Creating the Tilly Bird

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.