Boise Art Museum Show

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.