thewoodredeemer
thewoodredeemer
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Sep 24, 2017 (9 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Sep 24, 2017 (9 years)
- Last activity
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- Topics created
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Bio
I'm a 38 year old artist born and raised in southern California. I couldn't tell you exactly what made me want to become an artist it just kind of happened one day.
7 years ago I owned and operated a small locksmith company in California, I had been a locksmith for 15 years. I was making decent money and was pretty happy for the most part. I had just moved in to a new house and decided to cover one of the big walls with old pallet wood stained different colors. When I was done I had some left over wood and decided one night to try painting on it wit h some paint left over from painting a motorcycle, so using tape and a $3 set of transparent glitter children's paint brushes I painted a tree. I had posted a picture of it on my Facebook page and was surprised by the amount of likes I got and requests people had for custom pieces. I remember leaving the house that day for work thinking I don't want to do this anymore, I just want to paint and see if I can support myself doing it. I decided that day that I wold not renew my advertising contracts and let my accounts know that I would be referring them to a friend that was also a locksmith. that was roughly 2500 days ago, I decided from the start to do my best to complete one piece a day, usually working 12-18 hour days 7 days a week to do so, and I did and still do. I would say in any given week I'm in the shop 70-80 hours, but it never seems like work it's been like 7 years of arts and craft time, remember how much fun it was when you were a kid? It's like that but with way cooler toys and equipment, and enough power tools to build a city. Too keep things fun I have an open door at the shop, friends and clients are welcome to come in and use our tools to build something and I'm always around to help anyone out.
I have no formal education as far as art is concerned, none... not even an art class in high school, apparently I didn't show a creative side back then, I watched a couple you-tube videos oh how to build things but that's about it. Most people in the art community appreciate my self taught style some thumb their noses at it but it's never bothered me, I would bet I create AND sell twice what they do in a year, I've created over 3,500 pieces since I began and sold all but about 20 that are on the walls in my office waiting to be shipped or not yet sold.
My favorite thing to paint is by far Johnny Cash, again couldn't tell you why, I just do. I've probably painted 3-400 of pieces inspired by the man in black, one this morning. I have shipped his pieces to 43 different states here in the US and 13 countries abroad. He is my favorite musician, philosopher and role model, proving that even in the wildest of people the good can still out weigh the bad.I had a client ask me the other day why I call myself the wood redeemer, she asked if I used pallets to make my pieces. I told her that was how I started but have moved on to different materials, mediums, and methods. She said her friend also makes furniture from reclaimed wood like I do and sent me a picture of a pallet with wheels that had been painted white and was starting a new life as a coffee table. I did my best to explain what I do, and the purpose behind it all, I don't know if she understood it, afterwards I wad thinking about why I'm so passionate about what here's what I up with.
The Aztec people when building their city's and temples used no animals to help them they did it all by human power, no wheels or pulleys just 1000's of people toiling, sweating, working. They did this because they be lived to honor their Gods they had to put in effort and work, I feel the same way about the wood I "reclaim" or "redeem". Ill spend hours sometimes days sanding (sometimes by hand) cutting, routing, polishing, staining and painting an old piece of wood that I found on the side of the road rather than simply going and spending $30 on the same wood at Home Depot, why? Not because its "free" Lord knows the $ I spend in my monthly sandpaper budget. It's not because I love getting dirty (but I do) it's not because I enjoy smelling like a burnt tire in an elderly persons closet either. Belive it or not its not because I enjoy the holes in my hands from splinters, the spiders or termites, its not even because of the coughing fits the sun rotted dust particles cause. It's because each of my pieces, every single one takes a bunch of sweat most of the times blood, and on rare occasion a few tears. They take time and effort and determination and most of all they take love, if I didn't love every person I make a piece for I would just run down to Lowe's and spend a few bucks on wood to get the piece done and get paid -like I used to. No to me its that effort that makes a piece special, special enough that someone wants it on their wall to look at daily - to me that's an honor. Redeeming wood isn't putting wheels on an existing piece of wood - that's simply reusing, redeeming means changing everything about that material so when its done you can't imagine it was something that someone threw away, everything deserves a second life. Anyone can make a table from nice new oak, it's not too tough to make something beautiful from something beautiful, but to make something just as beautiful from something labeled as garbage is an art in itself. The pictured piece is made from a 1/2 sheet of plywood some one had dumped on the side of the road, my buddy Renny dropped it off so decided to make him a piece from it, the frame is from an old redwood fence post I had found during one of my wood finding expeditions. I used water down paints in the engraved "love" to make swirls like water in a river. This piece cost about $5 to produce but it took me about 20 hours from start to finish, and now that old plywood and 4x4 get a new start - a new life... They've been redeemed.
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