Copper Leaf Studios

copper maps ~ custom copper artwork

  • Purchase
    • Shop CLS
    • Custom Order Info
  • Custom Art
    • Custom Map Art
    • Custom Nature Art
    • Copper Anniversary Gifts
    • Custom Metal Photos
    • Metal Letter Art
  • Corporate Art
    • Awards & Gifts
    • Large Works
    • Clients and Collections
  • Portfolio
  • About | Contact
    • Contact Us
    • About
    • Newsletter
    • Behind the Scenes
    • Privacy Policy

Happy Birthday, Great Lakes! (now with more blue!)

Happy Birthday, Great Lakes!

Hello dear readers!  I want to celebrate a little with you today, as I realized I’ve reached a bit of an occasion.  It’s not a huge occasion, granted, but if I offerred you a celebratory beer you’d probably take the beer, so that makes it official enough.

Great Lakes, which has become a bit of an iconic piece for me, turned four years old this month.  (Or possibly last month.  I never really wrote it down.  Have another beer.)  Actually, the only reason I noticed the date was because the organization that originally commissioned it recently came back to have me create some more pieces for them.  (They actually sought me out because they thought my work would be perfect for the project.  As an artist, I can tell you that nothing, but nothing, makes me grin inside more than hearing that.)  So I thought in honor of the occasion, I would tell you the story behind the original Great Lakes.
I was actually commissioned to create a gift — or rather, 20 identical gifts.  A small token of appreciation given to the distinguished speakers of a symposium on issues surrounding the Great Lakes.  It was my first real corporate commission, and my first leap off the bridge.  You know how they say to take risks when making art?  How about walking into a meeting and telling them “you know all that stuff you wanted?  Yeah, I didn’t really do any of that.  But what do you think about this idea?”  I’m sure it didn’t sound quite so belligerent, but inside my stomach was in knots.  I think deep down I believed this was probably the only corporate commission I’d ever get, so I wanted to do something I’d be proud of, just in case I never got the opportunity again.


I showed them this rough sketch (yeah, my photoshop skills were pretty rough in the day!), and explained that instead of 20 identical pieces, the 20 parts would become a larger whole.  I wanted it to parallel the synergy of the symposium; the whole as greater than the sum of its parts.  At the end of the week-long event, the piece would be separated into the 20 individual sections, which could each be hung on a wall separately.  The speakers would receive one square of a 20-piece puzzle.

Great, they said!  There’s only one problem.  Some people are going to get a piece with a lake, and some are going to get a plain boring square of copper.  (I remember trying to convince them that the copper was really pretty cool “plain”.  Back in those days, most of the pieces I sold were “plain”, with just the etched leaf texture.)  But they told me to rework the design.  Every square needed to have both copper and red, land and water.  Back to the drawing board.

I don’t know how many billion times I redrew that map, thankfully I didn’t keep most of those sketches.  I remember at one point yelling in frustration to myself what am I supposed to do, move the lake?!?  There were moments when I was convinced it would be easier.  I did save this lovely sketch, mostly because it cracks me up.  I knew it was atrocious at the time, but it technically met the criteria, and I was running out of options:


This is what the Great Lakes look like if you’re skydiving.  While intoxicated.  Thankfully, it was rejected.

So given that (a) I had to have land and water on every square, and (b) I couldn’t move, rotate, or distort the lakes, that left me only one option:

Zoom in.  Show every lake, but not every inch of every lake.  Break a rule that was never actually a rule in the first place.

            
In hindsight, it’s easy to see the “right” answer to the problem.  And it was good to push, and be pushed.  And it launched a product line of custom maps that has been pivotal to my success, and for that I am ever grateful.

8×10 inch Great Lakes map

Now with more blue!

In honor of the occasion, I’ve added a new color option to my Great Lakes map series ~ smaller versions are now available in copper & blue!  (5×7 inch is $75; 8×10 inch is $160.  Click on image above to purchase or learn more!) Of course if you want it in any other size, color, or want a different location, just email me ~ I would love to work with you.

Until next time, take care, and have a great week!

Chris

Copper Art on a Grand Scale

I have an exciting piece to share with you today, one that has been in process for several months and in conversation for several years.  The owner originally found me at a show, and after emailing a handful of times over a few years, she returned to say that she had traveled much of the country and hadn’t seen anything quite like my work, and would I create a large scale piece for her home?  (An aside: the email came just days after I lost my job and was mustering up the courage to take my business full time.  That, my friends, is the sound of the Universe clicking into place.)

The piece is seven feet tall (just over 2 meters), so it currently ties for the largest piece I’ve created in metal.  (The COSE piece in the terminal tower beats it by a thread.)  The new piece is affectionately called “Red Tree”, because I couldn’t think of a better name.  It began as this thumbnail sketch:

It was designed to hang in a foyer — the straight side of the tree parallels a second floor opening, while the organic edge reaches over a nearby doorway.

Here are a few fun pics of the piece in progress:

The above photo shows the center section of the tree in progress — it will become the lower half of the red leaves.  I love this photo because it shows the various stages of the copper.  The blue square is a new piece of copper, with the protective film still on.  The pinkish squares are etched with maple leaves and scrubbed clean.  The orange squares have been given a heat patina, which helps create a more vibrant red color later.

The same middle section with the branches laid out:

Almost finished — using different thicknesses of backs to create the necessary layering:

Paying someone else to install it, priceless :)

My favorite detail shot, showing the layering and where the trunk peeks through the leaves:

On that note, I’m ready for a vacation!  My lovely man and I are heading up to Canada in a few days to enjoy a week of campfires and hiking and stargazing and nothing-doing before show season kicks in.  I’ll be closing down my shop and setting my email to autopilot Thursday evening, and will be offline until the end of May.

Take care, I’ll miss you all!!

Chris

Copper artwork to get through the dreary days

Today’s newsletter is going to be a little bit of everything!  Kinda like the weather lately, which has been its usual late winter chain of snow, ice, melt, more snow, thunderstorm, augh, please just let it be spring already??  I’m down to 5 bags of wood pellets that I will be milking until spring on the hopes that the weather gets warm enough to not need them… much.

view from my studio, after ice storm/ before snowstorm
In honor of (ohpleaseohplease) spring — and show season, which will be starting soon! — I’ve been making a lot of little pieces, including quite a few smaller variations on large designs.  I loved this piece but wanted a more affordable option, so I made these two cuties:
I had some plates with etched Japanese Maple leaves left over from summer — a lucky find, as this time of year there are no leaves in sight til April.  Since I use the real deal in my work, at some point in October I etch like a fiend in hopes of stocking up on what I will need for the rest of the season.  I’m getting better at estimating, but there’s always one size or another I run out of until the trees bloom again.  Anyway I love the smaller design, and since I had two, I tried one with a peacock blue background and one with plum.

Winter is perfect for making pieces like these, which rely on cutwork and simple textures rather than leaves.  This larger piece was the inspiration for these smaller landscapes, which I made in a variety of colors (and I’m quite fond of as a set).  They feel like spring to me, with their tiny blooms popping up here and there… I think I was subconsciously inspired by the crocuses that pop up all over my yard during the first warm spell.  (For more info on any of the above pieces, just click on the image)

The One That Got Away

In other news, I’m going to share something I normally wouldn’t — a project I didn’t get.  Because I’ve never been so flattered to not get a gig as I was this week.  I was contacted by a company up in Vancouver that is opening a copper mine in Chile, and was looking for corporate artwork to be given to the people who made it possible.  As in, the Canadian delegates– and the president of Chile.  Now, you already know the ending… my work was not chosen (they decided on a sculptor from Chile instead), but when you get asked to design something for the president of a country it is hard to not end up with a little grin on your face, even if your wallet doesn’t get the excitement.  As it was, it was still a great connection to make, and may certainly lead to something cool in the future :)

Coolness

And last but not least, a treat for the locals: I am proud to introduce the one and only new food writer for Cool Cleveland!!  Long time readers will recognize him as the love of my life, and now he is also the penmanship behind “Cool Cuisine”.  I keep joking that pretty soon we won’t be able to walk down the street without being asked “hey, aren’t you the guy in that thing?”.  Truth is it’s only half a joke, as last time we went out to a restaurant there was a resounding “Hi Alan!!” from the owners as we walked in the door, and next thing we knew the drinks were free.  I have been picking up on the lingo, like did you know “86” is code for “ran out”?  As in, “Key Lime Pie, 86.”  This comes in handy only when trying to sound cool, or telling your teenage daughter she does not know everything.  You can catch the first installment here.

Until next time, have a lovely week ~ I’m 86!

………………………………………………Chris

Metal Art Cards ~ Bits and Pieces

Metal Art Cards ~ Bits and Pieces

Hello all!  This week has been a lovely bit of downtime.  I’m in between large projects, and have taken a moment to create lots of tiny new metal pieces.  It’s a sort of cleansing of the artistic palate.  Large commissions require a lot of planning and precision and can sometimes leave you craving the playful creativity of just being an artist.

I love art cards at times like these — their mini formats are perfect for trying out new ideas, and it is quite nice to finish dozens of pieces within a short amount of time.  Plus they’re fun to have at a show — people are always asking what they are, and sometimes well… what do they do??  Well, they don’t do much, but that’s okay.  They’re cute and little and fun, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.  But I tell anyone who gets that confused look on their face a little of their story…

   

Art cards are the size of a playing card or baseball card, always 2.5 x 3.5 inches, but they can be any medium.  They came about in the ’50’s when artists used them as a way to share their work with each other.  They were called “Artist Trading Cards”, or ATC’s, at the time.  As they became collectible, artists began to use them as a means of selling small inexpensive pieces, and the name ‘Art Cards” –or more formally, ACEO’s (“Art Cards, Editions and Originals”) — came about.  Although there are collectors all over the world (every time the currency winds shift in the right direction I get a rash of buyers from Australia, quite fun!), you don’t have to be a die hard to love them.  There’s something very appealing about their small size and lovely little designs.  (An aside: the very first “art cards” were mini oil paintings from the 1500-1600’s, usually portraits of aristocrat’s mistresses.  Fun fact, so long as there are no young ears around.)
I had quite fun selling art card subscriptions for the holidays, where recipients get a new surprise card every month.  I love it when my items are given as gifts, so much fun.  And a few lucky people got a cute little display stand with their piece (okay, really I gave them to anyone who asked nicely).

Well that’s about all that’s going on in my world… it is a snow day (snow week?) and the perfect time for staying home, drinking tea, and creating things.  Wherever you are, I wish you warmth and happiness, good tea and loving people.

Until next time…………..

………………….Chris

Winds of Change

Hard to believe it’s January already — or that it’s January still??  If December was a whirlwind, January has been like driving through a tornado blindfolded. So far this month I’ve had one big project run long, another get delayed, lost a promising corporate order (decided they wanted something more “plexiglass-ish”), and watched the Young One get reconstructive knee surgery. I may as well have thrown my planner into a blender. I’ve been trying to channel my inner meditative side, but I’m not sure I really have one. After a week of the melodrama that is a teenager on vicodin, it probably would have needed a stiff drink anyway.

It hasn’t been bad. In fact much of it has been lovely, albeit unpredictable. I’m quite pleased that the world map is finished, and is downstairs drying between coats of stain. It’s a good feeling to get through a project of that scope – and in a medium I hadn’t worked in previously – and have it come out as planned. I have to admit I’ll miss it when it’s gone. The glossy texture of the wood as it gets burnished, the thin wisp of smoke trailing from the surface, the earthy smell that’s somewhere between a campfire and burnt popcorn. I’ve secretly resolved to use the technique again somehow somewhere, although I’m not entirely sure what form it will take. Maybe copper maps floating on a wood burned background, maybe a coffee table top, maybe cut metal landscapes that continue subtly in wood… I’d love to hear suggestions. It’s too enticing to let go.

This week was also dedicated to blocking out a show season for 2011, which is very exciting! This will be a year of big shows, and lots of them, including several out of state. If all goes as planned, I’ll be booked roughly every three weeks from May til December.  It’s a bit scary, as the larger shows can be quite expensive… and when you pay up front and add them all together, well, we’re nearing that meditative/ stiff drink thing again.

I also took some time this week to add lots of new items to my shop, including several state & city maps and new science images:

I’m quite happy with the way both the designs and the photos are turning out, and even more happy to have sold several within the first few days of being listed.  Any particular places I should add?  I will have Illinois, South Carolina, & Detroit up by the end of the week, and hope to start on Maine and Traverse City.  I’m hoping to keep a pretty good variety available, in addition to the custom listings.

Other than that, I’m looking forward to a little back to normal!  Have a lovely week, hug your loved ones, and stay safe out there ~

………………………..Chris

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
  • Purchase
  • Custom Art
  • Corporate Art
  • Portfolio
  • About | Contact

All work copyright 2007-2018 Copper Leaf Studios