The Tiny Room

Well, it looks like The Tiny Room will soon become either The Tinier Room, The Slightly Bigger Room, or at worst, The Non-Existent Room. We are in the process of looking for a new place to live, since the home we’ve been renting for 6 1/2 years has been foreclosed on. Whether we’ll have a room to live and work in at all is up for grabs at the moment. Needless to say, between this and designing and building Gary’s new website, we haven’t had any time to update our posts here. Gary Persello’s new fairy piece, “Bubbles”, is finally finished and in the gallery, and she is as beautiful and masterfully done as all his other bronzes. More on this in an upcoming post. For now, here are the newest of Isla’s drawings.  Some are tattoo sketches, and others are portraits she’s been working on. It’s amazing to see her rapid progress–just look at our previous post to see what I mean!

And now for the portraits (Bambi, get ready for your jaw to drop).

Gary is close to finishing up the final sculpting stage on “Bubbles”, but since we’re still not quite ready to post those photos, I thought this would be a good time to show a few of my 14 year old daughter Isla’s recent works. As an aspiring tattoo artist, Isla is currently working on honing her drawing skills. She has done several designs already, which I don’t have access to at this moment. But I did find several drawings she did a short while back, which I’ll post here.

And here are a couple of the beaded bracelets Isla recently both designed and beaded for some of her friends.

This next one is Isla’s version of “Cold Fire”.

This one was the first version Isla did of the four elements in Chinese characters.

And then she did a different version with an opaque background and silver-lined color highlights.

I’ll see if I can get Isla to give us a look at some of her tattoo designs soon!

Has anyone else noticed how difficult it is to get anything done lately? Gary and I work constantly at our art, but everything seems to drag on and take much longer than it should. Maybe it has a little something to do with having to work other jobs in order to make money. I KNOW a lot of you out there can relate to this!  There seems to be no shortage of forces at work in the world trying to keep us all from connecting with our creativity and the inner reality of truth. But what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

Anyway, here’s another beaded and handknit clothing combo, a sassy and eye-catching women’s top that would be great for a night out dancing. It’s shown first being worn, but without any of the beadwork attached yet.

Handknit women's top without beadwork added yet

To show the beaded fringe on the sleeves, I’ve shot the piece flat for now. When it’s finished, it will be shown worn on the body, which will highlight the way the beaded fringe hangs on the upper arm. For now, you’ll have to use your imagination, but I can tell you, these beads will feel GREAT hanging on your arm! Slinky and sexy…

Top with part of the beaded fringe sleeve

Beaded fringe close-up

As soon as I can, I’ll be posting the finished shots here on the blog, both of  Gary Persello’s new finished work and also Bonnie Van Hall’s new finished pieces. For my own work, it will probably be March before I can stand to wear tiny tops outdoors for the photo shoot!

Also, please check out the new additions to our growing list of awesome artists and bloggers below (under “Visit our Friends”).  There are so many amazingly creative people out there, and we appreciate every one of you!

Here are the first batch of Gary Persello’s bronze ocarinas.  More astrology signs will be represented in the next set.

Bronze ocarinas: "Leo"

Bronze ocarina by Gary Persello

Top of ocarina

Close-up of Gary Persello's "Leo" bronze ocarina

So now it’s back to the finishing touches on “Bubbles” for Gary (see earlier post below). Almost finished with this newest piece in his series of fairies, the next step will involve cutting the piece up and making molds. Check back soon for a glimpse into that fascinating process in the making of a bronze!

I can’t seem to work on only one piece at a time anymore!  This actually works well for me, though, because I can choose what to do depending on my mood. Today I’m thinking how nice it would be to be soaking up sun on a white sand beach in Hawaii. (Even us Arizonans crave such things from time to time).  But the next best thing to being there is to look at the soothing blue of this shawl….

Here’s a preview of the knit part of the shawl.

"Hokusai" handknit shawl

A closer shot of the knitting detail.

Knitting detail

This is a preview of the beadwork that will run all along the front edge of the shawl on both sides.

Front edge beadwork

And of course, a close-up of the beadwork detail…

"Hokusai" beadwork close-up

Tune in again early next week for a look at Gary Persello’s new ocarinas finished in bronze!

Gary’s taking a short break from his figurative sculpture to work on these new bronze ocarinas. Inspired by his 16 year old son Bly, who made him one out of ceramic clay while visiting this past summer, Gary decided to try some in bronze.

Handcarved wax original

Bottom (built-in foot to stand on)

Top view

Two halves for molding purposes

Here’s the close-up. This one is the first in the Astrological series, obviously representing Leo, in honor of Bly.  All other signs will follow (any requests?!).

"Leo" close-up

The general idea

Here’s the first of several pieces I’m currently working on. The piece is called “Even Gods Play”, and is the first in a series I’m doing on number and sacred geometry. This one represents the number 9, so I guess I’m starting at the end and working backwards. It’s based on the idea of the Tetraktys, an ancient numerical concept attributed to Pythagoras. Here’s a link  for more info on that.

This first shot shows the general idea and shape of the handbag. It will, of course, have a frame inside it when it’s done so it will hold its shape.

Layed out flat

This is the whole purse, layed out flat (so the bottom is in the center). This just basically shows that the whole piece is a triangle, too.

One of the three faces

With part of the beadwork

And finally…

The close-up

"Bubbles" original clay

Here are a few preliminary photos of the piece Gary is currently working on. I think this little bubble-blowing fairy is one of my favorites of his smaller pieces! See what you think….

Gary Persello original clay fairy

closer view of "Bubbles"

back view

Bubbles face detail

     Welcome to our  first post from The Tiny Room! This  is the tiny (10 x 10′) space where Gary Persello, bronze sculptor, and Bonnie Van Hall, textile artist squeeze in every day to create our art! It is at the back of our equally tiny house, with its tin roof, no insulation, and a woodstove as our only heat source. And yes, it gets cold here in the mountains of central Arizona!  But we do have a lovely view, and can watch the roadrunners, red fox, coyotes, wild pigs (javelina) and white tailed deer darting past our little window.

     The purpose of this blog is to keep everyone updated on what we’re currently working on. It will also help to insure that we keep at it even when we’re ready to quit (which is every other day, lately). I’ll be posting some new photos of each of our works-in-progress soon, but in the meantime, our finished work can be viewed at

http://www.bonnievanhall.com          and

http://www.persellostudios.artistportfolio.net

Also, check out our new artist pages on Facebook, and please become a fan!  http://www.tinyurl.com/yf2clgl (Gary) and http://www.tinyurl.com/yf6qe4m (Bonnie).

Most of the tiny room

The rest of the tiny room

See you soon!