Meep Meep!

This is the 2nd roadrunner. It's sitting on my porch right now, putting on a nice coating of surface rust. When totally covered, I will use a grinder to make markings to represent the birds feather pattern. The grinder will leave shiny marks on the rusted surface and will be like the lighter colored feathers on the roadrunner. Once I have it the way I like it I give it a clear matte finish coating of enamel.

I sandblasted this piece before putting it outside. The sandblasting took off all of the oil and mill scale on the metal, allowing it to rust much more quickly. It is already more rusty than when I took this photo a couple of days ago.

After it is all finished it is going down to Texas where a friend of mine, Jerry, will set it into a beautiful hardwood base. Jerry makes amazing custom furniture from really nice hardwoods. I am very excited to work with such a talented guy and can't wait to see our work melded together.

Mini City

This is one of my very early metal sculptures. This is one of the pieces that made me realize how much I liked making art from metal.

I basically made a small, fast "sketch" of a city, just as a study. I was amazed how quickly the  small chunks of bar stock, found in the scrap bin under the saw, became "buildings" and then downtown Chicago. After this one I made two more similar pieces that were longer and had more "buildings", but this one stands out because how quickly it went together and gained life. 

Cities and buildings are interesting subject matter because of their relationship and interaction with man kind. I have just recently finished a DVD tower for my house that looks like a mini skyscraper. Maybe I will post a photo of it later.

Kellen's Other Art

Hey, check out my new blog - Kellen's Other Art. I started another page to put some of my other non-metal artwork onto. I will also be posting updates on current projects under construction. This blog will remain strictly dedicated to my metal art business. The new blog will allow me to share all of my other art and music in my life.

There is a link to my new site in the side bar, or just click the title of this post.

Bird Trap

I call this piece "Bird Trap". I am not sure why, but it does look like it would snag anything that got too close. 

This small piece is something I made for myself out of some small jagged pieces of scrap sheet metal. I put this composition together very quickly, on the fly, making it kind of an abstract expressionist piece. This is a fun way to work. I haven't shown this one to that many people before, but I like it. It is small and lives on a window sill in my art/music studio.

Art is fun! Please feel free to contact me whenever. Questions? Comments...

Shadow Thrower Martini!

Happy New Year. Finally making a post. After a busy holiday season I got into a fight with a mutant cold/flu. It beat me up for a few days there, but I have almost gotten over it. Anyways...

Here is another piece that looks great on it's own, but with the addition of a candle comes alive. I did this one with bubbles and olives in mind, which i used to hold the strong image of the martini glass.  I let this piece rust. Then i sanded the front face of the martini to a shine, painted the olive and the booze, and covered the whole thing with a protective clear coat.

I will be updating more now, so keep checking back. 

Sun Lamp!

Hey. Here is another lamp. This steel and copper sunrise/sunset is wired up with a light and dimmer. It provides excellent mood lighting, as a little bit of light passes through the spaces in the copper giving it a nice warm glow. 

This is one of the first pieces that i have used this much paint on. I mixed and layered different colors of enamel to give the look of a sunset or sunrise. I will probably start to use more color in my work, because I am so happy with the way this one turned out. 

This piece already has a new home on the mantle of my grandma's fireplace. I love you Nana. I would love to do a piece like this again if commissioned. The design could be done in almost any size, smaller or much larger.

Everyone have a safe and happy New Year. Keep watching for more artwork and news.

Roadrunner

Happy Turkey Day! Well it's not as tasty as a turkey, it's a roadrunner. My dad wanted me to build this for him because he just moved to the southwest, and I guess these things are everywhere down there. This one is doing what they do best, running. I used to love watching the roadrunner out smart the coyote every Saturday morning. Gotta go. Meep! Meep!

Martini Lamp!

This is another lamp that i just finished. The compact florescent bulb illuminates the martini design. Why the zig-zags? Well i guess that's kind of the way you feel after drinking a couple martinis. You may notice that I have included some color in this piece. The "olive" is painted green and the "hooch" is painted pink. I thought that it would be cool to paint just the organic parts of the drink and leave the glass with the steel look. I'll bet this would look good with any color bulb in it. Personally, I really like it with this blue CFL. What's next for this series? Anybody have any cool lamp ideas?

Bottle Fly

 This bottle fly is one of my early pieces. However I just recently finished it with clear enamel. I really love this one and intend to make more in the future. It's a green bottle fly made from a green bottle. These flies usually hang out in gross places and love garbage. So it made sense that garbage could be used to build one. I think that the use of the discarded bottle adds a little punch line to piece.

Love Candle

I made this for my girlfriend Christina for her birthday. I designed this candle holder to throw the shadows of the heart and scrolls onto the wall when lit. This is something I have began to work with, light and shadows interacting with my work. This piece turned out just the way I wanted it to. It looks cool when it isn't lit and it takes on a new life when the flame is introduced. The shadows twitch around as the candle flickers. I am finishing some other work right now that has the same kind of idea.

Lightning Bug Lamp!

This piece is a little out of season as far as subject matter, but it is so cool. This is a lightning bug lamp. It's about 33 inches tall from base to tip of antenna. The creature has an impressive 26" wing span, and is using it to hover from the giant blades of grass. 

 It was been awaiting completion for a while, because I couldn't decide what I wanted to use for the butt. It needed to let light through and also be of a material that would contrast the steel, with the light on or off. I thought about screen, glass, and plastic. I ended up using some spare insulated wire to twine around the butt piece. Then I melted off the insulation, exposing the copper wire. I am very happy with the results. The wire gives just the right amount of coverage to reflect unwanted glare. The shiny copper seems to glow under the low-wattage incandescent bulb hidden up in the insects body.

This piece deserves a good home. It needs to be proudly displayed in someone's home, office, greenhouse... I don't have room to keep all of my work. This is kind of a big one so it needs to go. I want to make sure that whoever gets it really respects that work that went into it and will honestly enjoy the piece every time they see it. If anyone is interested in this work or has questions about commissions you can contact me at: kellensmetalart@comcast.net

Work Work Work

  I am still hard at work in the shop. This little birdie has been waiting to be photographed. I made this oversized humming bird by request for my Aunt Becky. It hovers ready to drink some nectar from the flower, which is a botanical invention of mine. That is I didn't copy a plant from nature. I engineered one to meet my needs for the piece. Although it is trumpet shaped, like most of the flowers that humming birds actually drink from.

I like doing sculptures of things that other people like and i wouldn't usually choose to build myself. It is a good way to test my skills. I usually am very happy with the end result of the project. Sometimes to my own surprise I want to keep it for myself. 

Most of all I really like making work that my customers are really going to love. I love making people smile.

I gotta get back into the shop now. My internet/coffee break is over. 

MORE COMING SOON!

Wine Sculpture

I have just finished this piece and couldn't wait to get a photo of it. My current set up in my studio isn't big enough to shoot this one it's too tall for my bag drop. I had to take it outside and get some snaps of it. This is the only one that is good enough to put up here. I am trying to keep away from putting snap shots on this page, but i had to show this one right away.

I did this as a custom design for my step dads sister. She wanted a bottle of wine pouring into a glass. She told me how big she wanted it and let me decide how i wanted it to look. This is what i came up with. The glass and bottle are represented only by several distinguishing features and the rest of their form is suggested only by the swirling "vino". 

I really enjoy doing custom work. It helps me to flex my skills and challenge me to exceed  my customers expectations. I am running to the end of my current orders, so i am looking to get some more work. You can contact me at kellensmetalart@comcast.net if you are interested in having me design something for you. I will be working this way until i can get a proper website to sell my work using paypal or something. 

 More sculptures coming soon!

Working to show you work

 I've been busy in the shop working on some pieces that have been sitting for a while waiting for me to finish them. I have also started a few new things that are nearing completion. I've got a pair of life-sized roadrunners in the works and I can't wait to show them to you. The sunfish above is on of several that I have made. This lone bluegill hides in the grass waiting for a snack. He is looking for a good home too. If anyone is interested contact me kellensmetalart@comcast.net 

 I will be posting more pieces soon. Keep watching.
 

HELLO.

Hi. This is my first blog. I am totally new at this, but i need somewhere to show my artwork. This is somewhere to start i guess. I am currently archiving my old stuff that is worth showing. Basically I will be posting photos as i take them.