Well, my hopes were dashed but everyone in our court agreed we should’ve placed at least second in the Road Kill Chairs competition. The term “Road Kill Chair” is meant to imply that the artist take a cast-off chair, such as one found in a garage sale, and turn it into art.

I have photos now, so you folks can weigh in, if you’re so inclined. The winning chair was good, but the second place chair was simply the same thing this woman always does (paint, Chinese style), just done on a wooden chair. Big whoop.

Click Images For Large Pictures

Prayer Chair, 1st place. Done all in beads. We're fairly certain she beaded onto something and then glued, but this is a lot of detail either way.

Panda-monium, 2nd place

Now I’ll show you the process of creation of our own chair, which we’ve called “Odyssey.” This chair is what brought Susan and me together, since she originally came to our yard sale looking for a cast off chair. I passed on the information to my mother, who promptly found one, and when I told Susan what I saw when she said she wanted to make a dragon, she brought me into the creative process. We found that we bounce ideas off of each other very well. And a good friendship was born. Hence, Odyssey (also the name of one of the ties we used to make the dorsal spines). The ties came from her late son, who was killed at age 28 in a motorcycle crash, and the “jewel” for the eye is a piece of melted glass made by a close friend of hers who died a year later. It’s a very sentimental chair.

Odyssey #1 - This is an identical chair with a bit more damage to the seat back. We forgot to take a picture of the first chair before we cleaned it up and painted on it a bit.

Odyssey #2 - First tie-ends and some paint applied.

Odyssey #3

Odyssey #4

Odyssey #5 - Rear View. You can see Susan a bit here.

Odyssey #6

Odyssey 7# - The seat is gold now, and the head and tail are nearly complete.

Odyssey #8 - This is the book we bought to go with it. Dragonology.

Odyssey #9 - The rest of these images are of the completed chair.

Odyssey #10

Odyssey #11

Odyssey #12 - Detail of the tag with the name of the dragon.

Odyssey #13, 3rd place winner.

I’d apologize for not being around much, but considering what I’ve been up to, I think you’ll understand. Having a life is rather novel. I’ll tell you more about it later. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures. Here’s an honorable mention, which I think should’ve placed.

Vincent Seeking Eternity. This one should've placed.

2 Responses to “We Placed . . . Third”

1. Soli says:

   18 October 2009 at 06:52

   Really nice work, and while painting is nice, incorporating other media into a piece is a LOT of work.

   also, I may have something to email you today. finally.
   Soli´s last blog ..Threadless Tshirt Giveaway at jaypeeonline.net

   Reply
2. sheta says:

   19 October 2009 at 18:31

   Thanks. We worked hard and long, and I think the Panda chair had less than a day’s work in it. But that’s what happens when you pick a judge that doesn’t know art from his elbow.

   Reply

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