Packing Steel

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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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!