There was a crooked banker, part Duh!

Well things have been progressing well here at Occupy the Art Studio this week.

Here are the updates on "There was a crooked banker"

Banker done! Cat Done! Mouse Done! Crooked Bank done! Base Done! Cams and cranks cutout and sanded!

Now to put it all together. There will be great gnashing of teeth. Mine of course.

So here are some pics.

Crooked banker

Cat

Mouse

Top of base with crooked road

Front of base with rhyme carved in the front brace 

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer for the gallery Xmas Show

Here is a pic of the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer prototype. Followed by some video!

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer - 16 x 6 x 6 inches

Rudolph's on parade!

"Little Miss Muffet, along came a debt collector" part "trois".

Forgot to post a video of the finished piece of work!!

Here she is!

There was a crooked banker

OK! I must have good timing or something! Just as I start painting and getting ready to assemble my new kinetic sculpture "There was a crooked banker", out comes this news:
"Judge Blocks Citigroup Settlement With S.E.C.
Judge Jed Rakoff said the proposed $285 million settlement over a 2007 mortgage derivatives deal was “neither fair, nor reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest.""


Can't make this stuff up!


Here are pictures to show where I am.

Crooked banker body

Crooked banker arms and legs

Crooked cat

Crooked mouse sans tail

"Little Miss Muffet, along came a debt collector" Part Duh!

Little Miss Muffet 

Sat on a tuffet, 

Eating her curds and whey; 

Along came a debt collector, 

Who sat down beside her 

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Well I have almost finished "Little Miss Muffet" yesterday. But on further review of the video I'm not happy with the action of the figures. So I have pulled them apart and have been working on getting them to do what I want when the crank is turned.

Super Glue is drying on Miss Muffet right now and then I have to do some work on the Spider so that it does not move around and then face away from the viewer all the time. Have to rig it up like I did Miss Muffet with dual dowel rods to keep them facing front all the time.

Here are some more pics.

Painting at the Gallery on Friday

Had Gallery duty on Friday and I had to take a break from "Little Miss Muffet, along came a debt collector". So I started working on an oil painting that I have been letting sit and age for a year or so.

I love oil paint but it takes soooooooo long to dry. Sigh....

Here is Lilly Pads #1.

"Little Miss Muffet, along came a debt collector"

Started painting "Little Miss Muffet, along came a debt collector" Base, Miss Muffet head, and spider legs tomorrow. On a roll.....

I knew spiders had 8 legs but I didn't think it would take so long to cut them out and paint them. Uggh

Spider face done. Be careful Spiders bite!

Miss Muffin, where did your hair go?

Here it is!! She washed and dyed it and can't seem to do a thing with it!

Spider is done. Looking quite funny!

Spider is now on a stick

Miss Muffet is done! Looking quite fetching!

"Mary had a little school loan" part IV

Well its all done and ready for the show. Here is the video and some more detail shots of
"Mary had a little school loan".

"Mary had a little school loan" - 19 x 12 x 5.5 inches

Painted a sheep to mark the end of the poem on the front

Smile for the close up Mary!

Detail of the axle stop

"Mary had a little school loan" part "trois".

So now I have Mary and the Lamb (Wolf) all put together and painted and I will be working on the mechanics and the box next. Should be done today. I hope. More to come as I move ahead.

Lamb (Wolf) Kabab

Mary is looking  quite fetching!

Been working on the base. Glued, stained and painted. Just waiting to dry.

I have carved the poem onto the base and then highlighted it with black. Tell me if you like it!

Top of box

Side of box

All set with the parts cut out for "Little Miss Muffet, along came a debt collector". Need to finish up "Mary had a little school loan" and then paint Miss Muffet.

"Mary had a little school loan" part duh.

I have cut out all the pieces for the figures and now to start painting etc.

I have finished the lamb (wolf in sheep clothing, get it?)

The Lamb (Wolf)

Here is Mary. She is missing her neck right now but I will have it attached in the morning. Her hair should be dry by then. :-)

"Mary had a little school loan"

OK! Going to start on a new sculpture today.

"Mary had a little school loan"

Mary had a little loan,
little Loan, a little loan,
Mary had a little loan,
whose fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
and everywhere that Mary went,
the loan was sure to go.

It followed her to work one day
work one day, work one day,
It followed her to work one day,
which was against the rules.

It made the bankers laugh and play,
laugh and play, laugh and play,
it made the bankers laugh and play
to see a loan at work.

And so the boss turned it out,
turned it out, turned it out,
And so the boss turned it out,
but still it lingered near,

And waited patiently about,
patiently about, patiently about,
And waited patiently about
till Mary did appear.

"Why does the loan love Mary so?"
Love Mary so? Love Mary so?
"Why does the loan love Mary so,"
the eager bankers cry.

"Why, Mary hates the loan, you know."
The debt, you know, the loan, you know,
"Why, Mary hates the loan, you know,"
but it still follows her everywhere.

The boy who cried Banker (Wolf)

On a roll here this week. Just finished another kinetic sculpture called "The boy who cried Banker (Wolf)".

This was fun since the mechanics went together rather fast. Thank god for all that automotive valve work that I used to do. Seems that cams need to have a large round surface to have contact with. Stops all that binding.

Here is the video and some pics. I have the next one going in my head already.

"Mary had a little Debt (Wolf in Sheep's Clothing)"

Here is the boy. I had repainted some sections and had to hang it up to dry. Seems that the nose works great!

Wolf detail showing carving and joints.

Here is the finished sculpture. 

Carved lettering in the wood.

Detail painting of sheep on both axle ends

Here is where the cam and valve solution got me over the hump of  the dowel rod binding on the cams.

The Dancing Congress Man

OK so I watched this video late at night before I went to bed on Wendsday last week.

http://vimeo.com/31262642

Then just before I got up from the computer my niece who is a dancer posted on Facebook this commnet "You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!"
-The Birdcage. 

Then I went to sleep.

I had a dream that night where my niece and I were dancing together and she turned into a martinet dancing with wires coming out of the floor. I stopped dancing and looked through the floor and saw wires and gears and axles that were spinning and giving her movement.

I woke up and went AH AH!

Kinetic Dance Sculpture.

I will do the Maasai Jumping dance first. turn a crank and make the dancer jump up and down. 

It will be out of wood so it will not take to long to put together.Then I can work on Martha Graham next!! 


So it took me a while to figure out the mechanics of the whole thing. The Maasai Dance thing went out the window since it was too hard to pull off without a drill press.


On to plan B!

Here is how the magic is done.

Off set cam and axel with a Limberman out on the end of the stick.

From the front

So I worked out how to make the mechanics and now how to do a dance.

Well I watched 60 mins with the interview with Jack Abramoff and was shocked with what he had to say about Congress and how its just a money machine and getting worse.

So the next morning while walking the dog I came up with an idea to show a dancing Congress Man.

Here is how it developed.

All the bits and pieces 

I spent a lot of time doing design work and finally got everything together and cut out all the pieces as shown above. Then I spent a lot of time tweaking the design until I got it all to work the way I wanted.

Then took it all a part and started painting.

Here I have started to paint the Congress Man and the Money Bags

Close up of painted Congress Man

Here it is all together and ready to show

Here is the video of it in action.