New Blog Location

I will be using www.artistful.com for my blog from now on. Under my name Joseph Casalino.
See you there.

Finish one and start another.

I am in the process of finishing a number of pieces. The painting takes patience since many coats have to be applied to get the finish that I want. I am also grinding one of my newer pieces. As the weather get warmer, the heat becomes more effective in the studio. That is a big help in the paint drying process.

Creativity

I went to work in the studio yesterday and finished the work on the crucifix. I have been designing my latest sculptures on the floor. I took a hint from David Smith's book and tried it. It is just as he said "you don't really see it fully until you stand it up." But, the "kicking elements around" sure works. After tacking all the pieces together, I put the sculpture on the table and finished the welding. I added a base and then viewed it. It needed another piece on the top. I attached that one and signed it. It will need some surface treatment.

Got wood

I found a nice piece of wood for the base at Mac Beath. I cut it to size and sanded the ends. I did some more cleaning on the crucifix in preparation for painting.

Creativity is flourishing.

My hunt for steel was successful. I got lots of raw material to work with. I also got a base plate for the new piece and attached it to it. I have a supply of metal working bits in my tool box from work and finally put them to good use while fitting the base to the shafts. I finished that piece and started another one. The important consideration when picking out steel shapes at the supply yard is to be able to buy what you can use. Actually, I saw some larger elements that I would like to use in a later piece.

Creative juices were flowing.

I did some minor repositioning of the elements in the 'circle' piece, welded it all together and signed it. It will nne to be primed and painted. I had another idea for a piece that looks like balloons. I welded circles onto rods and then positioned the elements. A great start.

Sunday Afternoon

I went out to work in the studio. I ran out of propane on the larger heater; but, it was warm at that point. I reinstalled the front grate on the electric heater and found that it actually helped it to output more heat. I examined my flower piece again. After a few minutes of trying to add more to it, I decided that it would be fine just as it is. So I signed the work. I began to arrange some of the circles into a new sculpture. By just tacking them to each other, it gave me the leeway to reposition the elements. I stopped at that point.

Crucifix

I began the work of preparing the 'crucifix' for the show. It required a lot of heat to rotate the arms back into position. Last time I welded the elements it required special welding rods. This time the MIG did it easily. I am thinking of sandblasting the piece and then seeing how to finish the piece.

Flower Power 2

Who said that 'Flower Power' was a long time ago? The influence from that time always is present no matter how old you are. The flower arrangement turned out inspiring. It required a lot of repositioning of the elements both before and after welding. The oxy-acet torch is just like a magic wand when held in the hand of a competent sculptor. It delivered the final touches that were needed to give me the inner satisfaction that sculptures sometimes do.

Flower power

I added stems to the flowers and worked on the major arrangement of the elements. My new heater works great at keeping the temp. at a workable level. Right now I have too many ideas for the arrangement. I am also working on getting the 'cross' ready for exhibiting.

Keep Working

I photographed the tube piece and went back to working on the 'flower' piece. I struggled with the concept for a while and then decided to just follow what I had originally planned. All the major components were welded together and ground. I will continue later.

Look turns into reality.

I continued with the piece layout and began to weld the squares together. It evolved into a piece that has motion built into the structure. The exciting thing about welded sculptures is that elements can be held in place no matter how precariously their positions are. You do have to keep balance in mind when you attach it to the base. Unless it is to be an outside piece and then the attachment point is primary. I ground the welds smooth and signed the piece. I am going to paint it when I find a color to suit the feeling.

Inspiration is sometimes a quick look.

I had planned to create a new piece from circles that I had laid out on the floor. As I constructed the main elements, they did not fulfill what I had envisioned. They did not encompass the space that I wanted. I just looked at my scrape area and saw short pieces of steel tubing just laying around. That sparked an idea and my new piece was created. I moved them around to get different perspectives of the spaces that they occupied. I left them for my next day in the shop.