011 has come and gone and now it’s time to look forward to 2012

I’ve never been one to look to much at the past but insteadlook toward the future. Part of this ismy nature and part is the nature of being an artist. Artist is an interesting title and one that I’m not alwayscomfortable with, but for many, it’s an important acknowledgement for whatwe’ve been able to create with our minds and hands. I’m humbled when someone refers to me as such and work hard toensure that their complements are justified.

January through March

We'd been getting a number of photos from folks of sculptures that they've adopted from us over the years, and we decided to add an adopted page to our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com/adopted.htm . This latest submission is from William Woods of a planter he gave to his daughter. We're humbled by the ongoing support and photos that everyone sends in. Thank you.

Florida shows were in full swing during January throughMarch. I spent most weekends doingtwo-day weekend shows, and when I wasn’t there, I was at the St. PetersburgSaturday Market displaying my latest creations. I was awarded the first place ribbon along with a check at theOrlando Art and Living Festival in Orlando, Florida. This was quite a surpriseand honor and one that I will cherish my entire life.

The weather was great and we have many fans, but it’s toughto be a recycled artist when there isn’t very many sources for recycled metal;that was definitely the largest challenge about working that far south. I had to travel as far north as Alabama andTennessee to continue to find material, and that made it very difficult to havetime to work and both due shows.

Mackie and I love the weather during this time. Sunny and 75 were pretty much the standardseven days a week with very little humidity. The biggest challenge are insects nearly the size of the bugs fromStarship Troopers!

April Through June

I did four shows in Ohio and Michigan in May and June. Two trips up and back each totaling about3,000 miles round trip, but I did enjoy spending time with my brother and hisfamily between and at these shows. Weather has been one of our biggest challenges in doing eastern US shows versus the western states. Every east coast show had some significant weather this year, and we were fortunate to not see the worst like in Pittsburgh, where an entire block of booths were ravaged in the wind. This photos was our booth in Delaware, Ohio where my brother and two nephews came to help out. Incredible driving rain but the crowds kept coming in between the cloud bursts.

My good friend, Bill Woods, caught up with me in Atlanta,Georgia, and we traveled across country for the second year in a row. This has been a great time for both of us tospend talking about our lives and seeing our country from a differentperspective.

We stopped in Nashville, Tennessee the next morning and wentto the American Artisan Festival in Centennial Park. I love going to differentart shows around the country and see the different work that’s available. It’s always amazing to see things availablein the south that one doesn’t see in the northwest, or the work that I saw inOhio but have never seen in California. This is Bill with his friend Superman in Metropolis, Illinois on our stop from Nashville to St. Louis.

The next morning we went through to Gates Barbeque in KansasCity. The Food Network once did aspecial on barbeque around the country and this place got rave reviews. It was ok and I think that says it all. We headed west and spent the evening justeast of Denver; it was an evening of great thunder and lightning storms.

I did the Vancouver Recycled Arts Show during the last weekof June and started getting ready for the July art show crush.

July through September

July is our busiest month each year. There’s usually several trips to California,a show in Oregon, and our annual Bellevue Art Show to keep us focused. Everything was pretty routine and then Icaught the shuttle back to Florida and my lovely wife.

Mackie and I spent August enjoying the Florida sunshine anddeciding our next steps for the remainder of 2011. We decided to head back to our Vancouver home and spend thewinter west, and this was my second trip driving across the United States in 2011. Below is a photo after the drive that I took of Mackie with our kids, Sophie and Sherman, and our dear friend Judy next to our truck and camper in Lafayette, California.

The Love Art Gallery contacted us and started selling ourwork. Ruby and family are wonderfulpeople and have done an incredible job in marketing our creations. This has got me looking at galleries in awhole new light. Several groups have contacted us and we'll be adding some new galleries this spring in the Portland-to-Seattle metro areas; I'll keep our website posted with the new locations.

October through December

We did a number of events through year’s end, and we pickedup two additional art galleries. It’sbeen busy and I’ve been able to create a number of new works. I’m looking forward to 2012 and the newopportunities that await us. We havetwo shows already booked in February in Seattle and Portland, and we'll be working like crazy over the next six weeks. We have a lot of new creations that we've been working on this winter, and January is going to be here and gonebefore we know it.

Our show schedule is updated on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com , and we’llkeep it updated and we hear from shows as we’re accepted into them.

Whew! Christmas Shows are Done

2011-12-11T19:01:00.001-08:00

I know. I know. My wife always tells me that cakes are done and I complete everything else. But, it's been a long year that started in Florida, went through Georgia to Ohio and Michigan. Then to the west coast for shows in California, Oregon, and Washington. Just when I think that I get a little bit of rest, I've got at least three applications for next year that are due to turn in in the next five weeks. Oh, an artist's work is never done.

For the past three weeks, I've been in Purdy and Gig Harbor, Washington, and we just finished at the Salem Holiday Market in Salem, Oregon. Here's a little about each of the shows.

Winterfest in Purdy, Washington
Purdy is about 15-20 minutes north of Tacoma, Washington across the Narrows bridge. For the history buffs, this was the third longest suspension bridge until November 7, 1940 when a gale wind came along and started a chain reaction that started the bridge bucking like a bronk and ended up falling into Puget Sound. Here's a great video of the event on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw

The show is held at Peninsula High School and the stuff does a great job putting this charity event on. Great organization, mostly high-quality work and a loyal following.

Tidefest in Gig Harbor, Washington
Gig Harbor is the first city across the narrows bridge coming from Tacoma. It's a beautiful setting and man what a great show! This one is organized better than any show that I've ever been to. And, that's just the start. They treat artists like kings and queens. It starts with coffee, cookies, vegies, and such about every 20-30 minutes during the show. And the Sunday morning breakfast was incredible. Never have I felt so wanted at a show. Yes it was a great show too. Well attended by the community and they really support the arts! Both this and Winterfest have the added bonus that I get to stay at my sun's home in Tacoma and we get to enjoy some great times together.

Salem Saturday Market Holiday Show
Salem, Oregon is the state capital and the Saturday Market holds their annual holiday show at the Ameriplex building at the Oregon state fairgrounds. The show is well organized and attended with brisk sales on Saturday. Sunday was more for a day for Mackie and I to get out and find gifts for our crowd. Salem is also great because it's only an hour south from our home which allows us to spend time at home.

Well now I'm off to start seriously thinking about 2012.

Hearts Galore

2011-11-16T19:15:00.001-08:00

Many of you have seen a number of different hearts over the past years. Twisted steel, glass, bike gears, and other recycled steel parts were welded into wonderful sculptures. I was fortunate to discover a haul of various colors of recycled metal shelving. Green, red, blue, and orange all in about 10 foot lengths. What a find!

There's going to be a number of significant changes with my work that you'll see at some of this year's shows. Many shows will feature the same work that I love to do that many of you have been enjoying for what is now decades, and the fine art shows will feature work similar to the hearts below and other new work that I'll be featuring here over the next few months getting ready for 2012.

This first heart features a three inch side with alternating horizontal green and red slats. It's approximately 16 inches tall by about 12 inches wide.

The second heart is similar to the one featured above with the metal running vertical. I like this one a lot.

Number three is my version of what's hanging around inside our hearts. It's also about three inches thick, and I've created a variety of plumbing interconnected with bicycle gears. Now that is some pacemaker! Note the stitching across the front, and it's also all around the outside where the heart front meets the heart's sidewalls.

This is the fourth and last one for tonight! It has some serious plumbing work, and I've added the metal at different levels throughout the heart. Imagine as if the heart's skin is pealed back to reveal its inner workings.

A lot of things are changing this year with my work. You can keep up to date by subscribing to my blog for the latest additions. See you soon!

New Video

2011-11-09T16:05:00.000-08:00

I discovered a great stop action film program for my Android, and it's great for making short videos to add to my youtube site. I've embedded the video that I shot this morning and edited down to about one and a half minutes. Windows Live Movie Maker on my laptop was used to edit the movie. It's amazing how easy everything was.

This is going to really speed up the video making and editing process and will allow me to get the latest greatest videos for everyone's enjoyment! Please let me know what you think. Joe

Adopted

2011-11-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our Adopted Page on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com/adopted.htm is really starting to fill up. Thank you everyone for all the great photos that you're emailing in. Here's the latest addition to our growing family.

Teri's New Friend

William Woods adopted this young lady for his daughter and is in her backyard in Salem, Oregon. She's really brought new life into what is already an exciting vibrant yard.

Dr. Dave's Stork

I've created a number of works for Dr. Dave over the past few year's with this fellow being the first. He commissioned this piece for his office and his staff and clients just love it. It really breaks the ice when new folks come in! Currently, I'm working on a new office piece that is being created of medical instruments that he provided last summer to me. Hmm. Wonder what they could be???

The Way Back Home

2011-10-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

I get tired of driving towards the end of each year after the shows and it's so especially this year. Two trips back and forth from Florida to Michigan; two trips driving from Florida to Washington; and numerous trips from Washington to California. Part of the exciting life of being an artist. Along with all the driving comes the fuel bills, vehicle maintenance, and the unexpected things that can happen on the road. And, so it went with last Monday.

Around midnight I stopped in Willows, California to catch a few z's before completing my return trip home. After a few hours, I woke and headed north excited to make it home sometime around noon. I stopped at the McDonald's just outside of Shasta, California (I actually like their coffee) for a brief rest-over and headed back north. The weather was starting to turn nasty as I turned north onto Interstate 5. Everything was going great until about 20 minutes north of Grants Pass, Oregon when a guy pulled up beside me and started waving at me.

It seemed that I lost a wheel about a mile back and never felt a thing. The other tire blew as the guy was signaling me that I had a challenge. This is the look beside the tow truck after the driver and I got the trailer loaded. A few words of advice. AAA RV Plus. These guys are terrific and this membership will get your vehicle and trailer towed up to 100 miles for no cost to you other than your annual membership fee. This has saved my back a few times over the last 20 years.

We headed back south down the freeway towards Les Schwab tires where I had already given them a head's up that we'd be coming in. It was close to noon when I arrived and about five o'clock when they had me back on the road. And, it was around 10 PM when I returned home.

The moral of this story is to be prepared and keep a positive attitude. This is such a small event in the grand scheme of life.

Sunday Morning in San Carlos

2011-10-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

San Carlos is our last California show for 2011, and I'm sitting here at 6:00AM with a fresh Starbucks Americano (no run for cream please). It's kind of like a strong black coffee ( and again, no run for cream please)! I could write a whole blog post on the number of times I ordered black coffee, and the clerk, barista, whoever was behind the counter asked me that question.

San Carlos is a nice town just south of San Francisco right off highway 101 and slightly below California state highway 92. This week the show is on Laurel Avenue and runs approximately five blocks south, and then there are two blocks at San Carlos Avenue which intersects Laurel. It's another town that seems to buck national trends where the downtown section is mostly intact with businesses, and even a large vacant building has a sold sign on it.

The weather is picture perfect California - sunny and low to mid seventies yesterday, and it's supposed to be mostly the same today. "What's that in my picture"? Dang aeroplane pulling the Geico gecko sign. Only at an art faire in California would one see this.

Yesterday morning started off with a bang with my latest fish going to this fine gentleman. No, not the good looking guy in the Hawaiian shirt (that's me), it's the happy guy on the right. As I always tell everyone I wake up better than average, and I'm happy to go to bed in an even better mood. It's contagious and people really are happy to be around you!

The sun is still low and I'm going to do some reading for now. There's still a number of shows to think about over the next few months, and we have to get serious about planning shows for next year. People are always amazed when they discover the whole process and logistics we artists go about to do the shows. Most are thankful and often comment that maybe their job isn't so bad. It takes a certain person to do these shows and be successful at them. A lot of persistence and self motivation are the key, but I really believe that anyone can do this. I've been approached several times to teach a course, but I'm always so busy that it's hard to fit it in my current schedule.

Changes - Think of the David Bowie song while reading this

2011-09-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

The last day of summer 2011 was a few days back and it only took one day for the weather to change to the "normal" northwest fall. Blustery winds, grey skies, and rain. Oh the normalcy of it all! It's good to be back in our Vancouver house and see how our yard has changed over the past few years. It's amazing how quickly things grow.

This red maple in our front yard started out around three feet tall nine years ago and here it is today.

It's also good to be around some old friends. Last Saturday, our neighbors Dave and Floreen Clark, had a mystery welcome home dinner at their house. This is a role playing who-done-it murder mystery that includes dinner, mayhem, and wine...of course. Bill and Jackie Woods, and Shane and Duane Yokum rounded out the group.

Of course there are more changes occurring in our family. Our oldest son, Nathan, graduated from nursing school last December and accepted a position at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma, Washington (about two hours north of our Vancouver house). Here Nathan is driving a UHAUL truck with his family's belongings to their new home in Tacoma.

I'm reminded that Changes are always around us and is an important constant in our lives. Just like the weather, growing things, and the good people around us.

One, Two, Three, and More Art Shows To Go

2011-09-20T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's been roughly a month since we've returned from Florida, and last Thursday night we headed south to California on one of our many art fair excursions. We stopped just south of Medford, Oregon to spend the night before heading into the Lafayette area for our next show. I woke up about five AM and rousted Mackie and the schnauzers from bed and off we headed down Interstate 5 in search of our next adventure.

We topped Siskiyou Summit and headed into California. Yep, that's the thermometer inside our Dodge Pickup reading 39 degrees - I love the fall in the northwest. Crisp mornings and warm afternoons. It's tough to beat! On we go to the California Inspection station.

"Do you have any fresh fruit or plants" asked the state attendant?

"No" I replied.

"What's in the trailer?" she asked.

"Artwork" I replied.

She looked back down to her book and said, "move along".

The California inspection station has always been a mystery to me for over 25 years. They pay state employees to sit in booths at every entry point that I've ever been on to ask those same questions. I've never seen them stop someone.

Mackie, my lovely wife next to the truck, our good friend Judy, along with Sophie and Sherman by our truck. It's all about the parking at any art show, and us professionals are always trying to jockey our rigs around to the closest possible spot to our booth. The shorter the distance the easier to set up and tear down. A few days later we were able to move our truck up the street and turn it around during the evening. This probably saved us about 30 minutes during our tear down Sunday evening.

One of my new creations bogarted Mackie's coffee and wouldn't give it back. The brand shall remain nameless, but the white cup with the green mermaid should give it away!

One more show down and a million more to go.

Fall Shows Are Starting to Fall Into Place

2011-08-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

The Florida shop is cleaned out, most of our house work is completed, and we just got word that we were accepted into three fall shows.

The shop looks great, the power is off, and we've been finishing up work on the house. Painting completed - check; lawn cut short - check; trees trimmed - check; round up sprayed - check; bug spray complete - check; and on and on and on.

So, we decided not to put our house here on the market. The more we started fixing it up, the more we started thinking that we didn't need to be in such a hurry to get rid of it. Our plan is to head west for fall and winter shows, and then we're going to be coming back to Florida after December and do art shows in Florida with Mackie's clay work. I'm really excited about this. She has an incredible technique with clay that no one has seen in the southeast.

Today we were accepted into the Mountain View Art and Wine Festival and the Los Altos Art and Wine Festival, and we're waiting to hear on three others. Additionally, Mackie has scheduled the Holiday Food and Gift Festival in Tacoma to display her pottery. We're both really excited about the future and looking forward to seeing you at our upcoming shows!

What to Do When One Doesn't Have a Pad of Paper.

2011-08-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

I ran across this photo in my phone today while I was looking at some photos I'd taken earlier today. Sure, it's not quite as interesting as the shots of the 70 - year old guy that had "Death Rider" sequined into his shirt tonight at Boomer's restaurant tonight but the picture has merit anyway.

This was my interpretation of a tiki commission sculpture that I'm doing for some folks in the California bay area. Funny that I never thought of myself as much of a drawing artist but looking at the photo I don't think that it's too bad. It will be a few months before I'll get this guy created and then I'll post some photos of it to my Website.

Shop Sale

2011-08-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

Lots of Florida happenings! Mackie's been working on the house with painting, and I've been working in the shop sorting metal for the scrap yard - I can't even begin to tell you how it pains me to get rid of metal! We worked together on a successful shop sale today getting rid of some unwanted tools and lots of art that we didn't have room for.

Here's three free form tables that I built last year that went in this morning's sale. We ran several ads on Craigslist yesterday, and we were swamped when we opened at 10:00AM. That's the first time that we had used Craigslist to advertise anything and wow, what a response! We had over 100 people in that first hour and that did it for the sale!

Here's a Jet bandsaw that's been sitting in the shop for about three years; it's one of those tools that I thought was going to save time and it never panned out. My chop saw really cuts time and is ultimately safer to use.

Mackie and I started working on the guest bathroom tonight. She's pulling off the top layer of wallpaper while I'm focusing on the glue layer underneath. It's great being together and working on projects. Looks like we'll be here for a few weeks working on getting the house ready for the market.

Moving the shop from Florida to Oregon

2011-08-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

What a challenge to move artwork, metal, and tools 3,500 miles across country. That's not a mis-print! Florida has been interesting but the time for us to completely relocate back to the west coast is here. Moving is the bad news, but the good news is that we'll be west in a few weeks.

Show news flash! Looks like we'll have a number of California shows scheduled in September. We'll be posting an update to our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com as soon as we get confirmation. But things are looking good for Mountain View, Lafayette, Los Altos, and Beverly Hills. Nice.

Tai Chi

2011-07-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

Walking out of my shop last week, one of the other artists in my collective had lined up some of my work and was talking photos of my day's work. I started laughing at my friends and it keeps me in line of why I do the things I do. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I'm allowed to create art that people enjoy and makes them smile and laugh in the morning. With so many choices in this world, I'm fortunate that so many people enjoy our work and want to be around us.

I'm in Bellevue this weekend and then taking the next month off to finish moving things from Florida back to our home in Vancouver, and then we'll be getting for our fall shows. I'll have our website updated at http://www.cliftonmetalworks.com/ later in August, but right now, it appears that we'll be in the Mountain View, Lafayette, and Los Altos, California areas in September and towards the upper California Bay area in October.

If you're going to be in the Portland, Oregon area, go visit the Love Art Gallery at 8036 SE 13th Avenue, Portland, Oregon. Here's thier website http://www.loveartgallery.com/ We'll have new creations that we'll be featuring there begining August 3rd, 2011.

Joe

A Boy and His Roots

2011-07-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

This week I'm at the Connoisseures' Marketplace in downtown Menlo Park, California. Menlo Park is about 10 miles or so north of San Jose and highway 101 (also known as the Bayshore Freeway here), and south of San Francisco by about 30-something miles. The downtown core has somehow survived the overgrowth that has taken over a number of smaller communities in this area. There's a quaintness that makes me feel good whenever I'm in and around one of these smaller towns. It reminds me of spending time with my Grandfather in neighboring Sunnyvale before progress leveled all but one block of the Sunnyvale downtown core.

I've done a number of shows around this area but this is the first time that I've driven around this area since I was around 9 or 10 years old. It's amazing the things that I remember and how I know how to get to so many places from 40 years long since past. What do I remember...

I spent a lot of time at my grandparents home on East McKinley. They adored me (very true) and much of my younger years were spent in their living room on one of those rope-style woven rugs. It's the kind that was made from soft cotton and always seemed to be oval in shape and perfect for a young boy to lay on in front of the black and white television. I recall my Grandmother making me oatmeal for breakfast and occasionally getting a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it; this is one of those weird sounding treats that is not to be knocked until it's tried. Grandpa Joe worked as a janitor at Westinghouse and always brought me a treat each day at his shift's end; usually, it was a small bag of Planter's Peanuts or something along that line.

Saturday night I tracked down and had dinner at Vesuvio Pizzaria in Santa Clara. I have no idea how I can remember this place from 43 years back, but the place is celebrating its 50th anniversary and it's still there! Congratulations to them. The place was much the way I recall. Walking into the door and straight ahead is where I place my order; a quick glance onto the wall to see the menu and I order the spaghetti with meat sauce that I remember eating. I take my number and walk over to the bar and order a "barley pop". Walking over to my seat, they call my number before I even have a chance to find one. Hey, I like quick service.

I just into my plate and ahh. Old noodles briefly brought up to room temperature. The bread was good. I'm thinking that you have the picture here.

On to my next adventure.

At the Show in Royal Oak, Michigan

2011-06-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

It struck me Saturday morning as I was driving the final hour into Royal Oak, Michigan that it was only about 10 miles from downtown Detroit. Unfortunately, I had a slight queasy moment in my stomach thinking what am I doing here. Detroit is known for a mass exodus of people that has been going on for years, and the stark contrast of the city against the skyline wasn't doing my thoughts of this place any favors.

Signs of decay are littered around Interstate 75 as it winds through the central core, and the broken homes and dreams that line the interstate are harsh reminders of a city that was once a jewel of this mid-western city. But, there is a strange beauty in this stark reminder of a city that once mass produced most of the automobiles used around the world and set the foundation of how we live in this country.

There are several magnificent churches standing tall amongst the broken homes and bombed-out looking building along my path. Few lights can be seen from the freeway, and it appears that most of these structures are abandoned.

As I round through the city and leave Wayne County and enter Oakland county the change is almost instantaneous. The Interstate is missing the constant thumping sound that started when I hit the Detroit city limits and trash is missing from alongside the road (there's a terrible amount of paper trash all along through Detroit). Instantly, I consciously think that I'm going to like this place. I turn west onto Interstate 696 west and head to the first exit to turn into Royal Oak. Right at my turn is Cariobou Coffee on South Main street...Ah, life can now continue!

I stop for some Java and head the two blocks west to the art show and my booth space. It's right on the corner of East Fourth and Washington streets. The neighborhood has obviously been going through improvements over a number of years and most of the storefronts have operating businesses in them. Even at 6:30AM there are other people other than us artists walking around. Everyone is amazingly friendly and happy - I wonder what they put into the water around here?

The policeman has me back right up to my booth to unload...Am I in Kansas I think to myself (somewhere I have to reference The Wizard of Oz in all this). Then I head down to the show to check in. They give me two special passes because I have a dual wheel truck and trailer which allows me to park about 10 feet from my booth instead of the three blocks they have reserved for the other artists - it pays to have one one ton dual wheel truck with a 16 foot long trailer!

10:00 AM rolls on and people start milling in to the show. There's a glass blowing exhibit across the way, and my other neighbor is creates really cool sculptures from a high fire stoneware. He creates these small dragons that are hatching from eggs, giraffes, and has one cool cowboy on a horse (www.ericevanssculpture.com), and he's a great neighbor. The show had consistent sales until we closed at 7:00PM and then I headed out for some dinner.

BD's Mongolian grill was around the corner and I settled in for a few beers and some grub. I like these type of restaurants. I can get fresh chicken and vegetables cooked to order and relax for awhile. It's a great way to wind down the day. I'm heading off to the motel to crash, and the streets are packed with people. Restaurants are full and I can barely walk across the street from all the traffic. This is obviously the place to be on Friday night. However, I needed sleep and not entertainment.

I of course headed to Caribou Coffee for my morning fix and get my thoughts written. In about another hour there's an artist award's breakfast, and we'll see if I'm one of the lucky ones or just get fed. I'll be happy either way.

This is my last mid-west show and then I'm back to Florida tonight. Thursday, I'm heading to Vancouver, Washington, but I have an insane amount of work to get completed before I head west. It's going to be a busy summer.

On the Road in Cleveland, Tennessee

2011-06-03T04:26:00.000-07:00

This week I'm on the road back for shows in Ohio and Michigan, and I'm thinking about my exciting life as a traveling artist.

It's a few minutes after 7 AM and I've been driving for just over an hour this morning. I pulled over and stopped in Cleveland, Tennessee for a few minutes of rest and breakfast at McDonald's - nothing but the finest for us! Cleveland is a few minutes north of Chattanooga on Interstate 75 in a beautiful hilly wooded setting. Unfortunately, that will be the extent of what I can share with you because I've got to get back on the road. It's typical of what I know about so many cities that I visit as I criss-cross America.

This trip is about a 1,000 mile drive from our Florida home and time is a consideration for this time of year. It's show time and many people depend on me to get there dreams created, and I love to see happy people. There are times where I'd really love to be able to print something out and display it, but I don't believe that it would cut it with many of you.

Driving and working with the road are part of the challenges in getting to the next show. Last night, a truck through a tire some ways in front of me, and as I saved the truck from catching the tire, the passenger side trailer fender was not so lucky. The tire smacked the fender and dropped in front of the trailer tire which in turn whipped it upwards and under the fender. Next, the fender ripped off save for two bolts and shorted out the trailer lights. Hmm. About 30 minutes before dark and what to do. Hey, I'm an artist.

I dug out the tool chest, we keep it right by the trailer side door, and took off the fender. The fuse was blown under the truck hood, and there wasn't any 20 amp mini fuses left. Fortunately, I was about an hour south of Atlanta and there are plenty of truck stops looking forward to selling me what I needed. All together I was only down about 30 minutes and back on the road heading north of Atlanta - I like to get north to miss the morning traffic through the city.

It was about 11:45 when I rolled into the first rest stop north of Atlanta for a few hours rest. I set my clock for 6 AM just in case I dozed too long, but my body clock woke me about 5:30 and here I am. A few more sips of coffee, drop off my tray, and hit the road.

Scrap Yards and Other Such Novelties

2011-05-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the answer to a question that I hear at every show. “Do you just find the stuff that you work with on the road?” I go into the explanation but I find that a photo is really worth a thousand words. Here's some photos of a tractor graveyard that my brother tracked down in Ohio.

What's trash to some is creative opportunity around every corner. Tractors, plows, discs, gears, bearings, and bolts - oh my! This is an incredible treasure trove of antique and modern farm equipment. Fortunately for me, much of it is perfect for sculptures.

I had my brother packing parts all over the place; hey I bought him a drink at the local Subway. It's amazing how they've sprung up all over rural America.

More great stuff! We filled up the back of my Dodge pick up, and I'm back in Florida cutting, grinding, and welding these parts into new sculptures that I'll have at the next three shows: the Troy Strawberry Festival in Troy, Ohio; the Glass, Clay, and Metal show in Royal Oak, Michigan; and the Recycled Arts Festival in Vancouver, Washington.

See you soon!
Joe

Delaware, Ohio Fine Arts Festival

2011-05-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

It was a fun-filled weekend during my first Ohio art show and fortunately it turned out well. My brother and one of my nephews rodied for me, but the weather was nasty.

Delaware is about 15 miles north of Columbus and is one of those Ohio towns like so many others that I've ran across over the many times I've visited here - except with life. There are numerous brick buildings from days gone by in need of love and repair. They line the main highways and main street with windows lined with shadows. There are no lights with window shades long gone, and no one seems to know these buildings or even towns still exist.

Delaware is different in that the local folks have put time and energy into rebuilding their downtown. Many buildings have some professional businesses, and there are some retail spaces too. There's a large volunteer force that's working hard to bring new life to the downtown area including sponsoring the town's annual art and craft show, and what a great job they do in putting on this event.

The art is good to very good without any buy and sell! Now that's one incredible accomplishment in itself, but they are also great at bringing in a knowledgeable art buying crowd in spite. of the challenging weather. Freezing cold and it rained like cats and dogs - horizontally with the wind howling. The place emptied out like fast, but folks did venture out after the downpour, but it kept coming back and back. Sunday was much the same weather without the wind this time, but the sun started shining when they brought me an award ribbon for my art along with a check. It's great to be recognized four times this past year for my work. It's been a long road and a long time coming, and it's going to continue for another lifetime.

I'll be in East Lansing, Michigan at Michigan State University this weekend at their annual art and craft show. Stop by and say hi if you're in the area. Check out our show schedule on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com. The links are on the left.

Joe

Planning for Shows

2011-05-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

Some artists want the world to acknowledge their great work; some artists just dream about displaying their work somewhere and maybe sell a few pieces; and their are some of us that are serious not only about making great art, but are willing to put the time in to sell it. Our challenge is to find the best venues so that we may share our vision with those that are willing to make an investment for us so we can continue down our journey.

Planning for shows seems to be a daily chore. It's funny when people ask me a shows, "do you just show up for this and sell what you have"? I explain the process and most are pretty stunned at our process of paying money to apply, and get rejected by many, and then pay more money to exhibit. I can see the delusions of grandeur disappear the more information that I share with them. "It's all about the lifestyle", I explain to them. It's easy to understand why they have such a hard time with it.

Being an artist may be one of the last professions that allows one to be truly free with endless opportunities available to all depending on how hare one wants to work. Be smart and work hard and the rewards are there. Pay attention to what people will spend their hard earned money on, and how much they will spend on it. Being an artist is as much about psychology as it is about making art.

Work, Work, Work

2011-04-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

Logistics, logistics, logistics. This is shaping up to be one of our busiest summers ever, at least the most traveled. As you've seen in the earlier post, we'll be traveling in Ohio, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, and California through August. Lots of miles :) Then it's back to Florida to get ready for the next round. This fall you'll find us in Washington, Utah, Colorado, and ending in Arizona before heading back to Florida.

The picture above is new work based on refrigerant tanks. These pink and green tanks hold chemicals that are used in air conditioning systems and are strewn all around Florida. I pick them up on a daily basis and they've served as the base for new animal planters, pink pigs, and the chicken that you see in the above photo. I'm blessed that recycled materials choose me to work with. They offer endless opportunities to come up with incredible ideas. Who knows what will turn up at shows this summer!

Please check the show schedule often as changes will be posting fast.

Crack-a-lackin

2011-04-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have no idea when I started saying this, but it's the one word that describes my life and my work ethic. No matter what I've done, I've given it my all and succeeded. And, so it goes with art. This is my life and I could imagine doing anything else. It's an incredible feeling when someone walks into our booth and smiles. Even better when they purchase a piece because, they'll be able to enjoy it every day for the rest of their lives. And, they'll be able to pass it down to their children for them to enjoy.

North and south and then east and west, Mackie and I travel the country to bring our love for our work to share with art lovers across the country. Our upcoming show schedule for this summer is listed below. Mackie and I look forward to visiting with you and sharing our work. Stop by and say Hi.

May 14 and 15, 2011	Delaware Art and Craft Show	Delaware, Ohio
May 21 and 22, 2011	Michigan State University Spring Art and Craft Show	East Lansing, Michigan
June 4 and 5, 2011	Strawberry Festival	Troy, Ohio
June 11 and 12, 2011	Clay, Glass, and Metal Show	Royal Oak, Michigan
June 25 and 26, 2011	Vancouver Recycled Art Show	Vancouver, Washington
July 9 and 10, 2011	Los Altos Art and Wine Festival	Los Altos, California
July 16 and 17, 2011	Connoisseur's Marketplace	Menlo Park, California
July 29 through 31, 2011	6th Street Art Festival	Bellevue, Washington
August 6 through 10, 2011	Temtative - Amish Acres	Napanee, Indiana
September 2 through 5, 2011	Tentative - Arts, Beats, and Eats	Royal Oak, Michigan
September 9, 10, and 11, 2011	Tentative - Black Swamp Arts Festival	Thornton, Ohio

On the Road Again! Port Orange, Florida

2011-04-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

This week I'm off to Port Orange, Florida to exhibit in their annual Artfest. Last year, it was the funnest shows that I attended in Florida, so I decided to give it another go. It still sucks traveling without Mackie, but we've got to do what we've got to do.

I've set up at the Super 8 motel in Daytona Beach and what a treat that is. I've stayed in some real flea bags over the years, and this one certainly rivals with some doozies. Where shall I start :)???

It started with the door. The electronic keys wouldn't work. Turns out that they don't use them here but instead use a real key. That really through the new desk clerk as the lobby was full of people that couldn't get into their room.

Next is the room itself. I decided to leave my socks on and I ran to Walmart and bought some pajamas. Now I can honestly say that I have not had on a pair of pajamas in years, but this motel made a believer out of me. The best part about this stay is that I have Netflix playing on another screen on my laptop. Technology has sure made traveling a little easier on us artistic road warriors.

As you can see by the above self portrait, I even keep a positive attitude no matter where I might be staying at the time!

Rockstar or Artist. Hmm.

2011-04-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

When I was in my early 20's, having a few beers with my friend Randy Cox, and singing to Eddie Money, I knew that I wanted to be a rock star or an artist. Randy told me that I didn't have any hope of being either, so I became a lineman. Heck with peer pressure, beer and rock music makes the artist come out in all of us. It's amazing to be blessed with so many good things and friends in life and enjoying this journey with my great family and good friends! The above picture is of me driving in the early morning across New Mexico. Below is a shot of my good friend Bill Woods taking a much needed nap along the road. I believe that this was somewhere driving from New Orleans to Santa Fe. We started that day in Daphne, Alabama and had a brief stop in New Orleans for breakfast, and then drove straight through to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Oh, the glamorous life of an artist!

As we move into 2011 I'm thankful for a number of things. My family and I are healthy, we're all eating, and we're all pursuing our dreams in a fashion that suits us for this moment in time. I'm grateful once again to be able to make my living as an artist, and I'm getting ready really hit the show road! Once again, my good friend Bill Woods is joining me for a traveling east to west again. But before that trip, I'll be doing a number of shows in Georgia, Ohio, and Michigan before heading west around June 16th. Visit our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com and click on the show schedule link to see where we're going to be.

See you soon,
Joe

Another One Bites the Dust

2011-03-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just walked in the door from the Englewood Fine Art Show in lovely downtown Englewood, Florida. The weather was great and I came home with more money than I left with, so that's always a good way to end the show! Also, it's around 30 minutes from home so I get to sleep in my own bed. Another bonus.

The crowd was heavy on Saturday but sales were so so. Actually, they were terrible, but as part of my new Florida revamp, I was committed to continue with my new madness. This deserves some explanation. Over the past year, I've been failing miserably in this market. I was so used to being successful on the west coast, I just assumed that I would do the same here. Can you say a big NO! Anyway, I'm only going with the higher end work and leaving my normal slamming line home. The results have been better but not great. I've been able to make money at every show; it may not be a lot, but it is making money. Nice.

The local rotary club puts this event on and they do a great job. They are organized, provide free beer and snacks on Saturday night, and bring in a decent crowd. They estimated 5K on Saturday and I believe they were correct, and I'd say that there were probably around 3K today. I believe they also spoke to the weather gods because we had a blue skies and around 85 degrees both days. It's why we're in Florida.

It's shaping up to be a very busy year for us. We have another four shows in Florida in April, and then it's time to head north. Our website is up to date, and we'll be adding a number of shows as we hear back from them. See you in Florida or on the road!

Workin For A Livin'

2011-03-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

Life is never boring for the us artist folks, especially those of us that do one-of-a-kind work. It's either creating new work or even a new line, completing a commission from the gallery, reading endless articles to try and find that next great art show, maintenance on the truck or trailer, or doing some work around our house. Truth is that I have a great life and I'm the luckiest guy in the world!

It's been slamming this winter at our gallery in Florida, and I'm getting ready for this summer's shows. Looks like we'll be doing a lot in the upper midwest. Check our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com and click on the link for the show schedule. Everything is current and there are a number of tentative dates and will be for the next few months while we wait to here back from shows and their decision on who gets in.

Back to the work. Mackie and I have our gallery in Punta Gorda, Florida, and tourist season in full swing in southern Florida. And, I'm doing an average of two art shows a month. Eash. Who the heck set this schedule? If I find that person I'll...Ok lets go on. You get the general idea. The point is that you can be successful with your craft. It's no quick rich scheme, but you can live comfortably if you're willing to put forth the effort. Keep positive, get yourself around positive and creative people, and network. Check out www.artfairinsiders.com for some great folks and good information.

The moral of today's story is to keep creating art and doing what you love!

Show Schedule

2011-03-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! We're starting to look at a full summer! So let's talk about it.

Good news today. We got into both the Crocker Park Art Show in Westlake, Ohio, and the Clay, Glass, and Metal Show in Royal Oak, Michigan. Both shows are on June 11 and 12, 2011. Looks like Mackie will be in one place and I'll be in the other. They are both great shows and we're fortunate to get into both of them.http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5287328090413027986

Crocker Park (a Cleveland, Ohio suburb) is managed by the Michigan Guild and their website is at www.theguild.org/artfairs.html . These are the folks that put on one of the fine Ann Arbor Art Shows in July. Some of the finest artists in America exhibit at their shows.

The Royal Oak Clay, Glass, and Art Show (www.royaloakchamber.com/clay_glass.htm) is another great show that features artists focused on just those three mediums. The show is in Royal Oak, Michigan near Detroit. Again, competition is pretty high for this event and I'm looking forward to being their. Here's some examples of the quality here. www.royaloakchamber.com/PDFs/2010 CGM Atists.pdf

Palm Trees

2011-02-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

Living in Florida has advantages and disadvantages depending on one's point of view. Earlier today, I worked in the shop and then headed off to a neighbor's home to dig up a free palm tree. This was a Sago Palm that was about five feet tall and really nice. Free is a really good price but there's always a cost. If not money then back pain.

John, one of my other neighbors, has lived here for 20 some years and thought that we could get it down in about an hour. About three hours later we got the little fella out of the ground at Donna's house and into the ground at our house. If it wasn't dark, I would have taken a photo. But it's priceless!

Moo Cow!

2011-02-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Lots of folks started calling this week for some custom work. I took an order for the cow below, a large Jobot that's going to Maryland, a three foot long dragonfly sculpture for a local family, and I'm meeting a new friend to plan out building two Jobot lamps. "I didn't know you make lamps", you say. Heck, I can make anything. All I need is some inspiration.

I'll start posting some additional pictures and update the website in the next few days.

Giving Back - Mentoring to High School Students

2011-02-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

This is the one day that I don't get to go to the shop but instead donate my time to a group of high school students that are building a robot to enter the First Robotics Competion www.usfirst.org . The organization was founded by Dean Kamen, the guy who invented the Segway, to get kids excited about math, science, and engineering.

My role involves being a cheer leader and providing advice on construction, engineering, and Jack-of-all-trades know all that I've been able to store over the past half century. The kids bring enthusiasm and the knuckle twisting skills to build these things.

The group is doing pretty good, but we're having some trouble with the TI Jaguar controller. Yeah. Too much for too many of the artists in us. But if someone has some experience with these, just drop me a line.

It's the Begining of a New Year - Sort of - OR - Looking for Art Shows

2011-02-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

Like many folks, I always have the idea that I'm going to share more information and write more every year, and as always, something gets in the way and I'll miss a day or six months. There are so many things pulling at us that it's tough to break old habits and start new ones. In my case, I always seem to question what to write about because somedays the shop appears to be routine, but hey, I'm thinking that people would like to hear more about my daily doings, because that's part of the magic of creating art, searching for shows, and in general just getting things done.

Many people have read about me creating art, or seen some videos while working in the shop, or visited Mackie and I at one of the many shows we do each year. But what does it take to even get to the shows? Good question.

Searching for The Gold
It's one thing to create art, but it's a whole other challenge in not becoming the greatest collector of your own work. I didn't come up with that but I love it. I recall when a store owner mentioned to me around 1995 when I was at a show displaying Mackie's pottery.

Searching for shows takes up almost as much time as creating, loading the vehicle, and actually doing the show. It's not like I load up the truck and trailer, show up, and say, "here I am, where do I set up". It takes finding as much information about the show, applying for it, paying a jury fee, and hopefully hearing something positive back. Then it's sending them some more money and so on.

I mentioned the fees. They've really gone up over past few years. The average jury fee we pay is around $30. That doesn't guarantee us a spot - only the chance to be considered. Each year, we donate about $500 in jury fees for shows we don't get into. The average booth is running about $350 for a 10' x 10' space.

More Logistics
Now that we got into the show, what else could there be. On yeah. There's materials in both the recycled metals we use and consumables. Each show at least a dozen people ask me, don't you just drive around and find things by the road. Hmm. Try doing 28-30 shows a year and driving around to look for things. Fortunately, I have my wife that reminds me how uncommon "common sense" is. I figure that about 20% of my selling price is tied up in materials and consumables. Consumables are things like welding gloves, welding gases, welding wire, you get the picture. I go through one pair of gloves a week at $10 per pair. That's $520 per year in just gloves!

How about travel costs? We drive a one ton dual wheel truck and pull a trailer. Fortunately, we get around 11 miles per gallon. That's real good for a rig this size and hauling all the steel we do. I'm going to round this to 10 miles per gallon to make the math easy on me. If we drive 300 miles to do a show, that's six hundred miles round trip, we'll use about 60 gallons of diesel. I'm anticipating spending about $4 per gallon this summer. That comes out to $240 for fuel for that show. How about some place to stay. Let's say we're gone for two nights and lucky enough to find a room that runs $50 for a total of another $100.

Now we'll add it all up. Booth fee and jury fee come to $380, fuel is $240, and room is $100 for a grand total of $720 to do an average show. That means we need to make about $1,000 to break even.

That's my post for day one. Tomorrow, I'm heading to Mariner High School in Cape Coral where I'm mentoring some high school students on building a robot for the First Robotics competition. More on this later.

Art Fair Insiders

2010-12-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

www.artfairinsiders.com is a great site created, ran by, and for artists to share information with each other.

The site is broken into several links for sharing information on art shows, photos, artist's classifieds, and just general sharing with each other. I discovered the site a few months back, and it's already becoming an absolute must in my daily art life. I search for information on art shows and get real comments for real artists. Additionally, I've met a number of great people through the site that I've met at art shows.

Visit it soon.

Manhole Cover

2010-10-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Every great piece of art work needs to start with an idea that someone passes by me, or I see some piece of metal about and then I build it. In this case, this sculpture started out with both an idea I had at mind and a thought posed by a new friend.

I had two manhole covers that I picked up in a scrap yard to make into bases for a sculpture although I didn't have any idea what the sculpture would be. There they sat at my shop for six months when Therese asked about making a seven foot tall fish sculpture. Now here was an idea and a perfect base. The manhole cover is approximately two feet in diameter and weighs about 60-70 pounds. Perfect for the base of this sculpture.

I decided to use varying sizes of fence finials as a base for each fish. They have a great round shape and will create some interesting fish. I like these balls because they are hollow and move nicely when welded to the top of steel rod.

I welded one twisted piece of two inch flat bar to the manhole cover first. This gave me a height that I wanted to work around. A guide if you will. Here I am twisting on the steel. Yeah. My back is still hurting after twisting on all that steel. It's a real manual brute force process.

I'm still working on this piece buy you can see where I'm going with it. Mackie is creating glass eyes for each fish and I need to spray several coats of clear sealer to finish this piece off.

Esther

2010-10-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call, is there another kind, from a friend that was interested in a giraffe. He wanted something large for his garden. Now I'd never made a large one but it came into my mind instantly on what it would look like and how I would do it. Esther, she's the good looking one on the left, and I are in this photo in Mark's garden - what a great setting!

A lot of folks ask me to build something and ask for a sketch. I laugh because I can't draw straight or curved lines. They get it as I show them my sketchbook of pieces that I've created in the past and compare the two. They don't look anything alike to most people but ring true with my mind. Hey, it's an artist at work.

Esther started as a propane tank for the body and steel pipe used for the legs neck and head. I've used my plasma cutter to cut the pattern into the parts to create the giraffe look. I've used bolts for the giraffe's head and pipe for ears.

I love challenges and never turn anything down. It's the journey that I love.

The Camper

2010-10-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Oh the life of an artist. I chuckle at the comments that I get from people at art shows about my art or me! This year its been: "can you really make a living at this"; "do you drink alot before you start working"; "do you sleep at night"; "oh, I would like to work that easy"; and my favorite "I'll take it"!

The reality is that here's never time to be bored in a real artist's life. Even when I'm slacking there's something that I really need to do. Whether it's planning for a show or getting work ready for shows or the gallery, working around the jungle at home, or repairing a piece of equipment. This weekend it's repairing our floor in our camper.

Mackie found this treasure about four years ago, and we've spent about 80-90 nights each year during that time. I was taking it off the truck when I returned from the western US, and the bottom aluminum frame fell off when I took it off the truck. Unfortunately, I know that was the start of a slightly larger project. It was a good bet that the floor was starting or completely rotten.

Our camper was made by Citation and is built like a tank. I've been in several friends campers that is newer than ours but not near as solid, so there was no doubt in my mind that we'd invest a little sweat and about $50 to make her like new again. It was a fairly easy job to complete and we'll gear her up for this weekend.

Mackie and I are participating in our first east coast jaunt to Birmingham, Alabama. The Barber Vintage Fest is this weekend and we'll be there! www.barbervintagefestival.org

Model T

2010-09-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I got a call from a friend in Iowa to discuss a present for his father's 80th birthday. His father is very interested in cars, and he wanted to know if I could make a replica of a model T his father had. After a few photos and some discussion I started to build the car from a variety of recycled materials. I decided to document my process and took photos of every key step. Here's the link to my Picassa album http://picasaweb.google.com/jl12118/ModelT#. Each photo has a description of what I'm doing.

I started by creating the spoked wheel from some pipe and 20 penny nails. Then I built the body from the ground up. It took me about three days to create the piece.

This was a real challenge but I sure had a great time creating the piece, and it was even better when he called me and told me what a hit it was and how pleased his father was at his party. He especially liked that the wheels and steering wheel worked!

Check out my website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com and let's talk about something special for you, a member of your family, or a special friend.

Tiki Fire Pit

2010-09-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

I have an interesting life and have made numerous friends over the past 30 plus years through my art work. People appreaciate my efforts and have thrown my all sorts of curve balls in thier ideas that they would like to have turned into reality. It was June when a young lady approached me to create a special piece for her husbands birthday - she decided on a Tiki fire pit.

Now I had to find the material to create her dream! That's one of the biggest challenges when one is working with recycled materials. I searched for over a month to find the right items. Fortunately, I've build a number of great relationships over the years with scrap dealers all around the country and able to scavenge around their facilities. I found a full size air tank in one state and half of it became the fire pit you see with me in the picture. I then found another piece of curved steel plate in another state and created the Tiki figure on the top step. Look closely and you'll see his flaming hair.

I cut all of the pieces by hand with a hand held plasma cutter. Each piece came out great. I then added propane plumbing for the fire pit so they can enjoy the piece year round outside their home near Kent, Washington. This is a perfect choice for this area as it sports about 9-10 months a year of gray weather.

Fire pits can be created to be used with propane or wood for primary fire source. Check out my website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com to see samples of other work or send me an email at joe@cliftonmetalworks.com and I'll be happy to work with you to create your dreams.

Heading Home

2010-08-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

It's been a great summer season for the shows and visiting with my old friends, but I'm really looking forward to getting back home. I came out and did seven shows, and picked up a new friend. She's a beautiful five pound miniature Schnauzer we named Sofie. I think Sherman is going to be pissed when I bring her home, but he'll get over it quickly.

I'm in Phoenix tonight, and it's a balmy 108. I'm thinking it's hot!!!!! We drove down through Los Angeles and dropped off the sculpture above to MK and his wife in the bay area. They have wonderful art gallery and needed an anchor point for the room's center. Fabulous is an understatement.

Tomorrow morning, Sofie and I have an appointment in Glendale to begin work on several large sculptures for a home owner - it's good to be busy. We'll take photos, make a few stick drawings, and most like chase Sofie around the yard. Hopefully, we'll make it close to San Antonio tomorrow night.

If Everything Worked Right

2010-07-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

We decided that I would come out west and exhibit at our best western art shows this summer. Now that in itself has presented some challenges. First, Mackie and I would be apart for an extended period of time; second, I would have to work and clean out our old house so we could sell it and eliminate making these house payments; third, I would have to make technology work. So lets take the latter.

I opted to drop my Verizon card because I figured out how to use my Droid to connect to the Internet. it works great for viewing email, tv shows, etc but not for getting on secure servers like the ones used by Google and some other companies. That's going to be my excuse for not updating my blog so much. Now that Starbucks is giving free wifi, I have no excuse. So here I am enjoying a nice iced coffee on a muggy day in Vancouver, Washington getting some secure server work completed.

The summer shows turned out great. One down and seven up. Not bad. And, its been very productive getting new work created. I attribute that to being able to focus 100% on my art work. Obviously its paying off with numerous new customers and existing ones ordering new work. The "Guardian" shown above is just one example of ideas that I've been working on for the past two years that I'm finally bringing out. Each one is created from 100% recycled materials if one does not count the welding rod.

I'm getting itchy to head back to Florida, but I've got a number of commissions and deliveries to make on the way east. Life is sure exciting!

I'm going to be creating a lot of new work that will be featured in our gallery at Fisherman's
Village in Punta Gorda, Florida. Soon, I'll have a website for the gallery - my target date is by Halloween. We'll have a number of new work from several of my west coast artist friends that we'll be showing in the gallery. I'll be posting more information here soon. I promise.

Packing Steel

2010-04-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Follow me on Twitter. Click to my new Twitter Feed on the left.

It never occurred to me that it would be difficult to find recycled metal when we decided to move to Florida several months back. I thought it would be like, "hey, I'm coming here to save all of you", and it would be coming out of the woodwork. Hmm. Metal...Woodwork. Oh well. It took some time to find two resources but life is good for those who are persistent. The challenge is that the best place is in Tampa, and that makes it a full day to hit the yard and get back home.

I managed to score on about 2,400 pounds of metal. Contrary to popular belief, recycled metal is not always the cheapest way to go, but I believe that it's the best way for all of us - I'll talk about that later. Today's finds were around $1,500. I'm creating my own stimulus helping others while other folks are supporting my artwork.

A few years back I thought that I was going to start creating smaller pieces, but lately, I've been building a lot of pieces around six feet tall. What the heck, I break my own rules and give people what they want. There's nothing quite like when someone is kind to share their hard earned dollars to purchase a creation that I've poured my heart and soul into.

There's a lot going on over the next month with getting ready for the west coast art shows in June and July, restocking the store, and working on our Florida home. How did I ever have time to work at the power company?

You just can't make this stuff up!

Joe

Destination - WingHouse Daytona Beach, Florida

2010-04-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

The show was over at 5:00PM and it's been an interesting day. Sales started strong this morning and died around 12:00. Fortunately, I had a strong morning. Unfortunately, my neighbors did not.

This show has awards that it gives out. While this appears to be a common practice in the east, I have not seen much of this on the west coast. I have to be careful about saying west coast as I've found in Florida that people think that I'm talking about the west coast of Florida. I find that I'm explaining a lot about Vancouver; Washington, Portland, Oregon and such. EnoIugh of that. Anyway, the judges selected one of our sculptures for a candidate in the Best-of-Show category. I was pleasantly surprised and not just for being selected. It was an older piece from last summer that had not sold, and I almost cut it up and create something else! Life works in mysterious ways...

Thinking that I may have one or two beers tonight, I opted to go to my hotel and eat at the Winghouse (www.winghouse.com) just in front. Salad, wings, and beer - it's not my fault that a glass is 32 ounces... were pretty darn good. OK. The atmosphere was pleasant to - there were a lot of Harley Davidson motorcycles out front.

This place is pretty cool. There's a large section that is outside undercover with wooden stools and tables with 47 bizillion tvs. Is bizillions really a word. Nevermind. I highly recommend this place.

Life is good!

Port Orange Artfest

2010-04-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

It's another weekend and I'm off to another show. This weekend it's the Port Orange Artfest just south of Daytona Beach, Florida.

Check-in was impressive this afternoon. There was at least 20 signs directing artists where to go, and there was plenty of room for the largest of vehicles to pull in. They checked me in in about 30 seconds and had lines of John Deere gator carts to take the artists directly to their booths. The show is set around a lake where all the city buildings are located. Every booth has an extra 3-4 feet on either side, and they are all located right on the street. Plenty of parking too. I set up the booth, dropped off the trailer, and headed for my hotel.

I opted for the LaQuinta in Daytona Beach, about 10 minutes from the show, instead of the one in Port Orange. Hey, it was almost half the price, and the room is very nice. The Daytona speedway is a few blocks down the street, and I was blown away by how large it is. I've never understood about the Nascar appeal. There was a lady from North Carolina that worked with me at Pacific Power, and I asked her if she went to Nascar. She said she loved it. I asked her what was the appeal. She looked kind of surprised and said, "you can take in you're own cooler with beer". Now I understand the appeal.

Pictures to come tomorrow.

Sunny and 84

2010-04-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

Life is starting to set into normal in Florida. The temperature finally started rising a few weeks back, and it's now a consistent 80ish degrees during the day and 60ish at night. The gallery was pretty busy over the past few weeks, and we've had a number of newspaper articles published on us in Florida; it seems that were kind-of-unique here as we work with mostly recycled metals.

We've had a lot of rain from January through early March. Funny thing is that this is the dry season here. Normally, the rain comes in the summer months. There were many days when our place in Vancouver was actually warmer and drier than here, but now were having great weather every day.

Our gallery is in Fisherman's Village (www.fishville.com) in Punta Gorda, Florida. The village is a man-made pier that extends from Punta Gorda into Charlotte Harbor. Originally, this was used by Phillip to store and pump boat fuel into the local fishing fleet. As commercial fishing started to decline, the city came up with a plan to build shops below with condos above. Today, there are approximately 30 shops here and it's quite busy during season which runs from November through the Easter holiday.

I'll be heading to the west coast for this year's shows in late May. Check our show schedule at www.cliftonmetalworks.com for the latest updates.

Floridays Two

2010-03-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

It's a little after 7:00 AM and I'm sitting in the back yard in my new wooden rocking chair my wife bought me last weekend. Mackie and I like to have coffee back here before we begin our day. It's a tradition that we started years ago and found that it's that moment in time that brings us close together. We talk about the previous day, things that bother us, or just to listen to the birds. Every morning there is a chorous of countless birds of different species chirpping away. I've seen numerous kinds, but the Cardinal is the only one I recognize.

The sky is a blue like I don't ever recall seeing. It's a brilliant blue that lacks a brown haze I was used to on the west coast. It's 65 degrees at 7 AM, and the weatherman predicted a high of 75 for this afternoon.It's been a real challenge finding supplies and materials here, but Mackie and I are finally starting to figure it out and can focus on creating art.

I've got my first show in less than two weeks, and I need to get crack-a-lack-in to get things ready.

How About Some New Work!

2010-03-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

This new guy was created from recycled steel plate, round bar, a saw blade, some copper wire, a mowing machine guard, and some special cable to make the eyes light up. He's about 18 inches tall and is mounted to a heavy 1/4 inch plate.

Being in Florida has benefits but finding recycled metals here has proven a real challenge. It never occured to me coming here over the years that there's no manufacturing base here; therefore, there's not much waste by-product. Fortunately, I've found a scrap yard about 30 miles south of here with a sympathetic owner. He likes what I'm doing and enjoys searching for objects with me.

I've updated our website with our show schedule - www.cliftonmetalworks.com (click on the show schedule link on page left). I'll be doing the shows this year while Mackie is focusing on her glass work. March 20 and 21, 2010, I'll be at the Peace River National Festival in Punta Gorda, Florida. Then I'll be hitting several other shows before I head back to the Pacific Northwest for our summer exhibits.

Floridays

2010-03-09T03:36:00.000-08:00

Crossing the bridge from Port Charlotte to Punta Gorda

So I've been away from writing for awhile, but I feel like I can get back to it with a vengeance now.

Mackie and I have been in Florida for just over two months taking a bit-of-a-break from our real world. We've bought a second home in Port Charlotte where we've been coming for about 10 years. Our plan is to live here during the winter months and head west for our annual foray into our art shows. I guess one could say that we're going to be bi-coastal.

Port Charlotte is approximately 90 miles south of Tampa on the Florida gulf coast. It's a smaller hamlet that's missing the high rises of Florida's other tourist areas. Normally, the temperatures average 75-79 this time of year, but this has been an exceptionally cold winter. I arrived on January 1st and had ice on the windshield every morning for the first week. Unfortunately, that's been the common story this year.

I've finally set up a shop here, and Mackie is starting full bore on her glass work. We're going to do three of four shows over the next four months, and then I'm going to head west to get ready for the summer shows throughout the Pacific Northwest and California - I'm excited to be building again! Our show schedule is posted on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com . My biggest challenge here is finding recycled metal. There's no real industrial base here, and the recession has really taken it's tole on what's left, but I've finally found a place in Fort Myers and one in Tampa to get items. Time to head to the shop!

December 31, 2009

2009-12-31T19:14:00.001-08:00

So little time and so much to do.

We were fortunate that 2010 was a very good year for Mackie and I. We and all of our children our healthy, we've weathered the recession fine, and I was able to achieve my goal of writing more this year!

2009 will now have 32 updates versus 14 for 2008. Hey, that's almost double. My goal this year is to hit 52 - I'm thinking one per week.

There are so many new positive things going on in our life, I've been torn whether to add it here or start another blog. I've seen numerous people have several. Wait, I have enough trouble keeping up with one, but maybe I need some additional motivation to get to the pen and ink more (or rather the keyboard). Hmm.

Happy New Year,
Joe

The Robots are Coming!

2009-11-19T21:18:00.000-08:00

We spend 30 weekends a year traveling to art shows. Sometimes we stay over a week or two due to the distance we go to share our work. An example is that we're leaving for Tempe, Arizona on Monday, November 30th and we won't return home until December 14th. Two full weeks on the road without welding equimpment! What's an artist supposed to do?

I've tried my hand at several other mediums over the years with limited, this usually means none, success. Recently, I've been experimenting with taking recycled items that I've had lying around, (they are things that are not easily welded), and started drilling holes and bolting them together. Here's my first result.

This is Argus 1.

I started with an old Argus box camera for the body and used all thread for the legs. I believe the feet are some kind of a towel bar pieces. The arms were designed using Corel Draw, and I cut them out on our cnc. CNC stands for computer numerical control. It's a fancy name for a machine that will take a drawing and cut out parts based on the drawing. It's a handy thing to have in one's garage!

Argus is the first of seven robots that I've built so far. And that takes us back to my original thought. I have several boxes of items that I'm taking with us on our travels, and now I have something other than Sudoku to keep me busy. Not that I'm dissing on Sudoku. I just like to create with my hands.

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival

2009-10-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I are in Half Moon Bay, California for the annual Pumpkin Festival and the weather here is spectacular! It's sunny and the sky is a beautiful blue with light clouds towards San Francisco.We got here late last night so we could spend a few days of R&R before the show. We got our rig parked and spent the morning having coffee and walking around the town.

Half Moon Bay is a quiet hamlet about 30 miles southwest of SF. We came in on highway 92 through numerous switchbacks and turns averaging 25-30 miles per hour. There are 10-12 pumpkin pullouts, they are made to look like farms but I've read that most of the pumpkins come from Oregon. Go figure. I've heard that during the weekend that traffic backs all the way from the town out to the interstate. We made the mistake our first year of trying to leave town about three hours after the show; I recall that it took us over three hours to get back to San Francisco. Now we have dinner and go to bed and head out at three in the morning.

I can't begin to estimate the number of people that come for the show this weekend, but I've read estimate of over 100,000. It's real hard for me to estimate those kind of numbers. The is basically on one street and runs for approximately seven blocks. The booths are back-to-back down the street's centerline making for a nice venue for the artists and patrons that come to shop.

MLA productions - AKA Mary Lou Adkins - promotes the show. We do three of her shows and Mackie and I really enjoy working with her and their staff. They are real professionals and always have some little extras for the artists including: coffee and muffins in the morning; soda and snacks in the afternoon; and even suntan lotion packs for us. It's the little things in life that counts!

You can read more about the show at - www.mlaproductions.com/HalfMoonBay/index.html

Boise Art Museum Show

2009-09-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I got back from Boise a few days back and in one word - HUGE. The show that is. There are a ton of booths in three defined areas. While there is some fine art, I'd say the majority is fine craft with a smidgeon of buy and sell. The show and jury do a fine job of keeping most of the garbage out, but invaribly, some of it makes it into most shows.

The photos do not do justice to just how large this show really is.

We had a great time and Mackie did a great job in setting up the booth. Hey, I did lots of the packing in; washing my hair; took a shave. Ok. Just the packing in.

The weather was in another one word...HOT. Eesh. They told me that it rained last year. Well, I'm the guy who always says I'm going to go where the weather suits my clothes. So no complaining about the weather.

This Friday we're heading to Lafayette, Califorina for their annual art and wine festival, and next to Genoa for the Candy Dance the following weekend. The Lafayette show is fun because we get to see many of our old friends, and the Candy Dance is just plain fun.

We do a number of shows in the east bay area and people are so nice, and that's not because the show thier appreaciation by purchasing our art work. People constantly invite Mackie and I into thier homes and are enjoyable to be around. Genoa is a little town, little is an understatement, that is between Carson City and Lake Tahoe. There are no street lights and the town explodes to about 40K people during the show. One of my favorite spots is the oldest thirst parlor in Nevada - the Genoa Bar. The place is cool.

Retirement on 09-09-09

2009-09-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

I retired from corportate America today. For the past seven years I've held various positions at PacifiCorp, and do to the hard work of my wife, Mackie, and I, I was able to retire to focus on my art career. Most of this is do to the efforts, support, and hard work my wife puts in. I owe her so much and I love her. Now its on to our next journey.

We have nothing but opportunities and options that are available to us. Both of us feel fortunate in that we have so much support for our artwork at our shows. We'll now have more time to dedicate to what each of us are intrested in. It's metal for me and glass for Mackie.

Our next journey is going to be quite interesting for it's really two parts. First, we've bought a second house back east, and second we're expanding into the southwest this year. Next year, we'll be expanding to the eastern US.

The Lights Are Still On

2009-08-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

We're running down to my last three weeks at the power company. It's been eight years there and 35 years working in the utility industry. I've had a great career and was able to make a difference wherever I've been. It's also been the career that is now allowing my to move on to my next evolution and growth as an artist.

Mackie and are planning on exhibiting in west coast shows from May through October, and southeast shows in December through April. Our website (www.cliftonmetalworks.com) has our current schedule through December. We'll be updating our website in December with next springs shows as it irons out next year.

Is it Really August or Is This My New Apprentice?

2009-08-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

July was a busy month and I'm terrible at keepiing my writings up. So, here's my 437th attempt on a New Year's resolution to be better at this.

My last writing found Mackie and I in the bay area for the Walnut Creek and Novato shows. six shows later we are still going strong and getting ready for our September shows. That's in addition to all of the projects that Mackie has on my honey-dew list. Fortunately, Nathan, our oldest son is helping out with a number of chores that allows me to keep in the shop. And then there is Sherman.

Sherman is our minature Schnauzer that keeps us on track and our He discovered us when we were in Bandon, Oregon at the Cranberry Festival. The local Humane Society had rescued his family from a puppy mill. He's been a joy in our lives ever since then.

Back to the shows. Our last show was in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and it was a great weekend. The weather was especially nice considering that we had just finished a week of a 100+ weather at home.

We'll be in Palo Alto in a few weeks for the festival of the arts. I really love Palo Alto. There is an old theatre down town that shows older movies that has been restored. It's an incredible walk back in time. The theatre is decorated with lovely red and gold tassels across the front of the screen, and drapes seem to run from the floor to the ceiling. There is a mezzanine raises above the back 30 or so rows of seats. Its always been packed whenever we are there.

There is an organ player that is playing up front in the middle of the stage. When the movie starts, the organ and player slowly move before the stage as the curtin opens, and the movie begins. The Malteese Falcon was the first film we saw that, and it was my first time seeing Humphrey Bogart on the big screen. Incredible.

Let's see if I can keep this resolution.

I almost forgot about the fish. These are three fish that I created for Lloyd. He has an incredible back yard and now has a school (eight with these three) fish swimming around his back yard. Nice.

San Francisco

2009-06-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about being a traveling artist is being able to experience people and places that are just a little outside of everyday life. Today we took a short trip into Sausilito and San Francisco.

First, we finally figured out the two buses that from Novato to Sausilito. It seemed like it took forever. Fortunately, there was a Starbucks across the street. appropriately caffeinated, we boarded the 71 bus and headed to Marin City to make our transfer. We arrived in downtown Sausilito about an hour after we started our journey.

Downtown is very nice and every building has some sort of gallery, tourist shop, or restaurant. Shopping mostly consists of high-end gallery's with outstanding artwork. We purchased a bronze gecko for Mackie that is overlayed with enamel - no photos of it yet.

After shopping was complete and lunch, we decided to take the Blue and Gold ferry to Fisherman's Wharf. The ferry ride was about 30 minutes, and it was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon. The sun was out in full force and a light breeze covered the water. There was virtually no chop with the exception of full view of the Golden Gate Bridge. There's a spot where one can see from the bay out into the Pacific and a pretty good blow was coming across here.

We arrived at Fisherman's Wharf and began our hunt for squished penny's. Those are the machines that you can put a penny in along with a couple of quarters, and then the machine (either manual or electrically operated) rolls a pattern onto a penny after it squishes it flat. Mackie has been collecting these for years, and San Francisco had plenty of offers for her.

We ate supper at Boudin's Bakery (http://www.boudinbakery.com/) on the wharf. This is a real San Francisco institution that has been there for as long as I can remember. Many year's ago, my grandpa Joe would take me to San Francisco for our annual jaunt on the train from Sunnyvale. A clam chowder bread bowl and a special toy were always part of the trip. Oh what good memories!

Boudin has an incredible selection of breads, and my favorites are the ones shaped like turtles, crabs, lobsters, teddy bears, and alligators. The bakers are really talented and enjoy talking to people on the street through the glass wall. They have two way microphones installed so people can speak back and forth.

After all that, we headed to the Mission and 1st transit stop and caught the 80 back to Novato. It's been a full day of treats! Tomorrow were back on duty to get ready for the next show.

Heart of Joy

2009-06-10T11:58:00.001-07:00

Last week we were at Artfest in Spokane, Washington. It’s one of the highest quality shows that we’ve exhibited in – ever. The museum facilitates the event and do an incredible job in the organization, just, and management of this event.

We had a number of new items this year and one of my favorite was Heart of Joy. It stands approximatley 6.5 feet tall and is about 3 inches thick. I created this piece beginning from the bottom with a plow disk, the heart itself has the structure created from flat steel and round bar, and is coated with skeleton key (skeleton key is cast off sheet metal from another manufacturing process). After I create the frame, I layer several sheets of the skeleton key around the frame until I get the correct three-dimensional look that I’m pictuing in my mind. That brings up another good point. I’m still working on my drawing skills, but I’m thinking that this is going to be a life-long effort and of course that is part of the journey.

Back to Work

2009-05-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Vacation is over and we're back to work. We just finished two art shows over the past three weeks, and we're getting ready for tne next three exhibitions. It's interesting how we've been able to create our art, and have the opportunity to share it with so many of you.

Three weeks ago we were at Art Under the Elms in Lewiston, Idaho, and last weekend we were at the Mother's day show in Spokane, Washington.

The show in Lewiston is on the Lewis and Clark College; it's a gorgeous setting in the lawn beneath the trees. The quality of work was excellent and we saw some new work that I had not seen in other places before. That's a great benefit Mackie and I get from traveling around the country. We get to meet great people and see things that most people never get the opportunity to share.

We've been doing the Spokane show for the past three years. It's an opportunity to share good times with other artists that we havn't seen for awhile and it ties in nicely with Mackie's birthday. We had a bbq in the college parking lot with fellow artists Doug and Judy Marco, but mother's day breakfast in Pasco, Washington was the real hoot.

Both of our families have a camper on the back of our trucks and we pull enclosed trailers. We had spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot and had dinner at a restaurant close by. We decided to meet for breakfast to celebrate mother's day with our wives. The next morning we got to Cousin's Restaurant about 15 minutes before it was open. Two cars pulled up and eight people got out that looked like they hadn't slept in a few days. After a few minutes they all started walking towards us. One of them asked, "have you guys camped out to eat her this morning"? I replied, "absolutely". Needless to say we had a hoot with them.

It's another great experience that Mackie and I have shared over the years with the art shows and our friends.

Clifton Mill

2009-05-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

During our trip we stopped at Clifton Mill in beautiful Clifton, Ohio (http://www.cliftonmill.com/). Interesting that the town and mill is the same as our last name. Interesting indeed. This is a beautiful landmark that includes a restaurant and one of the largest Santa Claus collections in the area. There are over 3,000 Santas in a reproduction service station across the parking lot.

But, let's talk about the breakfast. It was soooo good! The biscuits and apple butter were incredible, and the hot cakes just melted in your mouth. The bacon, the sausage, it was all great!

Visit the website above to see more about Clifton Mill!

Sparky In the Snow

2009-05-05T20:23:00.001-07:00

Sparky is buried in the snow just to the lower right of the bush in the center. He was adopted during the First City Arts Faire at Oregon City. That was a great show and we were disappointed when they quit having the show.

Sparky is a true testament that our work is made for the outdoors but just as comfortable inside. Please check our show schedule at www.cliftonmetalworks.com to see when we'll be at a show near you!

Metropolis Illonois

2009-05-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well I may be out of time sync on our trip but who cares.

Metropolis, Illinois (the home of Superman - so they claim) was our next stop from St. Louis. Mackie is standing next to Superman behind the court house. The Superman museum is just across the street and has a number of trinkets for sale. Unfortunately, they don't have a penny smooshing machine.

We parked across the street from Superman and a guy walked up when we got there and said, "thank you for stopping in Metropolis." This was one of the friendliest citys that we visited on this trip and one that we'll go back to during the annual Superman festival - see http://www.metropolischamber.com/ .

The city is on the Ohio River where the Tennessee River flows into it.

We're Back!

2009-05-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

Ok already. Mackie and I have made it back from St. Louis. We're actually in full swing with the art shows, and I'm sure I can come up with a few more excuses why I've been in remiss. Oh the stories I could tell.

Our vacation was interesting. We had the opportunity to visit with our daugter in St. Louis, visit friends in Douglasville, Georgia, and visit with my brother's family in Troy, Ohio. Along the way we ate at two different Cracker Barrell's and two Waffle House's (I'm not sure if there is a correlation here), and had Martin's Chicken and biskits for breakfast one morning. Whew. And all that in seven days!

There were many things to see, but the big chicken in Marietta, Georgia was one of my favorite. Kentucky Fried Chicken (no endorsements from me as I'm a Popeye's Chicken fan) had it built way back. I understand KFC was going to remove it at one time, and the community were up and arms. KFC backed down and it stands as one of the remaining roadside attractions from days long gone.

On the leg of our trip from St. Louis to Douglasville, we got stopped on the interstate between Nashville and Murfreesboro, Tennesse. A tornado had touched down and crossed the freeway leaving a torn open truck and what looked to be an endless supply of firewood. I was very impressed with how quickly the Tennessee department of transportation re-opened the interstate - we were moving in about an hour! Hats off to those folks.

More to come later...

Laumeier Sculpture Garden

2009-04-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

We're in St Louis and it's a blast so far. We arrived about 2:00 in the afternoon and met our daughter and headed to the Laumeier Sculpture Garden. It's located about 30 minutes from where we are staying at Union Station and I highly recommend it. By the way, the weather is increadible - nothing like we are used to in the northwest.

The garden is on nearly 100 acres on a hill side. The terrain is gently rolling and there are asphalt paths to most of the pieces. Almost anyone can get around and see the area. It's gorgeous. Allow yourself about two hours to walk the area.

Today, we head to Cahokia Mounds. It is the largest Indian mounds in North America. Mackie and I have a little archeological interest in us. We've visited ruins all around the US and Mexico over the years and are fascinated by previous civilizations.

Spring is Here...Well tomorrow!

2009-03-19T20:44:00.001-07:00

It's a great day for art in the Pacific Northwest. Our last day of winter is here, and the temperature finally broke above 60. Daffodils are blooming and the Krokus will be blooming in a few days. Enough about the weather.

We've started gearing up getting ready for our show season. Mackie and I are coming up with new ideas and creations daily, and we're really starting to get anxious for the year to begin. We're trying something new this year. Ok, Mackie really threatened to hurt me if I kept gathering recycled items and hording them. So much to recycle and so little time. So, I agreed to work with what we have and really try to avoid stopping by the freeway so often to pick up lost chains. I kind of actually like it - it really forces me to be creative and come up with new ideas.

Silverfish is a great example of forcing me to work with what I have around. I created this guy from recycled silverware, a saw blade, a horse shoe, and some round bar for the frame that everything is attached to. There are two hangers on the back making it easy to attach this work of art to your wall.

See you soon,
Joe

Shop Time!

2009-03-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

We have a few weeks before our next show, and we'll have some time to get creative shop time. I just picked up a great truckload of lawn mowers that should create some incredible work. There are engine parts, body parts, and all sorts of odds and ends. It's some really cool stuff and I plan on working into some pieces next weekend. Watch for some photos.

It's hard to believe its already March. Especially, with the weather that we've been having this year. This year is going to be busy. With new work and summer shows coming up soon, it's going to be an exciting year.

Please check the show schedule to see the latest information.

Ouch!

2009-02-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

We're back in the shop after a very long weekend at the show. Five days with most being from 10-8 makes Mackie and Joe a little sore. Even worse, I've managed to hurt my arm and my butt over the past two days. I'm not complaining and I actually see some humor in all of it.

Working with fire and metal have incredible benefits and challenges. First, I like the immediacy of creating art with welding steel together. However, the burns and cuts can be just as quick. But the good we can do with our extra work, and putting smiles on people's faces is what makes it all worthwhile.

There is a joy we have in creating art that is matched by the people's hearts we are allowed to touch. I've often heard other artists complain about potential customers not buying their art. It's always that the people don't appreciate their work, or the weather, or the economy. Most of it is bologna. The reality is that displaying art at shows is a business, and if you don't want to become the greatest collector of your own work - listen to what people are telling you. Yes, you have to sort out the comments to determine what's valuable to you and not. But, when you do your art will respond.

There is no greater gift when someone trades their hard-earned dollars for your equally thoughtful created one-of-a-kind work of art.

Portland Home & Garden Show

2009-02-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

The show is on. Day two at the show and we're welding away. Mackie has decorated our gallery area beautifully. The welding area is set up. And we are on our way at Show 2 Day 2 of our 2009 season.

It's turning out to be a very interesting year. Our new work is fun, creative, and really inspires me to push it to the next level. Just like our last post that features the dragon. That guy started out from two rocker arms, and my thoughts just kept expanding from there.

Fortunately, the weekend is upon us and I'll get to take some more photos of new work and will begin to post them over the next few days.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

Ah, love is in the air! Happy Valentines Day.

One of the best things in life is the privilege of having a partner that is a best friend, and partner to create art with. Mackie and I have been working together for nearly two decades creating art. Mackie is constantly searching for new parts to create new pieces of art. Because of that, we are constantly coming up with new pieces of art. Many times people have commented to us at shows, "you didn't have anything like this a few weeks back".

This little dragon was created from chain, steel balls, rocker arts, rake parts, nails, and glass. He's one of a new series of work that we're working on. He got started because of some new car parts Mackie came across called rocker arms. These are located in the motor heads and work with the valves moving. I'm not going to get any more technical than that. The point is that they are different and fun.

The Portland Home and Garden Show in Portland, Oregon this coming weekend will be the first time these come out of their nest. This is the show we set up the working shop as well as the gallery. It's fun because we can work right out thier and answer questions while we're working. Hopefully, you'll get a chance to join us.

The Bird of Paradise

2009-02-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

There's so many ideas and so little time to get everything created that is in my mind that it's sometimes difficult to think what I'm going to do next. Good thing I like silverware.

Remember when you went fishing as a kid. Ok, maybe some of you didn't but I was fortunate to spend many a days doing this in West Virginia. We lived in Richwood, West Virginia near my father's mother, and my cousin and I would take our poles down to the river and fish by the bridge. Velveta cheese was our bait of choice and while I can't remember catching a lot of fish, I can remember seeing trout sparkling in the sunlight.

It was often only a quick glimmer and that was the inspiration for this fellow.

I started with a wire frame and attached silverware handles one-by-one. The tail is created from butter knife blades, and the horseshoe was for fun. And last was a piece of an old saw blade for the top fin.

Our next show begins on February 18th in Portland, Oregon. Check the show schedule on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com for details.

What's My Sign?

2009-02-02T19:10:00.000-08:00

I came up with the idea of creating pieces that were inspired by the zodiac and this is our result.

We picked up this digging chain from a recycled steel yard about a year ago. We had no idea what we were going to do with it and out of necessity, I drug it into the garage over the weekend. I was determined to find a way to incorporate this into a work of art. Now mind you, I've been trying to build smaller pieces, but for the past year I seem to keep building bigger! It's that old addage that bigger is better - hey, this is a "G" rated blog.

So, I looked at this chain for about an hour and twisted and turned it into a lot of directions and thought of a snake and a dinosaur...I decided that it wasn't the time for that and then kicked it across the floor. Actually, I didn't kick it but I triped over it...That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I noticed that it was kind of twisted like a scorpian and ta da! I came up with the idea of the zodiac series. Nice.

OK. So now which sign is next?

Stay tuned for further updates.

Support Your Local Artist

2009-01-30T05:34:00.000-08:00

Metal is heating up at the Clifton homestead, and Mackie is getting ready for Superbowl Sunday. Interesting enough is that she is the football fan in our family. She's a Steeler's fan and I'm doing the typical male thing and picking the Cardinals....I like the bird....OK.

Back to more important things. Arrrrt! It's crazy the ideas that are running around in my head. Is it the new year? How about challenging times for the country? Hmm. I believe that it's my inner child. Yeah. I never wanted to grow up anyway.

I've read lots of articles lately that art shows are struggling to attract artists. Some have even resorted to reducing their booth rental rates. Don't buy into all the negativity. If I had a nickel for every negative thing I heard on a news forecast, I'd be a rich man. Matter a fact, just quit watching the news, and I believe you will be a lot happier.

I remember meeting a Russian woman that told me about her son and how they made it in America. Unemployment was high and major industries in the area were not hiring, and I was very fortunate to land this position.

The lady told me how they moved to the US with nothing and started a sandwich shop near downtown and now had five of them. They were moving into a new house overlooking Lake Washington and while gazing over the lake said these words I'll never forget. She said, "it's a good thing that we did not have time to watch tv or read the newspaper. Otherwise, we would have heard that it was a terrible time to start our business and would have failed." And then she laughed and said that she loved America.

The moral of the story is to buy art.

Another One Bites the Dust

2009-01-28T20:29:00.001-08:00

The first show of the year is over and we're getting ready for our next show on February 18 - 22nd in Portland, Oregon at the Portland Home and Garden Show.

This is a cool show because we set up an entire workshop and work during the show. Welder, grinders, recycled metal, we bring a little of it all. We build pieces large and small and often create art by request. Imagine a young child asking for a large mosquito and we can create it right on the spot. Or a mask like the one above. It can be alone to hang on the wall or attached to a rock star, a robot warrior or anything my mind can think of.

Come visit us if you get a chance.

First Show of 2009

2009-01-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

The last of the art work is completed, the trailer is loaded, food is in the camper, and the camper is on the truck. Here we go. On the road once again.

It's a combination of excitement and apprehension, and a stomach-wrenching experience all wrapped up at the same time. Especially this year with what has been going on with the economy. It's always a treat to see what new things people come up with. Now this is not a typical art show that we do, but it is a home show and Eugene always has something interesting. This year it's a bicycle hearse with a woven basket for the casket. Hey there's a thought. Recycled metal caskets! Just kidding.

The Legend of George and Sherman

2009-01-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

There is a lot more than art that is important to Mackie and I. We have four children, are active in our community, and George and Sherman allow us to share their home with us.

The four kids are on their own and so that leaves George and Sherman with us. George is a North American Retriever that my father rescued about 10 years ago, and Sherman is a miniture Schnauzer that rescued Mackie and I at the Bandon Cranberry Festival.

Life takes many interesting turns and it never ceases to amaze me at the journey one takes. I never would have guessed that the these two would mean so much to us. They travel with us to the art shows around the country and while George is getting a little older, Sherman is just three and keeps her on her toes every day.

Wall Fish

2009-01-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

Some people want a corporate career, what the neighbor has, or chocolate. But working in the shop on new work is what I thrive on. And, in about six months, that is where I should be spending most of the time.

I finished a few pieces today including this wall fish. He doesn't have his glass eye yet, but Mackie is the talented one for that. This is the first time that I've made a wall fish that uses a similar technique I developed last year with creating a frame and then adding skeleton key, I believe I coined the term but maybe heard it on the cartoon channel, over the frame. This piece is slightly over two feet from nose to tail.

Mackie and I are on the hunt for our new home. She's looking at a few fixers on ebay, and she just told me about an artist relocation program in Palestine, Illinois. I took a look at thier website and the last news they posted was in 2007. So, I'm not sure how much commitment there is for that program there. Paducah is still looking good,a nd I had a brief conversation with Pat from the city the other day and she was full of information.

Art and Sunny Days

2009-01-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

It's supposed to be sunshine for the next week in Portland, Oregon which seems like an oxymoron to me. Anyone who's lived or heard about the northwest knows that it's cloudy and rainy all of the time. Sort of. Most of that is perpetuated by the crowd that hopes the Californians don't move up here. And, most of that is perpetuated by the Californians that have already moved up here.

I can speak to that as my wife and I were both born in California even though I grew up in West Virginia, and Mackie grew up in Oregon.

Living in the northwest gives us a great appreciation for summers. Part of that is from living here during the wintertime, and the rest is the appreciation for how beautiful it is here during the summer. It's incredible how beautiful it can be here from May through October.

Sunny was inspired about the sun that gracefully warms our hearts. He was composed from a floor drain and silverware. Knives and forks surround the outside, and two spoons created the sunglasses.

There is so much opportunity in cast-off items to create wonderful works of art. It just take some sunshine and an open mind.

Creating the Tilly Bird

2009-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

I finished a tilly bird today. What's a tilly bird you ask?

Well it's one of those things in my imagination that I saw in a horseshoe one day. The video is an abbreviation of creating this little girl.

I started out with with working a body from some round bar and rebar. Then I wrapped skelton key to form the outer skin. Skeleton key is a by-product of sheet metal with parts cut out for another use. Next, I used rebar to create the legs and neck on top of which I added the split horse shoe for the beak.

This little girl will be at our next event in Eugene, Oregon in two weeks. Check the show scheudule on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com

Upcoming Art Show Schedule

2009-01-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

Alfred the pre-historic reptile in today's post was created from buckboard wagon springs, a motorcycle chain, two shovels, concrete re-enforcing metal, rebar, and some steel bearings. Man, I love my job!

Have you heard the expression - "time flies when you're having fun"?

Here we. The first week of January. And the show schedule is filling up fast! But we're really excited about this one - The Portland Home and Garden Show that is held at the Expo facilities in Portland, Oregon.

Why you ask that we are excited. This is the only show where we set up a full working workshop and art galery of approximately 400 square feet. We have bending and cutting equipment, and a full welding set up behind UV protected screens so people can come and see Mackie and I create art right before your eyes!

O'Loughlin trade shows put on this event each year and they do a bang up job. They take the back area of hall "C" and turn it into a large artist working area and feature 10-12 artists working in their craft. It allows an incredible opportunity for artists, would-be artists, and the public to interact and share with each other.

We appreaciate and salute the vision and opportunity that O'Loughlin has provided artists and the Portland community!

Come visit us at the Expo

Creating Bugs - The Movie

2009-01-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

An academy award winning film producers we are not. But here is our first video of two bugs that we created for a lady in Nehalem, Oregon. The link to our youtube video is below. Copy and paste it in your browser and it will take you right to it.

I used round bar, a shovel handle, rebar, washers, and some glass to create these two items. But, anything metal is fair game. If we can recycle it, we'll create artwork from it.

We have our first show in Eugene, Oregon in two weeks. Come and see the new items we'll have this year.

Joe and Mackie

Drawing

2009-01-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

A lot of people ask me if we draw the items we create. And the answer is yes and no. Yes is that Mackie has quite the talent and draws excellent, and I am terrible at drawing. It's something that I would have always liked to do but never really got around to developing it. But that is going to change.

I've seen several of the Manga drawings and like how the simplicity really tells a story. Manga also reminds me of my approach to sculpting. Well, Mackie got me a beginer's book for Christmas and here's my first picture.

We'll be adding more sculptures and pictures in the coming months.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T22:41:00.000-08:00

Another year is about to go, and I think that many of us are happy to see 2009 coming. It's been a long tough year for many many people, and we can all look for the new hope and promise the new year brings.

We have our first art show in Eugene, Oregon in about three weeks. Then we have one show per month until June when we really start hitting our stride. Check our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com and click the Show Schedule link. I try to keep everything updated at least two months in advance.

Happy New Year!

Fall California Tour

2008-10-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I just returned from the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and Danville Fall Festival; both of these are in California. The weather was absolutely beautiful! Well Sunday was a little gray in Half Moon Bay.

We have three shows remaining this year and they are all posted on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com . Mackie will be in Pasco and Spokane in Novemeber, and I'll be in Olympia in November too. These will be our final shows until next summer when we'll be in Walnut Creek during the first week in June at their art and wine festival.

The Candy Dance

2008-10-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

An art show takes once each year in Genoa, Nevada called the Candy Dance. It started about 80 years ago with the local ladies made candy and danced in the streets to pass out the candy.

Genoa is near Carson City, Nevada and one of our favorite art shows of the year. The weather is crisp and cool in September and Genoa is one of the cutest communities that we've ever been in. There are no street lights and only one stop sign that I can think of. The town places straw bales at all of the streets about a mile from the center of town and haul the people in on hay wagons.

About 40,000 people show up from all over to attend the art show, buy some candy, and help out the local community.

If you get a chance, come and see us at the Morman Station State Park in Genoa, Nevada each September.

Lafayette Art and Wine Festival

2008-09-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I were in Lafayette last weekend and had a blast! This is a great town in east bay California. This was our third year and each year we have a better time than the previous one.
Mackie is in Reno this week waiting for me to join her tomorrow and then we're off to the Candy Dance in Genoa, Nevada. I can talk about Genoa all day, but I'm going to wait until next week to talk about that. Well, here's a teaser. Genoa is a small village southwest of Carson City on the way to South Lake Tahoe. It sits next to the mountains and doesn't have a stop light. They block off the streets and about 40,000 people - that's correct people - descend on the community for three fun-filled days. Last year was our first year here and it was lots of fun. There is a link on our show schedule to the city's website.

We're down to the last seven art shows of this year, and even though we are running two hundred miles an hour, we couldn't be having more fun...Life is good!

This photo is of some new pieces that I've been working on. The shark on the left is for a San Jose Sharks fan. He was blown away when he picked it up at the show! That's a Tilly bird on the right. I have no idea why it's a Tilly bird; Mackie came up with the name and it stuck with us.

We'll be coming up with more fun art and displaying it soon. Check the show schedule on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com for where we are going to be at next!

Art Head

2008-09-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Fall is starting to come to the Pacific Northwest and people seem to be doing a bit more remodeling instead of upgrading to another house. We were able to salvage a bunch of these steel balls that were made as part of fence decorations. It dawned on us that these looked like heads. Here's one of these balls that I turned into a face.

This is Billy Biker. His body is created from a crankshaft from a Toro lawn tractor from a local golf course. I sculpted his motorcycle from pieces of rebar, round steel, and custom wheels that I cut pirate symbols in from sheet metal. He will be at a show soon!

Tapestry in Talent

2008-08-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

Mackie will be in San Jose for the Tapestry in Talent show this weekend. It's our first time exhibiting here and unfortunately, I have to stay at home and keep building. I'm one of the luckiest people in the world that I love what I do and able to share it with you.

This photo shows some of the recycled work that we had during our past couple of shows. Notice that I had some warm-weather gear on a few weeks back. We've had some 30 degree temperature swings during August. Litterly, it's been 100 on one day and between 68-72 the next. Eesh. It's August for crying-out-loud.

June, July, August...Oh My!

2008-08-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Time flys when one is having fun...Or in our case...art shows.

Mackie and I just returned from the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts and she is heading to San Jose for the Tapestry in Talent this Thursday. We are right smack dab in the middle of our busy season and it leaves little time for anything else.

But really. It's all about the art with us. We get so excited with what we are creating that everything else becomes second in our lives. For three more months, we'll be at shows in California, Nevada, and Washington. See our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com for our latest schedule. We hope to see you soon!

Joe and Mackie.

Vacation

2008-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I just returned from a long overdue vacation. I say long overdue because it was 2000 since we last went on one. How is that possible you ask...

We spend about 30 weekends a year doing shows throughout five western states with occasional runs to the midwest and east coast. While both of us love to create art, and we don't think of this as work, the real work comes when we start getting ready for the show. Here's the list of steps we go through:

load the trailer
perform any necessary maintenance on the truck
stock the camper
hook up the trailer
check the lights
check the breaks
drive to the show (average is 6 hours)
set up for the show (approximately 2-3 hours)
meet and greet you all
tear down at the show
drive home

It sounds like a lot of work but it's also a lot of fun. The joy of seeing people's faces that see our creations is incredible. It's quite humbling when people invest in one of our pieces of art.

The beauty about vacation is that we both feel rejuvenated and have new experiences that we'll soon be presenting at upcoming shows. The Florida sunsets, the wide range of wildlife, and the weather are already evident in our new creations.

We'll see you at a show soon!

Joe and Mackie

Spring and Recycled Art

2008-05-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I are at the Canby, Oregon fairgrounds for the Master Gardener's show this weekend. The weatherman's prediction was as good as usual...about 180 degrees from what they claimed. Nevertheless, this is a pretty enjoyable show to attend and for us to do.

The fairgrounds provide for wide aisles and make it easy for everyone to get around. There is a good supply of plants, and most of this year's art is decent. There is quite a bit of metal art at this show...some good and some imported items.

Mackie will be at the Spokane Community College next weekend for their annual garden art show. That will be our last show in the Portland-Vancouver area until the last weekend in June when we do the recycled art show in Vancouver at Ester Short Park.

New Kinetic Art

2008-04-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a number of kinetic pieces for the last few years and this is the latest work that I've just finished. I decided to work with mild steel for the propeller and the moon head because of the cost for stainless steel and copper. Folks in general also seem to like the patina the mild steel will get once it begins to oxidize from nature. There is nothing like "nature's paint" I always like to say...But I sure like shiny stainless steel too.

This piece was created using an old bicycle's moving neck and pedal gears. It was some work taking everything apart, cleaning it, re-oiling it, and finally reassembling everything. The first one of anything new is always the most precious. This piece will be in our year, but we're happy to create something similar based on your vision.

Send me an email at joe@cliftonmetalworks.com with your contact information and we'll talk about possibilities.

Charity

2008-04-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Mackie and I feel that it's our responsibility to take action in our own community. We feel very fortunate to have the success and security we have, and we attempt to encourage others to support what is important to them.

Over the past two weeks we're providing four sculptures for local charities including the Mt Hood Community College Scholarship fund, Serendipity Center, and Cares Northwest. The scholarship fund is self-explanitory, but the other two deserve some information.

The Serendipity Center provides specialized education and support for children that need something extra than is available through the public education system. More can be read at http://www.serendipitycenter.org/ .

CARES NW provides medically-based child abuse assesment and intervention program based in Portland, Oregon. It provides support and a place for these children to heal. You can read more at http://www.caresnw.org/

We encourage you to take a look around you, and if possible, give a hand to the many good charities that support your community

Allways in April

2008-04-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

"Allways in April" is our annual automobile swapmeet in Portland, Oregon. Each year brave souls from around the western United States and Canada bring their automotive treasures to the Portland Expo Center and the Portland International Raceway. There are over 4,200 vendor stalls in and outside the building on the Expo grounds, and over 50,000 people show up.

Mackie and I hauled our show wagon and walked the outside grounds earler today. We picked up some great beat up sheet metal, old tools, and some long metal horns. We're pretty excited what we'll create with our new found treasures!

Kinetic fish

2008-04-05T21:54:00.001-07:00

I spent all day working on a new kinetic piece that is made from bicycle parts. It's always fun to work on new items but sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error to create a quality piece of art. I'm still working on the stand and hopefully I can get the kinks out and get some photos on the blog tomorrow. You can check out our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com to see some of our previous creations. The website photos are only a small sampling of our work. You can always send us an email or give us a call to discuss something you have in mind.

This is a shot of a large kinetic fish sculpture in our booth at our last indoor show. He's created from a plow point, pitching show, late 1800's buckboard wagon springs and some flat steel.

Often I'm asked how long does it create a piece of work, and it is a real challenge for me to come up with the answer. This is because of the countless hours I think about something before I ever create it.

There are times I wake up in the middle of the night and begin working on a piece. Or I may get started on something and put it down for a day. Do some additional work and put it down for a week. I have some pieces that I started in the shop several months back and it may be the end of summer before I ever take it to a show.

Opening Day

2008-04-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

It seems fitting that opening day for our blog is the same as opening day for baseball in Oregon. The Portland Beavers are supporting the Fresno Grizzlies. While I'm not a big baseball fan, I can't remember when I went to the last game, this time of the year reminds me of spring.

Spring is a time when everything is renewed; flowers are begining to bloom in our yard; our art is new and fresh after we've refreshed after a long-wet-cold winter in the northwest; and this is our first blog entry.

First, a little about us. Mackie, my wife, and I create recycled metal art that shows how we view the world. Nature is a main focus with birds, cats, and dogs being a large part of our work. However, nothing is put aside when the creative juices hit! Check out our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com /Aboutus section. It tells a lot about how we grew up.

In the coming years, we'll be using this to share with you more about our lives and travels. Last year, Mackie and I exhibited in 32 art shows. I believe we are doing about 30 this year. We've been very fortunate that so many people have supported our creative work which in turn has helped us help so many others. Mackie and I donate a number of significant pieces to charity auctions each year.

See you soon,
Joe