First Things First

This is probably not going to be your typical "artist's blog."  This is your warning.

Things you will not find in this blog

Long stories about the “inspiration” behind a particular piece of artwork

Honestly, I don’t know. It just came to me. Usually in the form of “Hey, I think I’ll do a frog out of stone.” And then I do a frog. It looks the way it looks because that’s how I draw frogs. It’s inlayed into a chalkboard because I like to find ways to make my art useful. If you’re looking for the kind of crap I made up in college to pass art classes (“The frog speaks to my desire to leap beyond the current situation, and the fly he’s catching demonstrates that I feel trapped.”), you’re not going to find that. I graduated—I don’t have to do that with a straight face anymore.

Handy hints and helpful ideas

It’s not that I don’t want to be handy or helpful. Hopefully, I will write something that gives you a cool idea or helps you figure out how to do a project. Just don’t expect posts like “10,001 Things You Can Do With Leftover Tile” or “Sixteen Bazillion Ways to Use Rocks.”

Lengthy technical descriptions of exactly how I create my art

I draw a picture. I transfer each piece to a stone that has been selected for its color and texture. I cut out the pieces. I reassemble them in whatever I’m using for a frame. I grout. That’s it. Every time.

Things you will find in this blog

General stuff about me and my life

I don’t feel like being an artist defines who I am. For me, it’s more “This is who I am and I’m an artist because of it.” So if you don’t want to read about my hunting trips or gardening exploits—that’s too bad. But those things are as much a part of why I create my art as “I like getting paid to play with power tools” is.

Descriptions of my house projects

Most of the original ideas for my artwork came from having to solve problems while working on my house. I either wanted something that I couldn’t find commercially (this is how the stone tile thing got started) or that I couldn’t afford so I figured out how to make it myself.

Occasional random rants on widely varied topics

I see the world as a collection of absurdities that we need to accept as normal in order to avoid going completely crazy. If I think too long about pretty much anything, it will start to strike me as absurd—and you’re probably going to hear about it.

Sarcasm

If you hadn’t figured that out by reading this far…

Things that make you laugh, or think, or give you an idea or, hopefully, make you want to come back and see what crazy thing I’ll come up with next.