52 Fridays - M-78 a.k.a. MoonFace

 

This week's drawing is from a miniature carving (less than two inches tall) I did called "M-78". It's carved from a Hickory Nut husk and was part of a series I was working on called "Lo-Fi-Ga" which I have posted about many times before. I also wrote specifically about "M-78" back in August 2015 (ye gods has it really been almost six years?!). My fav quote from that post is:

Is he a secret agent? Is he a wrestler? Maybe a secret wrestler? He is marked and mysterious and blind.

 My girlfriend Ieva thought a good name for him would be "MoonFace", so maybe that's what the "M" stands for. What do you think he might be?

Happy Friday. Keep smiling and don't let the bastards grind you down.

OK HW

Necklace of the Gods... Lo-Fi-Gods that is -- 11/12/15

A friend of mine suggested that my Lo-Fi-Ga miniature woodcarvings would make a cool necklace, so I have created a prototype. What do you think? I've already made a couple of pairs of earrings for my wife, but haven't shown them off yet. This isn't my first experience in the jewelry making world. Many years ago I worked part-time at "Gypsy D's", one of the cornerstone small businesses in the 1980s and 90s in the Ghent area of Norfolk. We handmade much of the jewelry that was sold there back then, so I know my way around a ring mandrel and round-tipped pliers. It may be time to dust off those old skills.

OK HW

It Always Looks Better In Print...

You can find an article on my neo-primitive, miniature woodcarvings in the October issue of VEER Magazine. The piece is called, "Unmasking Small Works of Hal Weaver" and ties in with the "Small Works" Exhibition at the Charles H. Taylor Art Center in Hampton. The article is online, but I always like to see ink on paper, which is quickly becoming a rare thing. 

Full disclosure, the publisher/owner of VEER Magazine, Jeff Maisey is an old friend and longtime supporter of my art and the arts in general here in Tidewater.

OK HW

"Ale Kuls" - Lo-Fi-Ga #03 - 9/10/15

Here is another Lo-Fi-Ga woodcarving from last fall that I did for the "Small Works show at the Charles H. Taylor Center. He is the first, but not the last skull I'll carve. Halloween is just around the corner after all.

This piece sold at last year's exhibition and I hope whomever acquired him has given him a good home. New owner, if you read this, please take a minute and send me a photo of "Ale Ku's" in his new environment. I miss him!

OK HW

"Mas" - Lo-Fi-Ga #2 - 8/30/15

August has been a good month for making art. I've made more time to be in the studio and this is a good thing. I've also spent some time organizing photos of the Lo-Fi-Ga pieces and entering their stats in the database. Looking back through each of the twelve, I realized that I've never blogged about "Mas", the second Ga I created October 19, 2014. He sold last year in the Charles H. Taylor "Small Works" show. I'm glad I got a full series of photos of him because he wasn't around long. Do yourself a favor and never put a piece of work in an exhibition without getting some photos of it.

OK HW

"El Roja" - Lo-Fi-Ga #10 - 8/23/15

Introducing Lo-Fi-Ga #10, "El Roja". Is he an alien? Is he a Mexican Wrestler? Is he an alien Mexican Wrestler? He is a Lo-Fi-Ga and his domain is the top rope body slam! 

I recently finished six new Lo-Fi-Ga carvings; all they lacked were bases and names and to be added to the database. I use a program called Flick! that is no longer produced, which is too bad as it was reasonably priced and easy to use. It certainly isn't much fun doing data-entry work, but necessary if you want to be a pro. All the information comes in handy and if you can enter each piece of art as you complete them, instead of waiting until you have a pile-up, it's much easier to keep on top of it. 

OK HW 

M-78 - The Latest Lo-Fi-Ga - 8/9/15

Today was a good day. I spent some solid time in the studio catching up on some mundane, but necessary tasks. I've been having a lot of fun carving new Lo-Fi-Ga figures and they've been stacking up. The boring bit is fabricating the bases and doing the final finishing work. I guess I need an assistant. The good news from today's effort is I have doubled the number of Lo-Fi-Ga pieces in the world from six to twelve!

This new one is called "M-78". Is he a secret agent? Is he a wrestler? Maybe a secret wrestler? He is marked and mysterious and blind.

OK HW

Blind Willie - Lo-Fi-Ga - 6/15/15

Last fall I started my series of "Lo-Fi-Ga" carvings. Tiny, forgotten gods that are coming back to set some things right in the world. The motivation was an exhibition of miniature art at the Charles H. Taylor Center called "Small Works" that's done every year around November. Last year I submitted two Lo-Fi-Ga pieces and a small woodcarving called "Maya Bird". They all sold before the show opened, so the curator, James Warwick Jones, asked me if I had anything else, so I created two more Lo-Fi-Ga carvings. "Blind Willie" is the one of those and he sold too, so I haven't seen him since the show. I love blues and jazz music and was thinking of the faces of some of those old musicians when I did this piece. "Blind Willie" is the god of the late night steam whistle cry from a westbound train.

OK HW

A Sideways Grin - 6-1-2015

I did this Lo-Fi-Ga a couple of weeks ago and posted him on Instagram, but forgot to put him on here until tonight. I don't have a name for him yet, in fact have a  bunch of nameless heads rolling around the studio. For now I'm calling him "Sideways Grin", a line from an old Tom Waits tune. He's lying on a stack of unfinished bases, which I need to sand and paint, etc., the kind of easy, mindless work that's good to do while I wait for the muse to return.

OK HW

Furiosa - 5/25/15

I saw "Mad Max Fury Road" over the weekend. It was an intense orgy of action and weirdness and I loved it. George Miller is a student of cinema, a lover of the silent era and it shows in the masterful design of the ballet of death and the relationship of humans against a desolate wasteland. This film made me think of "Lawrence of Arabia" and John Ford Westerns. The production design was straight out of "Heavy Metal" magazine, in fact by my estimate this was the most Heavy Metal movie ever! But all that aside, the image that stayed with me the most was the Charlize Theron character, "Imperator Furiosa" with her black warpaint and tragic, liquid blue eyes that seemed to always be somewhere between rage and sorrow. Today's art time was spent carving a new Lo-Fi-Ga inspired by that character. It's not meant to be a portrait, I just loved the style of black make-up covering the top half of the face and those blue eyes. This is the first Lo-Fi-Ga that I've painted, all the others I left totally natural. So what do you think of the paint?

OK HW

Hello Stranger - 5/20/15

A new Lo-Fi-Ga was born tonight and I have no idea what to name him. Got any suggestions?

OK HW

I Want My Mummy - 5/2/15 - Image-a-day

I was happy to get some time in the studio today. I have a couple of woodcarvings started and moved them a little further down the line. Then I jumped into a new Hickory Nut Husk carving and another Lo-Fi-Ga was born. I don't have a name for it yet, but it looks a bit like a goofy mummy. What do you think I should call it?

OK HW

Hello Monkey Boy - 4/5/15 - Image-a-day

I was back in the studio today doing a little whittling. Well, I don't know if it technically qualifies as "whittling" but it's close enough. Here's a WIP (work-in-progress) photo of my latest Lo-Fi-Ga. I haven't given him a name yet, but I was thinking of gorillas and apes and monkeys when I was working on him, so that will factor in. I really love making these silly little faces. I don't know if they amount to a hill of beans in this crazy old world, but they make me happy and I hope they put a smile on somebody else's face too.

OK HW

Where Do Lo-Fi-Ga's Come From? - 3/15/15 - Image-a-day

One of my regular hiking routes takes me through a nearby park that has several Hickory Nut trees along the path. I'd seen the broken nut husks on the ground for years and never thought much about them until I was invited to take part in the "Small Works" art exhibition held at the Charles H. Taylor Center in Hampton, Virginia ever fall. I was looking for a fresh idea and seized upon these naturally discarded nut containers. Their shape suggested to me tiny, primitive masks and so the Lo-Fi-Ga's were born! Im careful to only select sound fragments that won't break or crumble. Today's image is the harvesting grounds.

OK HW

Meet the latest Lo-Fi-Ga, "Hoo-Tah" - 3/3/15 - Image-a-day

Here is another Lo-Fi-Ga I recently finished. His name is "Hoo-Tah", the spirit of mysterious sounds in the night.

All of the Lo-Fi-Ga's are carved from  Hickory Nut Husk. This one, without the base, is about an inch and quarter high.

OK HW

Meet "Bo-San" the Latest Lo-Fi-Ga - 2/26/15 - Image-a-day

I thought I'd take a break from posting another picture of snow as I'm sure you are probably getting tired of the cold and snow and winter. As this was a "snow day" for me, which meant a day off of work as my work place was closed, I put the time to good use and finished off a few things that have been lying around the studio for much too long.

Allow me to introduce the latest Lo-Fi-Ga, "Bo-San". He is number six in the ongoing and open-ended series of miniature, neo-primitive carvings. Like of the other Lo-Fi-Ga's, "Bo-San" was carved from a Hickory Nut Husk.

OK HW

The Return of the Lo-Fi-Ga - Daav

It wasn't always like this. Long ago, the world was run by many gods, large and small; powerful and meek; arrogant and humble. Every god had their place and task and their community hummed with divine purpose. As humankind crawled out of the dark of superstition and stumbled into the light of civilization, those gods were forgotten one-by-one, until now. I have begun a series of carvings to try and resurrect those old gods, because face it, these days we need all the help we can get.

Here is the very first one, a lesser god, or "Lo-Fi-Ga" in the ancient tongue. His name is "Daav" and his domain was/is the eye rub. Whenever you get an itchy eye, old "Daav" is there to help you out.

This carving is tiny, less than an inch-and-a-half high, not including the base. It's carved from a dried Hickory tree nut husk fragment which I have been collecting from a nearby park when I'm out walking.

Until December 7, 2014, you can see this piece in the flesh at the "Small Works" Exhibition at the Charles H. Taylor Center in Hampton, Va. After that show, I don't know where you'll be able to see him as he has become part of somebody's collection.

OK HW