Bruno And Hegge

In the Studio

2011-12-02T17:34:00.001-08:00

Birthday present for my dear friend Renee. I decided to put her inside a flower in her own world. The container is an old Avon lotion container. I painted it with enamel and then made her in wonderful pink world inside the bottle, like a Genie.

Lullaby- Land: Eugene Field

2011-11-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

I recently found this book at an antique store. It was published in 1897. It is illustrated by Charles Robinson. The illustrations are beautiful. I love that there are small little illustrations in corners of blank pages where you would never see them in a modern book. None of the pages really line up either.

Church Pew Art Project

2011-11-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Between 1999 - 2003 I collected drawings I found left behind in church pews after worship services were completed. These originate from 5 different places of worship and at least 2 different religions. Most of the drawings were made by children. Some are notes from parents to their kids. They run the gamut from amazingly inspiring to surprisingly hateful. As I found each piece I glued them into an old hymnal I found. I did not purposefully place them. I simply glued them in the order I found them onto each consecutive hymnal page. I did cut a few images out because they were on paper that was too big for the book. Please keep in mind I merely collected and there is no intended message except for the message you, personally, take away from it. I hope you enjoy it. Here are a selection of images.

The First Step is now available on Blurb.com

2011-10-23T06:30:00.001-07:00

The First Step by Murray P. Meador | Make Your Own Book

Hope

2011-10-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

A book I did as gift many years ago: HOPE

light gets foggy can only slight be sometimes

tongue can't touch the taste

Sometimes makes me still I watch I smell I wait

then they come from every pore and window in the earth

they surround they climb they rush

I am covered like a blanket they whisper

believe believe believe

I am content.

Why I wrote "At Home In Your Heart"

2011-10-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

At Home In Your Heart was inspired by a few differentexperiences and stories with friends. For a long time I assumed, unintentionally, there were certain offensesthat were impossible to forgive. Throughout my life I’ve encountered friendswhose friends have turned on them and whose family have betrayed them. At the end of the day they remainedfriends with these people. It wasamazing to witness. Similarly I haveseen the same ability to forgive in children. In fact, I feel that children seem more equipped to forgivehorrible things that have been done to them more effectively than adultsenduring the same things. Echoendures a horrible fate of being eaten by his best friend. Echo survives but trapped in Grimbly’sstomach. Somehow through therealization that Grimbly isn’t so evil , Echo forgives his best friend andfinds a way to be happy eveninside a gastronomical prison.

Viking Hat

2011-10-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Felt like making a viking hat this week so I did. I wanted it to have deer antlers instead of horns so I blue washed some antlers and stuck them on. Here are some in-process photos.

Here is the finished hat:

The First Step: Coming Soon to Blurb

2011-10-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

Very soon "The First Step" will be available for purchase on Blurb.com. It's a book written by my friend Murray P. Meador that I illustrated. It was done quite a few years ago and we're finally having it printed through Blurb. I will post when it's available.

Illustrator Favorites: Gordon Laite

2011-10-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite children's book illustrators from my childhood is Gordon Laite. When I was a kid I loved looking at the illustrations he did for The Golden book, "Five Fairy Tales". My favorite is Beauty and the Beast. There is an elegant, dramatic and sweeping beauty to the spreads in his books. Now that I'm older I've sought out more books he's illustrated. I've included them below. Enjoy.

Five Fairy Tales
A Big Golden Book
Golden Press 1962

Joseph The Dreamer
by Clyde Robert Bulla
Illustrated by Gordon Laite
Copyright Clyde Robert Bulla 1971
Illustrations copyright 1971 by Gordon Laite

Now That Days Are Colder
by Aileen Fisher
Designed and Illustrated by Gordon Laite
Lettering by Paula Taylor
Text copyright 1973 Aileen Fisher
Illustrations copyright 1973 BOWMAR

A One Night Only Exhibit

2011-10-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, November 5^th some dear friends,Solomon Behnke and Paul Fly, are having a one night only exhibit of theirartwork. The show will take placeat West Light Studios in Downtown Nashville and will be part of the monthly artcrawl route in Nashville, Tennessee. The exhibit will start at 6:30 PM and run until 10 PM. Westlight studios is across from TheStandard Restaurant on 162 Rosa Parks Blvd.

Paul Fly creates sculptures that seem born from fairytales yetso realistic it might disturb the viewer. Scenes seem to flicker before one’s eyes like one is looking through aspyglass onto an ancient story reminiscent of childhood. He blends humor with a dark esthetic tocreate images and sculptures that flow playfully through the mind. http://www.paulfly.com/

The fluid work of Solomon Behnke encourages one to reflecton one’s own mortality.

He explores the themes of infinity and life throughlandscapes of stone and texture. Many of Behnke’s pieces inspire the viewer to search carefully forimages that may emerge from the many winding lines he evokes from hisimagination. http://www.solomonbehnke.com/

Research and Inspiration

2011-10-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

Lotte Reiniger: Film and Shadow Maker

Josef Frank: Textile Designer and more

Book Inspiration

2011-10-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

I'm currently being inspired by some old children's books:
The Chatterlings of Wordland
by Michael Lipman
The P.F. Volland Company 1928

I think this book's title is The Fairy Princess. It's hard to figure out from the type setting.
This was a gift from a friend who travels a lot. I think it's from Germany. Wonderful illustrations and the typesetting is very nice.

Children of the Northlights
by Ingri and Egar Parin d'Aulaire
The Viking Press 1935

Sam Squirrel Goes To The City
by William Dugan
American Heritage Publishing 1969

Dean's Book of Fairy Tales
Illustrated by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone
Playmore Inc., Publishers 1977

At Home In Your Heart: Scenic Inspirations

2011-10-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Trading Cards

2011-10-07T04:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, October 7th I will be bringing some "At Home In Your Heart" trading cards to the Art and Invention Gallery . If you have the time, stop by and pick a set up. I will also be dropping off what might possibly be the last run of limited edition copies of the book. Get them while you can!

Inspiration for "At Home In Your Heart"

2011-09-29T05:04:00.000-07:00

For the look of "At Home In Your Heart" I turned to Jean-Honore Fragonard, an artist from the Rococo period.

I wanted the forest scenes to give the appearance of being in a very dense, lush forest, full of flowers and lush overgrowth.

Fragonard had such an amazing eye for grand growing gardens. In a sense, the world I created for "At Home In Your Heart" is a large overgrown garden.

Plot Diagrams for At Home In Your Heart

2011-09-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Plot Diagrams for "At Home In Your Heart" from one of the 7th grade Language Arts classes at MLK in Nashville.
(Names have been blurred out to protect the innocent)

At Home In Your Heart: In process

2011-09-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

The set up of this scene took 4 hours vs. the 2 hours for all of the other scenes. It's hard to tell but there are clouds in the sky of this scene.

Getting Ready For The Opening

2011-09-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

These photos are not great. I'm a little under the weather so getting the good lighting out seemed like too much of a chore tonight. I got the limited edition books in today. For the Proto Pulp show they will come signed with a print made just for the show. See you tomorrow night.

Proto Pulp Sneak Peek

2011-09-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

The Proto Pulp show is almost hung. It looks great. Here is a little sneak peak:

"Run Fast Milo" by Julie Sola

Bethany Taylor

"Bambu Mouse" By Sarah Kaufman and Marianne Boudin

Janet Lee

Laura Baisden

"At Home In Your Heart" by Mark Sloniker

Milo puppet by Julie Sola

Julie Sola

Minor Characters: At Home In Your Heart

2011-09-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

Grimbly: The process

2011-09-19T16:52:00.000-07:00

Concept sketches

3rd Annual Proto Pulp Art Show

2011-09-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Classic Books of the Future

Art & Invention Gallery in East Nashville has brought together eleven of Nashville’s favorite artists for “Proto Pulp – Classic Books of the Future”, a one-of-a-kind group exhibit devoted to children’s books. In addition to working in a variety of media such as printmaking, drawing, painting and sculpture, each of the participating artists is also an aspiring children’s author. “Proto Pulp” includes several completed book projects, along with artwork, designs and prototypes for future books. Though the works in the show have been created for young readers, they’re also intended to delight and inspire people of all ages.
Featuring the work of:

Deborah Allen
Laura Baisden
Molly Brooks
Sarah Kaufman/ Marianne Bouldin
Janet Lee
Johanna Mueller
Maisy Owen
Mark Sloniker
Julie Sola
Bethany Taylor
Adrianne Waxman

(click on the names above to see their work)

Echo's Evolution

2011-09-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

The bird's name in At Home In Your Heart is Echo. He is a scrappy little bird with a pretty voice. He was not always this scrappy looking. Below are some of the early concept sketches.

And here are more after he was refined.

At Home In Your Heart

2011-09-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I started saying "no" to gallery shows that would come my way so I could work on a book I've had in my head for about 7 years. Six months later I was asked to take part in the next Proto Pulp show in Nashville. It's a show for aspiring children's book illustrators. Perfect timing. I've always wanted to do books using photos of creatures and scenes that I create. This was one of the most rewarding artistic experiences I've had. The opening of the proto pulp show is on Sept. 24th at Art and Invention gallery in East Nashville. The story is about a furry giant who, in a blind rage, eats his best friend. Somehow his little friend survives and lives in his stomach. The two creatures try to overcome this horrible turn of events. Here are some photos from the book.

Deer Lamp

2010-11-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

I found this lamp about a year ago and loved it but did not love the almost $500 price tag and I already had a rabbit themed lamp soo.....

I found this deer at a store here for $16. and wired it for a lamp. Stuck a lamp shade on it from another lamp I had and voila!

Book Inspiration

2010-09-18T05:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some of my latest inspirations found in children's literature.

Source of Inspiration

2010-08-14T08:02:00.001-07:00

This vintage puzzle box was given to me a couple years ago. Just wanted to share it with you. Each side of the squares has a part of an image making up 6 images in all. I love the illustration style.

New Pillows for Marlee

2010-08-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

Beyond The Luminous Edge reworked

2010-08-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

I recently traded art with some friends. I received two paintings and they received my assembled sculpture entitled, "Beyond The Luminous Edge". I had to rework it and remake about half of the piece as I had already recycled some of the pieces. Here is the original followed by some of the reworked elements.

Every Memory Has a Golden Name

2010-04-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

New Work at Twist Gallery, Nashville TN. Up until the end of the month.
The Inspiration:

The show:

Beard Wedding

2009-09-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

I made this bouquet for Emily Harper and Chuck Beard's wedding which took place this weekend. I made the bouquet, the flower girl's hat (shown below), and a few other floral pieces for the wedding.

2009-08-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

I just completed making pillows out of the fabric below, which I drew on with dye markers.

NEW HATS!!

2009-08-20T18:26:00.001-07:00

Mirrors and Pillows at Magpie

2009-06-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

My show at Magpie etc. is long gone but you can still view the baroque-style mirrors and the hand drawn pillows at the gallery. They are still available for purchase.

I Am Awake Now

2007-02-23T13:26:00.001-08:00

They whispered to me as I slept. I drank and I drank and I drank until I was floating in my dreams. Then, suddenly, I awoke into the air. The whispers taught me what to do. I lived as if I was dreaming.