Two Legged Rocking Chair

This is a small rocker, like a sewing rocker, or nursing chair.  28”h.  x  48” l.  x  23 1/2 w. 

The seat height is 18” at the front, 15” rear.  Hand carved, completely. Black Walnut. Laminated seat, legs and rockers. Until recently, I have seen only a few two legged rocking chairs. I'm posting about it because I realized I've not mentioned it's two legged aspect, on my other site. In another post I talk a little more about it.

Soon, I'm going to try and figure out when I made it???? Can't find the file on it.

Addenda: The chair above was probably made in early 1989, as it was in an exhibition in the fall of 89, and the one with arms, below was made in early 2002. I have records for the chair w/arms.

 

 Two Legged Rocker with Arms, 2002

Black Walnut

Private Collection

Probably time to make another.

Another Edit: The chair with arms was made in 2002, not as previously posted, 1992.

Ongoing Dust

I'm trimming the backs of some moldings I ordered for one of my current projects, a couple of 19th. c. reproductions. I usually make my own moldings, but sometimes, especially with big Victorian style frames, it is more efficient to order either custom or some existing pattern. These are an existing pattern that will be modified to meet my designs. Stephen Izzo, of Rhode Island, is the gentleman I use. He's very good.

I have made large coves, by angling the table saw fence, and making repeated passes, removing only a tiny fraction of material with each pass. It's labor intensive, and unless you spend a lot of time with hold downs, a little nerve wracking.  Or racking, if you are so inclined.

Weather

Poppies, from last year, May 23, 2010

Poppies from yesterday, May 25, 2011

It has been hot for the last week, but today, damp and chilly. We seem to have rain about every day, too.

This is something I'm noting, as my wife is usually out of town when the poppies "pop", and I send her a photo of them, but they are slow this year, and she'll be back in time to see them "pop".

That's all; carry on.

Lurking Heffalumps

Oh my; there's a Heffalump hiding in that tree. Probably waiting to drop on unsuspecting passerby.

Unfinished

An unfinished frame, recent, and below, a large box-o-ornaments for my next project.

On an unrelated note to work, though integral to work, my 6 month old iPhone started acting weird today; it's a 3Gs, and would not charge from any of the 5 places in the house, van or studio that it can be plugged in. That's a problem, as this model needs to be close to power, the newer operating system is battery intensive. Logged into Apple, made an appointment at the Genius bar, and 15 minutes after arriving at the store, I was walking out with a new phone. Way to go Apple. When the Princess, who has my iPhone 4, (when I upgraded from the 2g model, I told her she could have the 4, and I would take her 3) got it wet, Apple replaced it with a refurb, as a one time deal. Interesting, as on the etherwebs, the comments are they charge $200.00. I'm thinking the 4 model might be very easily damaged by moisture, so Apple is just replacing the phones, and refurbing the damaged ones. Whatever, it's nice to have a problem resolved quickly and efficiently. Thanks, Apple.

When my Canon G9 died, there were a bunch of companies offering fixes for the problem, and it was out of warranty, so I went with the company that was closest. When the iPhone 4 got wet, my research showed there were a bunch of companies offering to resurrect the phone, for around $40.00. My point being that sometimes these problems are endemic to a particular model. I thought I would check with the Apple store on the wet phone, and that worked out; probably should have checked with Canon, when the G9 died, but I also knew that it would take a few weeks with them, and most of the repair companies would try and get the camera back in under a week. (The G9 has a well known problem of screws coming loose internally, and shorting out the power system.) Great little camera, though.

Are Critics Neccessary?

The above photo has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this post. What was I thinking?

The following is a response to a post on the site, Enticing the Light , which stated that one should seek critiques of ones "personal" work.

I disagree about the first point; I think it leads to homogenized art, rather than a personal vision. If you listen to critics, you might dilute the hard won personal vision, or abdicate it entirely. Image making is non-verbal communication, and to critique it by verbal communication, doesn't always work. Sorry, but most criticism of the visual arts, is, well, just a lot of, excuse me, blather. White noise, dogs barking at the passing parade. If you, as an artist, have studied, worked, and yeah, even read about your medium; and have some "vision", you don't need critiques. If you need to make sales, listen to the critics; but if you have a personal vision, really, ignore them.

And, finally, it is not science, nor history , so much as fashion and opinion, both of which can and do change

I have no idea.

The morning walk with the dog. Strange.

Stairway to ...

More QR codes.

The top two are from the previous post, my web site url, and contact info, and the third is my new marketing "mantra". All three have been colorized, which seems to have little effect on readabilty, as long as there is sufficient contrast.

For those without a smart phone, the third QR is:

Affirm and empower yourself and your loved ones, with a richly finished and finely crafted object of art, a carved mirror frame, from the talented and skilled hands of Bronislaus Janulis.

QR codes.

For those tech savvy folks out there with smart phones, and a QR code reader, available free for all smart phones, my contact info as a QR code. I'm using Qrafter on my iPhone, and Optiscan to generate the codes. Neat idea that eliminates the typing and errors of hand entering contact info. They are also being used for website linkage, etc.etc. etc.

And, though I like this technology, I'm not sure if it will survive, but sort of fun for now.

I just tested the code by scanning from the computer screen; worked fine, though YMMV.

This second code is the URL for my main website, which is also available in the links to the right.

Bron

An Old Painting

An older painting of mine, for which I just found a not very good slide of. I think the bright areas at left and right are from the lights rather than a part of the painting, but my visual memory is mainly of the overall color purple. The frame is a variation on, and refers to a "naive" style frame from the early 19th. century. See here. The painting is small, and in fact, the owner has it on a bookshelf, as a "standing" frame, as the sides are flat.

The original is a frame I've repeatedly come back to, as a source for some modern variations, and I've also done some that are somewhat faithful to the original. Here, a modern version in real wood, gasp!, white ash, stained a little.

That one frame has been a very fecund well for me, and here is an example of the variation being only in the color. The link has some other images of the frame.

Frame for a Civil War Icon

 

The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson

Oil on Canvas, 12'10 3/4"  x  9' 7".

I've long been acquainted with this image, one of the "iconic" images of the American Civil War. The image above is from a book, "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, The Civil War in Art", by Harold Holzer and Mark E. Neely, Jr., wherein I first saw the painting in its frame. It's great to see art in some context ... alas the above image has been truncated. See below:

The second image is courtesy of Thomas P. Crowther, Director, The Charleston Renaissance Gallery, who graciously e-mailed me a copy of the image from their archives. They owned the painting in the late eighties, and were responsible for the rescue and restoration of the standing outer frame. The base has been replaced, visible as a variation in the wood color. The painting is now part of the collection of The Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, VA.

And now, I shall curmudge. 8-)

By chopping off the eagle, one loses a good bit of  the wonderful Victorian excess in the frame, though to the books credit, most of the frame was included. And, they included the size.

My complaint is that the majority of imagery of Art has no context, no frame, and quite frequently little information as to size and medium. Usually, size is only for the canvas, or image, and of course, the frame is once again slighted. However from some images on the web, with people in front of the painting, context,  I suspect that the size above is actually for the outside of the frame, as if the canvas were that big, the frame would be close to 20 feet in height. Not inconceivable, but large.  I will check on that.

Here, a small rant on this subject. 

Addendum 1.: I completely forgot to include the artists name: Everett B D Fabrino Julio (1843-1879). He studied in Paris and Boston, and so was probably acquainted with the Pre-Rapahealite Brotherhood, who had a taste for achitectonic frames as well. A somewhat tragic figure, who died young, never having sold this painting. It did, however, go on tour, an alternate income source for many artists in the 19th. century.

Addendum 2.: Mr. Crowther, see above, has responded with a size for the canvas as: 108 x 72 inches, or nine feet high and six wide. Height precedes width.

Circle Doo-Wahs

How to mold large circular frames, commonly known as "Tondos". Actually, the paintings are Tondos, so the frames would be Tondo frames. On the end is a wooden block, adjustable and lockable with thumbscrews. On the bottom of the block, a 3/16" brass pin, which is inserted into a hole in a block at the center of the frame. The router is a Porter-Cable, with a plunge router base. The rods are 5/16" steel, lockable to the base with thumbscrews. At the left of the base, there is a brass "flange" I added to provide additional support for the rods.

 

Here, a frame in process. At the upper right, the block at the center of the frame. This is the one tool in my studio that does not have some sort of dust collection system. So, noisy, and messy. While I'm typing this, the idle part of my brain is thinking of how I can add dust collection, and the power cord all coming down from on high. Hmmm.

There is a "scary" aspect to using a router on a 50-60 inch diameter frame, mostly to do with keeping the noisy little beast stable. Now I'm thinking of how to add circular capability to my shaper, and power feeder. Hmmm, again.

The floor in the top photo, shows the detritus of gesso, and various sealers, toners and paints, from when the frame was too big for the spray area, where I generally make my messes.

 

Here is a shot of the build-up of gesso, sealer, toner and what not on the turntable in the spray area. It probably weighs twice what it did when I built it. I included, as a client was fascinated by the abstract quality of the accretions.

More design

Cutting out the outside of the frame (see previous post) on a jig saw.

And, starting to carve.