Eagle..........

...........in Winter. Digital drawing via a Genius 6x8 tablet.

Easter.................

.........Island Christmas Head.

Season's.....................

........Greetings to all and sundry from the Christmas Crow. "Ooooooooooooooooo...shiny thing!"

MORE Vacuum..............

.............tube-ular guys....wee ceramic masks approximately 4-5 inches tall (with tubes). Ceramic, bisque fired with acrylic glaze/varnish.

New Vacuum...................

..........tube mini masks. Roughly 5-inches tall (including tube). Ceramic, bisque fired, acrylic glazed.

Happy Halloween!

AI lurks.............

among US!

Vacuum...................

....tube amplifiers. The top image is a Bell & Howell projector audio amplifier. Lucked out in a surplus find. Dismanted the unit and sprayed liberally with DeOxit. Applied power and She Lives! The volume pot was scratchy -- but another liberal dousing of DeOxit fixed that issue. This unit needs no pre-amp, has volume and a multi-stage tone control with external speaker options. I think it'll make a great guitar amp with little modification.

The working side of the Bell & Howelll amplifier. Nice and clean.

This puppy is a tube amplifer from a 60's Capitol record player. I was asked to fix it by one of the baristas at the coffee shop I frequent. After much GOOGLE searching, I determined the 25L6 tube heaters had been powered in series with a (now missing) motor. Since the 25L6 heaters are 25v, this necessitated a 90v drop at 300 mA...but no matter what I did, I could not get the tube to fire up. Finally applied 24v to the tube heaters and found the tube was dead. Dug through my stash of old 'dead' tubes until I found some 50L6s -- same pinout, but with a 50v 150 mA heater. After a bit of trial and error, I found a 1.2K and 690 ohm 25w resistor in parallel gives me 49 volts at the heaters in operation...and the amplifer works. I very much doubt it's really suited as a guitar amp -- it definitely needs a pre-amp and the overall wattage is very low. The real issue with an old tube amp like this is that it's VERY unsafe -- there is direct connection to 120 without a transformer - so if the capacitor fails....the chassis becomes hot. Or..if the wall socket is wired wrong (I did attach a 3-prong plug to it)...the the chassis becomes hot. So...quite unsafe, but interesting to tinker with.

This has been my first foray into vacuum tube electronics since the 70s and quite a learning experience....but diverting and amusing.

Salem Creative............

..........post by uber photographer Nathan Smith. Nathan came over in June to photograph yours truly for a segment of his "Salem Creatives"....and this is the result. I'm honored to be chosen.

>>>>>CLICK HERE for the link

The home point of his site is HERE.

VAST Open Studio................

Day Two.....a few more images taken about the shop/studio.

Added a "Beach sign" I'd done a few weeks ago to the beach shrine at the shop entrance.

New Steampunk mask finally completed today. Fused stained glass goggles.


And it's official..the 2011 VAST Tour is over....was a lot of work, but enjoyable... Thanks to all who attended and well wishers.

VAST Day 1............

..............the shop as it NOW appears.....after a month of clean up. Had about 20 visitors - was a good first day. Thank you to all that showed.

Oh yeah........

a Leopard Skin Fez........feel free to feel the awe.....the fear......but I am the same person as always beneath this Hat of Power. Thanks to Niels Nielsen for this induction into the Vacuum Tube Collective.

VAST kickoff .................

reception at the new Rountree Gallery tonight. The Visual Artists Studio Tour begins next weekend for Polk County.

vasttour.com

Upon .............

the red
sands of Mars
we built houses
upon houses, houses
and houses
to bury
mystery and wonder
beneath concrete
then we felt safe, again.

Mixed media concoction. 10.75" x 22.5".

Beneath the Moons...........

.......of Saturn we built
sturdy houses
upon fired stone
and released crows
into the sky
to hear
their laughter.

Mixed media composition on birch panel. 16" x 16".

New Painting.............

in progress - first layer of paint. Acrylic. Approximately 18" x 11".

New Techshaman..............

............creation in progress. Tentative title, "Speed of Thought".

Crow...................................

on plaster....finished. Now hanging at the Rountree Gallery. 18x21-inches. Acrylic/mixed media.

Update: sold 8/6

Crow on..................

.............plaster (Flex-All) background. In progress. 18 x 21-inches.

Turning a new..............

leaf...............Six new raven Shamans ready to take to Rountree Gallery this week. I've gone with vine maple leaves as cowls for several of the new pieces.

Shrine of ....................

............Improbable Gravity. Removable tin in the center. Led candle. Approximately 17" x 9". My entry into AIA's "Outside the Box" silent auction at the Bush Park Art Fair.

Fire und........

....gunpowder.....

Entropy...................

& the Square of Crows. 16" x 16". Mixed media. Submitted to the Art^2 Salon at the Bush Barn Gallery.

Redux......................

..............a la Raven Shaman, eh? Oui! Approximately 6-inches tall, acrylic glazed. These will be in the July Ceramics Show at the Rountree Gallery in downtown Salem (as well as the Crucified Series).

Crucified Series Expands............

by one additional supplicant. 7-inches tall. Ceramic w/acrylic glaze.

Another New Raven..............

............shaman emerges from the fire. Approximately 7-inches tall. Bisque fired, acrylic glazed.

Yet Another Raven..............

.............shaman. Approximately 6-inches tall. Bisque fired ceramic with acrylic glaze.

The Crucified recruits............

.........yet another tortured soul. Bisque fired ceramic, approx 8 inches tall. Acrylic glazed.

The Crucified..................

........series revisited. New clay twisted into a semblence of maddened humanity - shaped as we shape ourselves - half god/half beast. The series will be on display at the Rountree Gallery Ceramics Show in July.

Current work at...............

.......the Rountree Gallery.

A new Geisha..........

.......in progress by Hiro Glover at the Rountree Gallery.

Pacific City..............

.......with nary a cloud in the sky.....well....small 'uns.

Codex..................

...........of Crows. Mixed media. 20" x 20" wooden panel.

Burl bowl...............

....emerges from a chunk of wood. Uploaded three views since the grain changes with slight rotation of the bowl. I'm pretty happy with how this came out - it's the best one so far this year. I'm not positive, but I think this is Pacific Madrone. Bowl is roughly 7-inches in diameter and 4-inches high.

Myrtlewood..............

.........bowl. 7-in diameter x 4-in high. Oil/wax finish.

Snippet.................

of a new painting in the Reduction series. Acrylic.

Spun.................

.......off the lathe - first bowl of the year. Dogwood. Roughly 7-inches in diameter, 5 inches tall. Linseed oil, turpentine and wax finish.