Hippy Drippy Seed Pod Dreamer, 2020 © Beau Smith, bronze, stainless steel, height 11”

SHOP NOTES

Name of the sculpture: Drippy Seed Pod Dreamer.

I’m only going to make one of these. I only made one. There is no reason to make any others, for what I was doing was not something that I’m going to repeat as far as the design is concerned. This is the only one. 

I know it’s kind of weird. It has a kind of weird feeling energy to it. But that works for me. I was investigating how to create more liquid forms with bronze, welding it directly. I was also seeing how well I could do a face, welding the bronze directly.

The whole thing is entirely bronze. It definitely has a Picasso cubist style. That was very much intentional. I was just playing around, basically, and trying things using the medium of welding bronze rod directly onto itself. 

It’s a Lemurian Dreamer. I’m calling it that anyway. The body looks like a strange seed pod or something like that. It’s a very weird piece and the weirdness is what makes it art. 

He stands on a chunk of stainless steel.

***

I made this last year, in November of 2020, the first year of covid. Like I said, I was looking to create more liquid forms with the metal. I wanted to create something that was drippy. Here is an Instagram post for when I was first working on this piece:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHbAEo6DZsc/

That drip form became the body. It was all downhill after that. I jest. I actually think it turned out well, for what it is, a one-of-a-kind piece that I will never duplicate, made just because I was investigating what I could do with the medium. In fact, I think the piece is actually really awesome. I guess I think most of my work is awesome, in one way or another.

But not all my work. I trash stuff all the time. I start, don’t like what I have done, and then I backtrack.

Actually, I don’t work that way all the time. When I have developed an idea that is working, I don’t have to do that so much. It’s only when I am working completely by the seat of my pants that I have to scrap something and start again. 

Well, that’s not totally true, either. Sometimes, when I am working by the seat of my pants, I just go with it. But not always. When I first started making the small froglets, I would scrap what I was doing all the time. I had the equivalent of a mini waste basket – of pieces of copper shapes that just didn’t work out for one reason or another – right beside me.

It’s like a singer songwriter with a new song. You perfect the song. Then you can play it over and over, and, if it is any good, not get tired of it for a long while. You try different variations, which do not lead you off track because you have the song. So, when other musician artists do a cover, they are working from something that has already been tweaked, besides the song having often met with popular support. And a musician learns his/her craft that way, by playing other people’s songs. Just like, a painter learns his craft working in styles of other artists, doing what they have already done, working a path that has already been cleared.

There is nothing wrong with that. But hopefully, at some point, you come up with your own stuff. Or, in the case of me, you make the stuff you are working with yours. I have done that to a great extent with the frogs. I have had to. They are my bread and butter, and I am an artist. I do not like to repeat myself – even though, ironically, I am working with the same designs over and over again. 

Steal it and make it yours. Well, I did not actually steal the design of the frog. My father taught me how to do it. But, in retrospect, there was some theft involved. Let us say simply I liked to do things my way. 

A teacher at the College of Charleston (where I went to school before I transferred to RISD, some, now, like, 38 or so years ago) – his name was Leo Manske – was the first to tell me and with other students to steal it and make it yours, and that art was very much about doing that. Which is absolutely true. And if you look at some of the most successful artists in any genre in any medium, be it fine art, music, writing, whatever, you see they all do that to some extent. Most of them, anyway. Yes, sometimes someone will come along and do something completely different. But more often, you see artists who have stolen work of other artists. Picasso did it. Bob Dylan does it. They all do it.

Leo Manske, I do not think, sadly, is any longer with us. I could not find that out on the internet. There is not much about him. I would think if he were still alive, he would be making art, and there would be a lot more about him out there. He was a great artist. I had him for two drawing classes. I, along with others, watched him create this monstrously large watercolor, incredibly meticulously drawn and painted, that ended up looking like a strange phallus thing in a very surreal setting. The colors, shapes and forms were incredible. (note 1)

Memories of Leo Manske: When I told him I was accepted to RISD and that I was going to study illustration, he nodded, very much in approval. One time I showed him something I had done, and he commented that the tones were too much the same, and that one could not distinguish the fragmentary parts of the drawing from each other. I was puzzled, as I thought it not to hard to see what was happening. Then someone told me he was color blind. He could not see certain colors. For being color blind, he was great with color. I guess he was also good with tonality, because he had to be good with that to see what he was doing. He would work with all these little jars of well mixed water color paints. His incredible phallic watercolor was in the classroom over to the side. You could see that he was working on it – usually not during a class. I am sure he wanted his privacy, when working on his art. He worked on that one piece the entire semester, I think. It was a great effort. It finally went into a bar. I actually one time went into that bar – maybe he was having an opening there, I think. Anyway, he was there, receiving accolades. He saw me, and, to my surprise, he kissed me. I even think it was on the lips. Leo was gay. I guess he found me attractive, and this was an opportunity. I let him do it. I did not feel violated. It was not some #metoo thing. I guess it could have been, had I been a woman, and had he been straight.

I, myself, am not gay. But I didn’t mind Leo stealing a kiss. I really didn’t mind it. I liked him. So he got one in (a kiss). What of it? Like I say, I am not gay, so I did not kiss him back. But I let him kiss me. It was not a big deal to me. As I write this, I can still feel it – the surprise. Shit, he just kissed me on the lips. Oh well, I’m happy for him.

I have another Leo Manski story.  It’s short. He was having a show at the college Charleston gallery. I was there at one time when he was setting it up and there was some junk on a table. I asked if it was part of the exhibit. He frowned. He was very and incensed by that. I didn’t know. I actually really thought that it might be part of the exhibit. Most of his work was very meticulous but he also did some collage. I remember this collage that he did called Tagged for Murder. He had written down on tags distributed across the artwork the names of all these people that he wanted to kill. That was the entire the collage, just that. 

***

I will say something about the bronze Rod that I use for brazing.  that is the bronya rod that I use entirely for this piece that’s entirely bronze was just come to the rod form Image used to attach the copper together but also it produces a bronze on the copper but I wasn’t on this piece working on any copper and I wasn’t trying to fuse in the welding and copper together I was just building up a piece just using the rod. 

The stuff the bronze rod fairly expensive about a dollar and a half to $2 prosthetic now more like three or four dollars per stick.  depending on where you get it. It has a relatively low melting point. lower than copper.  this is a very soft material. It’s actually copper mixed with a zinc. zinc has an extremely low melting point. when zinc is fused together with copper, you get bronze. but don’t try this at home. when you hit heatsink up too much it turns into a gas and is toxic. which is why you can’t weld on galvanized metal. Galvanized steel it still it has been coated with zinc. these sort of things have to be done in the special factory conditions. Somehow though when you get the zinc to fuse with copper and it becomes bronze it is no longer toxic when heated. it does not turn into a gas. so that saves your lungs. 

Bronze welding rod that’s one of my basic materials and it’s a fantastic material it’s very beautiful. There’s some things you can’t do with her very well but other things. That it is so made for it’s very soft.  I say it’s off but the truth is that copper actually a softer that is more malleable. but it is very similar to Copper just has a lower melting point.

When you’re sculpting with up to the basic techniques involved gravity and the air pushing through the force of the torch. They are pushing through the forests of the torch can push the multitude molten metal around. of course with one other thing that is happening is that you’re melting the metal and then letting it Harden and refusing it to other parts of the metal. so you can add a lot move dark surprise silver little dots of brass to create very nice traps. there’s actually a lot you can do with it. but it’s not infallible I’ve ever actually found that welding with steel in this manner is more effective to create a sculpture made entirely of metal. the brass is so soft that it softens forms. But that might be desirable steel is an entirely different metal in it works and then come entirely different way when you melt it. You can’t push it around as easily as you can the brass that’s for sure. The problem with the brass is that I become so liquid so fast send it just once to stream out everywhere and puddle up. 

 I’ve tried to describe working with welding the metal oh, but it really is something you have to do to find out what it’s like.  it is entirely a medium end to itself, which is called direct metal welding direct metal rather than casting to achieve forms. 

 another thing to mention is that the brass or bronze Rod actually looks gold card. it’s beautiful it’s a beautiful now. And it takes on a beautiful patina. It’s bronze. What can I say artist sculpted suffused it for millennia. it’s the go to metal for making sculptures particularly outdoor sculptures. Besides bronze for making outdoor sculptures you have the choice of Steel stainless steel aluminum copper . These different metals have a different way of working with them each of them. And if you look at sculptures made out of these different materials you can see that they each of the materials lives themselves to specific tasks and specific forms in specific ways of working. For example copper works very well and sheets soft sheets that are hammered or Pressed Against The Forum to create the desired shape. This was how the Statue of Liberty was made. Steel and stainless steel tends to require a lot of grinding. With stainless steel you can get a very beautiful polish  affect, but you have to have certainly put in the elbow grease for that.

I hope you aren’t bored to tears when the simple lesson of welding and making metal sculpture. Really the best way to learn as it is with many things is to jump in there and actually do it yourself go, get behind the flame and melt some metal. It does take a lot of practice, and truth be told if I’m not doing it day in and day out I can get a little bit Rusty I list my chops.  But then welding in brazing and working with metal as an everyday event for me. 

It’s like a singer songwriter with a new song. You perfect the song. Then you can play it over and over, and, iif it is any good, not get tired of it for a long while. You try different variations, which do not lead you off track because you have the song. So, when other musician artists do a cover, they are working from something that has already been tweaked, besides the song having often met with popular support. And a musician learns his/her craft that way, by playing other people’s songs. Just like, a painter learns his craft working in styles of other artists, doing what they have already done, working a path that has already been cleared. There is nothing wrong with that. But hopefully, at some point, you come up with your own stuff. Or, in the case of me, you make the stuff you are working with yours. I have done that to a great extent with the frogs. I have had to. They are my bread and butter, and I am an artist. I do not like to repeat myself – even though, ironically, I am working with the same designs over and over again. Steal it and make it yours. Well, I did not actually steal the design of the frog. ***I will say something about the bronze Rod that I use for brazing. that is the bronya rod that I use entirely for this piece that’s entirely bronze was just come to the rod form Image used to attach the copper together but also it produces a bronze on the copper but I wasn’t on this piece working on any copper and I wasn’t trying to fuse in the welding and copper together I was just building up a piece just using the rod. The stuff the bronze rod fairly expensive about a dollar and a half to $2 prosthetic now more like three or four dollars per stick. depending on where you get it. It has a relatively low melting point. lower than copper. this is a very soft material. It’s actually copper mixed with a zinc. zinc has an extremely low melting point. when zinc is fused together with copper, you get bronze. but don’t try this at home. when you hit heatsink up too much it turns into a gas and is toxic. which is why you can’t weld on galvanized metal. Galvanized steel it still it has been coated with zinc. these sort of things have to be done in the special factory conditions. Somehow though when you get the zinc to fuse with copper and it becomes bronze it is no longer toxic when heated. it does not turn into a gas. so that saves your lungs. Bronze welding rod that’s one of my basic materials and it’s a fantastic material it’s very beautiful. There’s some things you can’t do with her very well but other things. That it is so made for it’s very soft. I say it’s off but the truth is that copper actually a softer that is more malleable. but it is very similar to Copper just has a lower melting point.When you’re sculpting with up to the basic techniques involved gravity and the air pushing through the force of the torch. They are pushing through the forests of the torch can push the multitude molten metal around. of course with one other thing that is happening is that you’re melting the metal and then letting it Harden and refusing it to other parts of the metal. so you can add a lot move dark surprise silver little dots of brass to create very nice traps. there’s actually a lot you can do with it. but it’s not infallible I’ve ever actually found that welding with steel in this manner is more effective to create a sculpture made entirely of metal. the brass is so soft that it softens forms. But that might be desirable steel is an entirely different metal in it works and then come entirely different way when you melt it. You can’t push it around as easily as you can the brass that’s for sure. The problem with the brass is that I become so liquid so fast send it just once to stream out everywhere and puddle up. I’ve tried to describe working with welding the metal oh, but it really is something you have to do to find out what it’s like. it is entirely a medium end to itself, which is called direct metal welding direct metal rather than casting to achieve forms. another thing to mention is that the brass or bronze Rod actually looks gold card. it’s beautiful it’s a beautiful now. And it takes on a beautiful patina. It’s bronze. What can I say artist sculpted suffused it for millennia. it’s the go to metal for making sculptures particularly outdoor sculptures. Besides bronze for making outdoor sculptures you have the choice of Steel stainless steel aluminum copper . These different metals have a different way of working with them each of them. And if you look at sculptures made out of these different materials you can see that they each of the materials lives themselves to specific tasks and specific forms in specific ways of working. For example copper works very well and sheets soft sheets that are hammered or Pressed Against The Forum to create the desired shape. This was how the Statue of Liberty was made. Steel and stainless steel tends to require a lot of grinding. With stainless steel you can get a very beautiful polish affect, but you have to have certainly put in the elbow grease for that.I hope you aren’t bored to tears when the simple lesson of welding and making metal sculpture. Really the best way to learn as it is with many things is to jump in there and actually do it yourself go, get behind the flame and melt some metal. It does take a lot of practice, and truth be told if I’m not doing it day in and day out I can get a little bit Rusty I list my chops. But then welding in brazing and working with metal as an everyday event for me.

My fascination is with the dialogue between that which is seen and that which is also seen under the things that are seen. The way that space moves in and about and around and under other spaces is inherent in my work. I also wonder what would happen if the space underneath the under space were also explored. This is a subject of my fantasies. I wish to explore and undermine the undergoing dogmatic references to other things and which as we all know one would look and perceive. This is the hallmark of understanding in which art is generated and created in a blasphemous furnace of discovery and repair. Hence any reference to spam or anything such as that is only a reference and not something to be taken literally. I am also interested in the play between literality and figurativity. These two words take place in the drama which affords me the ability to comprehend space in a non-spatial environment. That is something to be the explored, but not as I ascertained as if without any understanding. If references to the ablative signature which records the mass of events referenced to the literal observer, then my work can be explained in non-ablative terms. I am always considering opposites, for they attract, even when they are non-attractive. Be that as it may, when my whirling dervish comes to a standstill, I am thoroughly entertained by the clouds and the sky in the sky as well as within my cerebellum. This cannot be reiterated, for an iteration of that point is only to take it that much further. And if you like reading this I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

My real artist statement…

Hmmm.

I don’t think I want to have one of these. First, it is constantly changing. Don’t you think? Just read the blog. It’s an ongoing artist statement. Do I really want to give away my secrets all in one svelte summary? I think not. Be that as it may, it’s a convoluted statement itself. Isn’t it?To to suggest that I don’t need an artistic statement. That’s just as highfalutin, trying to be highfalutin.

My current real artist statement…

Everything has energy. Everything has life. Even inanimate objects have life. I do my best to bring life to inanimate objects. I do my best to give them character and meaning. I want to make people smile and give them energy. I want to entertain them. I want to create enduring work that touches people. I want to create creatures that live and feel the joy of living.

Small Crumpled Frog, Fingers Entwined ©Beau Smith December 2021 materials: copper, cement, bronze, steel Height: 12″

This frog is based on a large frog that my father made many years ago. It happened to be a really great frog that someone who was selling my frogs and my father’s and brothers frogs got from my father and decided to keep – buy from him (for a very good price) – instead of sell. The design was really great with the interlocking fingers, and the way that the metal was crunched. The body was round and the head was long and happy and the eyes were quiet. It looked contemplative and toad like. Frankly, my little frog does not hold a candle to that frog. But that really does not matter. That is not exactly what I was after. I just wanted to capture an experience. This little frog is like a simple little sketch. I like him for that reason.

Killing two or more birds with one stone, 1. I experimented with filling the frog with cement, and crumpling thinner sheet copper than I have usually used in the past, and 2. I caught something of the design and character of my dad’s large toad that I admired.

This fellow who owned the frog brought it to me to repair, so I had some time (more time actually than I needed, I had the thing for over a year) to study the frog. I have not yet made a large frog based on that frog. And I don’t even know that I will or that I will make it in exactly the same way. That said, I will tell you this: that in the past every time that I would work with my father on frogs, I would learn something. About making frogs, that is.

I didn’t work with him directly a lot. I worked by myself most of the time. My brother did work directly with him a lot, but I worked by myself. But sometimes in the early days, I would come down to John’s Island to hang out with my father and make a frog or two and learn some things from him. Whenever I did that, I got a lot better at making frogs. A while ago the Atlanta botanical gardens had me repair one of my father’s frogs, and one of my brothers frogs as well, that were in the gardens. (note 1)

When I had those frogs that I was working on for the Atlanta botanical gardens to repair them, I used it as an opportunity to study them and make some frogs just like the ones that my dad had made. In that way, even though I wasn’t working directly with my father, I was improving myself learning by copying as exactly as possible what he did.

The small frog that I made here is not exactly what my father built. Like I say, it’s a sketch. It’s based on the inspiration of that frog. A second thing, as I say, I had going on here is that I’ve been working with very thin copper foil and this frog was made by thin copper foil.

I’m always learning about how to use materials. So I’m improving my jobs in very many ways not just from, say for example, learning from my father. I’m also learning to improve my chops because I work with many materials and I learn different ways to make the frog. In fact, I could say that every time I make a frog, I do something different in the way of how I work with the materials. In this way I develop mastery not just of working with the metal but also in just simply creating art.

I’m not one to work with the same material and never work with any other type of material. Even though I am a metal sculptor and that has been my specialty, I like working in many different materials. Too many perhaps. But another way to put it is I’m always interested in building a better mouse trap. Can that actually be done? Can I actually build a better mouse trap? Because I think the whole phrase suggests that you can’t build a better mouse trap. That’s the whole point. It’s going after some impossible fantasy.

Google it.

Okay, so Waldo Emerson came up with this and he suggested if you could actually build a better mouse trap and come up with the next great idea that’s really fantastic. So he doesn’t, I guess, say that you can’t build a better mousetrap. (note 2)

Anyhow, working with a thinner foil type of copper allows me to crimp it and bend it in ways that I can’t do with the larger stuff. And so it allows me to crimp and bend a small piece the way that a larger piece would crimp and bend with a larger thicker copper. This is actually such a big deal that I might even say I’m divulging a secret! One trick with this foil is to wrap it around thick steel. (These are secrets! That is why, if you are a sculptor, or even simply an artist, you should keep reading my blog.) Another trick is to create a form and then fill it with something like cement. In fact, that is what I did with this piece and it works fine because the piece is small. If the piece were larger, I would have to fill it with something that was lighter. I’ve looked into using aerated cement. I’m investigating that. Aerated cement involves putting air bubbles in the cement using foam that you create from soap and water. This creates something called aircrete, which is actually a fantastic material that has been around for quite awhile. Aircrete can actually be used in building houses and make it cheaper to build them.

I’m also very interested in aircrete domes. That is, domes made out of aircrete. The roof creates its own type of armature… Since it is a dome, it tends to be self supporting. There is a lot about this on the net.

I Wonder/Prelude to a Mudfish ©Beau Smith 8 December 2021 height: 11″ materials: steel, Bondo, copper, wood, paint

Here beginith the documentation of work, a considerable effort that will increase the value of the work, which will put more money in all our pockets. In this piece that I’m highlighting today it’s not only increased in value simply because of documentation of the work but because it is the absolute first piece that I am documenting this way.  Oh, I have posted a lot of pictures.  But I have not written about them in this way.  This begins the gargantuan effort, well worth cause though. And this particular piece, seeing that it is the first piece that I am documenting in this way, it’s going to be worth more. 

Now, one of the things to consider here is that each entry is going to be about, say, 1500-3500 words: a basic blog entry (note 1). So, not only do I spend all this time on the work itself. I blog about it, that is, write about it, and come up with that many words, mainly just riffing on the piece of artwork. Fortunately, I am somewhat of a yackity-yack. (Someone once in an email called me called “chatty”. Ugh!) So this should not be too, too hard for me. In fact, I think it will be fun. (note 2)

Right now I am taking a break, a short break, like 15 minutes or so, and this is how I spend my break. So I think that’s pretty productive. Right? (note 3)

One might question what I am doing. That is valid. Am I spending my time wisely? Is this a good thing to do? You know it is. I am a fine artist. Documenting the work, that’s a big deal. So, as long as the work is documented, the rest is gravy. Of course, my hope is that you stick with me and continue to read my blog. I have a lot of good things to say, and I do realize it is up to me to entertain you for the brief moments that we have together here. (note 4)

This piece… I have not hardly ever given my sculptures names before. I have let that be up to the person who buys it. They almost always name the creature. I have given my paintings names. However, I no longer paint – which, by the way, makes all the paintings of mine that I own very valuable. If someone asks me, how much can you get for the painting, I would have to say, not what it’s worth. I may have to wait awhile to get the value of my investment. But is that not true for a lot of things? (That last comment could have been a note, but I spared you.)

Stick with me here. I have a following. You becoming a follower – you simply reading this blog – increases the value of my work. Thus, I see this, what I am doing, as a co-creative effort. This coordinates with the whole documenting the work thing. If I meticulously document the work, including, in many cases, how much it sells for, that is absolutely going to increase the value of the work. And, hey, nobody but me is going to do this. I mean, nobody is going to do this with my work. They might be doing it with their own work. Many have. (note 5)

Getting testimonials: that is a similar thing. It’s all about sales. Sell, sell, sell. 

But, wait a minute here. I am not selling crap. Ok? And a lot of artists are. A lot of salespeople sell crap. This is not crap, what I am doing. 

I’m telling you, this sounds like an internet marketing type of gizmo thing, the way I am spinning it. It sounds like…

I still subscribe sometimes to marketing type bull💩 newsletters, simply for amusement. Not many of them. But here is one I read sometimes: it is written by a guy named Dan Doberman. That’s a great name. Here is how I say it:

Dan wants you to become one of his “Knights of the Roundtable”.

I love it. I am not a knight. I just enjoy the content. It amuses me. He likes to say anyhoo for anyhow. That might get on some people’s nerves. I like it. I find it funny. I have read a good many sales books in my time. I kind of like reading them. Does that make it easier for me to sell stuff? Maybe.

I knew one guy, he was in my Tae Kwon Do class when I was studying with my son to become a black belt. This fellow was – he had to be a great salesman. He was part owner of the company, and that is what he did all day, sell and manage salespeople. His opinion was that reading about selling is counter-productive. I…I don’t think that’s true. It could have some relevance to it. At a certain point, the salesperson wannabe has got to quit reading about it and hit the pavement. But, I really think there’s something to be said for taking in content – reading salesbooks and that sort of thing, and even for more than just inspiration, like, actual information. I hear many stories about how the wannabe salesman says he did not start making sales until someone took him under their wing and showed him how to do it. Isn’t that what salesbooks are supposed to do, albeit, in their small and modest way? 

I am a DIY nut. I love to read how to do it books. How to do this. How to do that. This because I tend to be self-taught. That’s not completely true when it comes to art. I, like, went to art school. Even so, an artist has to be, by the very nature of the job, self taught. So when someone says that this or that artist is self-taught – that’s maybe not the best descriptor of what they are really saying. What they are really saying is that such and such an artist doesn’t know some basic information. They have not had any training. And…I dunno. Good artists have some kind of training. I think what they are really saying is that the art kind of sort of sucks, in a way. Grandma Moses’s art does not suck. But, it kind of does, when you compare it to some of the Renaissance painters. I mean, for real. 

***

I am going to name this sculpture after one of my beloved cats, now passed: Harry. 

So, the complete name of this sculpture is Harry/I Wonder 1. The number 1 is there because this is a good design, and I will be repeating it. So, this is a first, this sculpture, for several reasons:

• 1st time I have started naming my sculptures
•  1st time I have given a sculpture the name of my beloved cat, Harry, now passed. (A magical cat, by the way.)
• 1st time I have blogged in writing about a sculpture and documented it with excruciating detail.
• 1st Froglet of this size made of steel and resin! (That’s a BIG deal.)
• 1st time I have used wood underneath the steel at the base.
• 1st time I have covered the base with Bondo (resin).
• 1st time I have given this specific coloring to the work. (The mudfish coloring.)
• 1st time I have signed it in this manner. 

How much am I going to sell this for? That’s a good question.

Let me first ask, how much will I sell these for, if I make more like this one? Let’s start there. Keep in mind this is handmade by yours truly.

I have a tendency to low ball. I want to sell my work. But I have to be respectful. I’m thinking between $350 and $500. 

Now, when I make more designs like this one, in this pose, I will vary some things – plenty of things. It will basically look like the same froglet, but it will be significantly different, and not in a bull💩 way. I talk as if the creature is alive. Yes, that is part of it. I even talk to them.

I could see plenty nice houses having such a sculpture in it, possibly in the bathroom of a very nice house. You see it, you know whoever lives there collects art. The thing about really good art: it gives you energy. You feel that when you look at it. I think my work accomplishes that. I think this design accomplishes that. I know it does. 

The guest of the nice house goes to the bathroom, not necessarily expecting anything, and suddenly, Oh, wow! Art. This looks like a nice piece of original art. Which then becomes a conversation piece. 

Oh, I saw that frog in the bathroom. I really like it. 

You do? It’s a Beau Smith. 

A Beau what? 

Smith. He makes frogs. 

See what I mean by conversation piece? 

Now, this, being the first of original handmade pieces of this design, it is not going to be $350 to $500. It’s more than that. But not too much more. I want whoever buys it to know they are are getting a deal and that it will be worth a lot of money at some point. In fact, ALL my work I hope to go in that direction. 

How many artists blog about every single piece of art? Okay, sometimes I will blog about several pieces at a time. I’m prolific. Which makes this one sculpture worth all that much more. Here I am giving attention to this ONE sculpture. Very special. You don’t know how special this sculpture is. 

I have not been working in steel for very long at all. That is too big a subject to take on in this blog right now. Suffice it to say that it is a big step and a big direction. I have been working in copper and bronze all of this time. I have not been working in steel. The steel is not as expensive as copper and bronze. That’s even why this particular sculpture is even more expensive and more valuable. 

How I managed to make something with cheaper materials be more valuable than materials that I’ve been working with that have been more expensive,  that is exactly the sort of thing that an artist does. In fact, people have asked me, why are your sculptures so expensive? And I’ve mentioned to them that they are made out of copper and bronze. And so they say, Oh I see.  But now I can say Well, they’re made out of cheaper materials, so they’re more expensive. It may not always be that way, but it is certainly that way for these early pieces.

Do I know what I’m doing? Yes, I do. I’ve tried this sort of thing before and it hadn’t worked at all. (Well, not exactly like I have done it before. I mean, I have messed around on the internet and blogged and so forth, like everyone else, to no avail.) That is because I was not who I am now. I did not know how to sell my work. There are so many different things now.  I’m a different person. I’ve been through a lot.  I have more than paid my dues. It’s not just about paying dues, anyway. It has much more to do with the kind of person you are, the kind of energy you put out there into the world. 

Look, I sell what I make, pretty much. I’m in museums and galleries and I’m collected all over the world, mainly in the United States –  but all over the world, my large frogs are in many public places. This is not a con. I don’t mind talking like a used car salesman. I’m not one. I’m an artist.  Moreover, I’m an artist that has respect for his audience and for his patrons. This is a joint venture. I’m not in this alone. So, all this stuff that I’m saying it’s actually not bull💩. 

Be that as it may,  I’m not satisfied.  I have a ways to go in my career here.  I am largely satisfied with what I create.  But I am not completely satisfied with what I’m getting for it,  even though on the surface it seems like I get good money for what I do.

I do want my work to be available to rich people and poor people alike.  My public sculpture is available to everyone for free.  They don’t get to own it,  whoever is enjoying the public sculpture,  but they do get to enjoy it –  for free, and that includes taking their picture with it, which a lot of people do.

In fact that, it’s happening every day, I believe.  Somewhere, someone is taking a picture of my art. Someone is probably posing with the sculpture, or someone is taking a selfie with my frog sculpture.

I’m a little bit famous.  I’m not a lot famous, that’s for sure. I know some people who are a lot famous, and I certainly don’t make the kind of money they do. 

*** 

This is a sturdy sculpture.  Also, it can go outside but I would not recommend that for this one.  This one is too valuable to put outside. What am going to sell it for? A thousand bucks? That sounds about right. You don’t want to spend that?  No problem, just wait for me to make some more like that. They’ll probably be half that much or even less.

 The sculpture is signed and dated.  Also a certificate of authenticity comes with it,  the guarantees with the work was made by hand by me.  Furthermore, you’ll get a copy of this blog entry to go with the sculpture. And…for this piece, I will sign the blog entry. Believe me, this is a 1st. That’s even a new bullet. Got to add that:

• 1st time I did the sign the blog entry that goes with the sculpture sales tactic. That’s a big one. A BIG one. You don’t know. 

This sculpture is going in someone’s very nice house. It will be among someone’s prized possessions. And, listen, I’m not just saying that. 

Furthermore, I’m not real pleased with the placement of the signature on this sculpture. It is too prominent. But that makes the sculpture EVEN MORE VALUABLE!!! Because I am not going to do it like that again…probably, on future pieces based on this design. 

This sculpture is the result of decades of effort – not just by me, but also by my father and maybe even my brother. Decades of creativity, innovation and labor. It is not crap. It is a great piece of art. And somebody will get this steel froglet for a steal. And if nobody buys it, no problem. I’ll keep it. Mind you I do not have a large inventory of work. I sell what I make. Maybe if I can sell my work for more, I can hold on to more pieces. I will hold on to this one, if nobody buys it. I will not sell it for less. The only other thing I would do is give it away to someone special or to a special cause. 

It is ready for someone to buy for Christmas, if they want. That’s another first. In fact, I see more firsts:

• 1st time in a blog entry I offered a sculpture for sale for Christmas, it being December – 2021. 
• If I do sell this piece, it will be the 1st time I sold a frog (froglet, actually) this size for $1000. Believe me, you don’t know how valuable it will be. Much more than what you paid.

I keep seeing firsts on this thing. First time I made toes out of nails. I guess you could call them “toenails”. Haw haw.

How about that? He comes with a joke. It is embedded in the art. It’s a conversation piece.

All that stuff is great, but…$1000. I don’t know, you say.

Well, it’s better than a banana duct taped to a wall.

It’s a sweet creature. It’s alive.

On some level, anyway.

***

Postscript

I sold it, and, I mean, I sold it relatively quickly. But I will be honest, I did not sell it for $1000. Rather, I sold it for $365. But, to be fair, I did not include the signed blog post and the certificate of authenticity. The buyer will have to do a little horsetrading with me to get that.

Will he do that? Maybe no time soon. But one day… One day he might very well do that. Or someone will.

Look, it was Christmas. I was in a giving mood.

It is going to New Zealand, BTW. Which basically means that this person actually is spending a great deal more than $365 because a package to New Zealand from the states costs, like, more than a hundred dollars.

Enjoy. I know they will.