buffalo with teepees

I finished this one just recently it measures 21 x 10 inches this is the biggest and heaviest one that I have done , I had to string it up differently than the others because of the weight.

Ram Skull

This is a Ram skull, the design is of a Hopi sun with the Kokopelli dancer I just finished this one today I found some Dutch boy brand clear lacquer which is much better than Krylon very glossy I had gotten this at my mothers house so it is old and not sure where to find it or how much it is , but I like the effect very much. I like a really high gloss so I think Krylon is out from now on.

shirts and hats

I finally scanned some of my shirts and hats that I painted when I had the shop in the basement of the store this was back in the early 90's and I didn't have a digital camera just a polaroid.

tribal eagle design

I just finished this skull with the tribal eagle design, skull is Black and Grey with the design painted over it

south western design

Nice south western design ,that I just finished today.

farmers market update

It was a nice day at the farmers market and set up and tear down went well no sells , but did get some contacts and publicity will see how next week goes maybe more people will come out.

Midtown Farmers Market

I will be in the Midtown farmers Market showing my skulls under arts and crafts, I hope everything goes well. I will get a chance to set up my new display I made will post photos.

recently painted

I just finished painting this one the other day using fluorescent paint and regular paint I think the colors came out really nice . I will have to get a better photo of it though for my portfolio I have to paint the plywood that I am going to use to hang the skull on for the backdrop, It was supposed to rain today now the weather has changed so it looks like I can do that today.

freshly painted

Here are the two skulls I just finished up one is of a bear painting and the deer skull is of a lizard had trouble with photographing the deer kept coming out blue with the camera, when I get my board painted for a backdrop I can start taking pictures outside until winter comes that is

display

The display is almost done I need to get a tarp that will go over the top of it that will serve as a back drop for it, but it does work well for the skulls. I am anxious to get a canopy but we do not have the money yet will probably have to wait till the economy picks up and I can get back to working, being laid off really sucks

Free shipping on Etsy

I am offering free shipping on all my hand painted skulls for my shop on etsy , this will be good through December.

Mia ( Siberian Husky)

Mia, our new dog in the pool is female aggressive as we soon found out so now we have to keep her separated til things get better.Sissy our shepherd and Mia had gotten in a fight and sissy fell off the bed and tipped the dog crate allowing the door of the crate to puncture her inner thigh, she gets her stitches out today. Mia on the other hand is now attending obedience school and has a lot to learn yet she has been crated by the original owner so she has a lot of aggression to work out yet.
I hope things will get better I think she will like winter since she has a lot of energy to play in the snow.

Working in the rain

I have been working on one of my displays been working in the garage due to all the rain we are getting. I am making this out of an old dog kennel so far it is going good and is made too fully disassemble for transport, I still need to put a backdrop on it and paint it and finish putting the bolts in to hold the skulls and pad the rails. The plan is to get ready to have shows for next year because I am not ready this year, would like to get a canopy , banner and a couple more displays and business cards made up. The next display will be a narrow table with a riser to hold the skulls at an angle and then a pole type display for smaller skulls. I forgot to mention that this display will hold ten skulls 5 on each side equally spaced.

coon skull update

I have added a plaque for the coon skull so that it stands out more against a wall to help compliment the design. The skull is made to come off the plaque so it can be hung by itself or on the plaque. I have update the ETSY listing for this with no change to shipping or price .

Favorite Painting

This is my favorite painting of flames and a door, what lies behind the door is the intriguing aspect of the painting. The flames represent the dark side which is inside us and the door is the curiosity that makes us want to open it.

Freecycle

I wanted to give a plug for the Rockford Area Free cycle which has been great in the time of need.
We had gotten some stone that some one had in their yard and wanted to get rid of it, this helps us out since we have really bad drainage problems. we also needed a large dog crate so we could get our new puppy home. we have also contributed to the wanted replies so that we can help other people out also.

Javalina skull

Here is the Javalina skull that I got from Ebay this is a small skull, very interesting to paint on.

Mia

This is the new addition to the family she is 7 months not 8 months old that I said in the previous post full blooded Siberian Husky and very stubborn. Mia loves water as we shortly found out when we filled the pool with water, she is having a hard time getting along with the other dogs which I think will get better with time. My wife and I picked her up in Rolla, Mo. from an outfit called wolf dogs need homes.

Sissy and Chubby

Here is our two dogs they are mixed breeds this is a photo from our trip to Tennessee, Sissy is part white German Shepherd and Chubby is part Pit, Shepherd, and a few other things. Chubby is ten yrs old and Sissy is three yrs, we will be adopting a Siberian husky that is 8 months old into the family.

New experiment

This is a new process I am doing using undercoating for the back of the skull not sure if this will be streamlined into my process yet. Undercoating works good because it fills all of the rough surfaces on the back of the skull, it comes out in a spatter and swells in a bubble then flattens out
covering every thing giving it a permanent finish that does not need a clear. The undercoating is more expensive than paint, but it will save on clear and give me a much better process in the finishing stage( less accidents from flipping the skull to spray lacquer on back) still in monitoring stage.

My favorite book

This is my favorite book that I read years ago that I just can't forget about and would like to share on my blog It is hard to find a book that you just can't put down, I have a few others that I will share later, I will add to my favorite books link.

Snubbed by art critics and collectors alike, Nicholas Hood sees suicide as his only recourse. His paintings are unique, unsettling . . . and unsalable—graphic oil-on-canvas depictions of violent death set against serene Manhattan backdrops.
But at the lowest depths of his despair, the artist meets Bellisle, a hideously deformed dwarf with bizarre precognitive powers. The strange little man points Hood toward grisly scenes of urban horror—offering the tortured painter gruesome inspiration for his nightmare visions. Hood becomes more and more successful, but he will soon pay a terrible price.

Me in the studio

This is me in my studio I am preparing to start work on the buffalo skull and have been working on the little skulls I just got, getting them ready for paint.I have another project (Prototype) I am going to work on my plan is to paint a skull for out doors the skulls I paint I don't recommend to put outside because they are not treated for that purpose. I have a skull without teeth this will be my prototype and test it with exterior sealant, paint design and seal, hope to have this done before winter.

Memorial skull

This is the Memorial skull that I was working on I decided to take the little vase off it wasn't working for me and went with a picture frame with picture of dad and his dog and added feathers and rabbit fur, this is a cow skull with horns added on to look like a steer.

Cleaning Skulls

This is a pdf file I found from a university for cleaning skulls I used to have some different links for this that I think were a little better , but can not find them so this will work some terms are bleaching skulls means use peroxide not bleach, to degrease skulls is dish soap (dawn) some colored dish soap may stain. Skulls that are split down the middle is a good sign they were not cleaned properly you see this a lot on buffalo skulls, I've used baking soda and dawn to clean and degrease before if you introduce air into the container before it is ready it will stain also I have only done minor cleaning never a full meaty skull, but if one is going to paint skulls this information is critical you must have a clean skull to paint on
http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/natresources/az1144.pdf

Red, White, and Blue

This is my attempt at a patriotic theme, I did this on one of the smaller skulls that I have it measure's 17" x 7", this can be viewed on my website also as I post them here I also put them in my Gallery of Skulls page. I used up the triple coat lacquer on this one thankfully lots of over spray which dulls one area so it has to be done again in the dull area, it's easier to just put more than one coat on it.

Happy 4th of July

I just finished this today, horse painting on cow skull and with real horse shoe formed into the skull.

break from painting skulls

Taking a break from painting skulls to show off my address plaque I made, This is made with Portland cement, sand and cement dye. This is the ingredients for a stepping stone that can be carved, I dug a hole in the ground and poured my mixture in and after it set up enough before it is fully cured I carved the numbers in it and then painted it later when it was fully cured.I am also going to do some Hypertufa to make faux rocks to border my flowers in the yard.
Hypertufa is an anthropic rock made from various aggregates bonded together using Portland cement. from wikipedia

painted hats

Here is some of the hats that I painted when I had my shop in the basement of the Western gift shop.
I also painted shirts at that time, although I didn't have a digital camera at that time so I can't show my work on the shirts at this time but I will convert them over later.

old painting

Here is a painting I did years ago that is dated 1990 I don't usually date my work for some reason I thought it was important back then to date it. This is a big painting of Jesus before he was put on the cross that I have hung in the hallway of our house, what the picture does not show is the wool on the edges which represents the lamb. I did a series called I am the lamb, this is the only painting I have left from that series.
I painted this when I was 21, I was living above the Coronado theater that was a small studio apartment (back in the day) lol..
and rent was only 175.00 a month

Freshly done

This skull I just finished over the weekend not sure if I am going to add feathers and rabbit fur yet it looks nice with out them so I might leave them off, the design is of a Thunderbird I found
this is the best picture I got, so much glare from the clear. The clear is a triple coat lacquer, thought I'd try some thing new better off with regular lacquer it was affordable so I got it.

In the studio

I have been working in my studio so I have not been online too much, been working on a new design and the memorial skull. Hoping to have some new skulls coming , will know for sure tomorrow. I have not been on Etsy other than to check my items no time to visit the chat rooms. I have also been working on a buffalo skull some of the skin was left on the back and had to clean it off and get it ready for paint, It's only a small buffalo but It'll work since they are so expensive some one listed as a cow skull. I get most my skulls from Ebay ,other resources are online store's , Flea Markets, or sales. The worst part about it is you don't know what you really get until it comes they are either cut into or if they have horns they are so badly done that I have to redo them.

some of my art

here is a picture of some of my art not sure what category my art falls into I call it theme art or modern art you can view these individually at http://artshopstudiosp.weebly.com/

From beginning to end

This is a skull that my father had given to me on my birthday and since it was a gift I wanted this one to stay in my collection, It has a Seth Thomas travel clock in it which means something to me because my Dad had a few Seth Thomas clocks in his collection, you can see in the photo's, how the transition came about this is one of my favorites that I have done taking it to the next level where function meets form.

previous skull I am working on

This skull is for my mother as a memorial for my father . My father passed away this month due to health complications, he had a kidney transplant that my sister donated 4 yrs ago and also had heart problems. he liked iris's so I am painting iris's on the skull and will put his name and the yr on it, this skull also has a little vase on it so that live or fake flowers can be put in it. My father liked the work that I did on skulls so I thought that this would be a good way to honor him. This skull is not done I will post it when it is finished.