Thread: Dear Sageous - Show Us And Tell Us About Your Art And Writing

Had a chance to look at Sageous art some time ago, and must say, lucid dreaming is only one of many perspectives where Sageous shines at, hope he doesn't mind StephL invitation because she's not the only one waiting for a story about the man behind the (mask) art

Thanks Steph, I'm honored and humbled all at the same time.

I'm not very good at the "showin' off" part, but I'll have a go at chatting about some of my work. But first I have to get my wife to show me how to move pictures around, so I probably won't be putting anything up for a bit.

Thanks for sharing my short story as well, Steph; I hope people enjoy it (keep in mind it's copyrighted, though, guys! )... I'd almost forgotten about the old Noah story; it's been so long!

The books, in the end, are my real work -- especially the ones I haven't written yet. I think all three are quite relevant here, since they're all about dreams, only dreams, or sourced on dreams. I'll post shortly with some brief thoughts about each (though I've been quoting Simply Pay Attention since I got here).

So thanks, Steph, I think! I look forward to any comments folks might have, good or bad.

More in a bit; gotta gather my thoughts, pictures; humility...

Ooh - niice - but of course please take your time - no stress at all intended!!


I´m sure we are all looking forward to the pictures and esp. to what you have to say about your books - but we will be patient as well!
If I shouldn´t have posted the whole story - I can change it into a link - maybe that would be better?
No probs, if so - or I could tease it on with just the beginning?

^^ Yeah, it might be less intimidating to post a link to the story, I think.

And yeah, it looks like I'll take my time, only because I'm real slow at this computer stuff. But for now, here's what I scribbled together last night:

Before I get to the sculpts, let me chat for a second about the three books. If anyone’s curious to know more about them, just ask… oh, and the write-ups on the siteor at Amazon are much better, BTW!

My first book is Oneironauticus. It’s the action-adventure novel in the group, and it follows the journey of a reluctant hero, Alex, as he transitions from regular guy to reality-busting dream warrior. In the process, Alex learns about the dream realm and its relationship to waking life, learns to navigate and manipulate the dream and waking realms through a process folks here might recognize, and, of course, fights the good fight. While Oneironauticus is sort of a giant metaphor for lucid dreaming, it is also a cautionary tale of limitless potential, and the dangers of flirting with that potential. Anyone who’s a fan of magical realism would probably enjoy this book, as would fans of LD’ing, of course.

Party Line is a little different. Okay no; it's a lot different. It is a novel of dreams and dream-sharing. It is also only dreams, with each chapter being an entire dream of one of the characters. An interesting bit about this book is that all of the dreams are drawn from my own dream journals (with the occasional flourish to make them more fun). Though it does have a strong narrative with a conclusion that will leave you thinking, one cool thing about this book is that you can pick it up, crack it open anywhere, and still enjoy the read.

Simply Pay Attention is a bit of a departure. It started as a fictional tongue-in-cheek poke at the piles of mystical nonsense out there, but as work progressed I noticed that I had begun to discuss some of the things I’ve been thinking quite seriously about for years regarding dreams, self-awareness, lucid dreaming, and what might lie beyond. In the end it turned into a kind of serious little book, but still fun, loaded with imagination-stretching stuff, and maybe a few things well worth knowing about the world of dreaming, and self-awareness’ place in it.

I’ll pick out and post some interesting pictures soon…. I hope you enjoy them and, of course, any questions are welcome!

I did de-intimidate the OP - and you are right - looks much better now!
And thanks for the short intros to your books!!
'Simply Pay Attention' sounds especially interesting to me..

Cool.gif

cool

Okay, finally I am able to attach some images… just click on them to enlarge. I think most of these are not on my site, and I encourage you to go there to check out the rest! Thanks all for checking them out, and special thanks to Steph for getting me to share at all!

This is Brass Rings; my first “big” project, and certainly one of my favorites:

brassrings2mirror.jpg brassringsclosefront3.jpg

One of the fun details it has is a rotating carousel inside:

brassringssuperclose3.jpg IMG_0082.jpg

This is my very first tube, aptly called Protoype.

prototypelongfront.jpg

More in a sec!

... And here are some more:

Here are a couple of images of my “brass bed series” tubes, "History" and "Nightfall," that were sourced in dreams:

historyabove1.jpg nightfalldark.jpg

Here is a tube, “Gloria’s Dream,” that I made from my model for the cover art of Simply Pay Attention.

Gloria's Dream, close side.jpg

Here is one drawn from the opening of Oneironauticus, though it didn’t make the cut for cover art.

Rudy and Alex, close front.jpg

Finally (for today), here is a shot of "Glass Floors" that I really like:

glassfloorstop.jpg


Thanks again for looking at my work, folks, I do appreciate it; if you have any questions about any of them, please ask!

No need to thank me - would have been a shame, if nobody on here knew about them!!
smile.gif

Originally Posted by Sageous

Okay, finally I am able to attach some images… just click on them to enlarge. I think most of these are not on my site, and I encourage you to go there to check out the rest! Thanks all for checking them out, and special thanks to Steph for getting me to share at all!

This is Brass Rings; my first “big” project, and certainly one of my favorites:



One of the fun details it has is a rotating carousel inside:



This is my very first tube, aptly called Protoype.



More in a sec!

Wow!!
Beautiful - this one with the copper-staircase and a carousel is great!!
And that first one is really mini mini - how do you do this?
With a magnifying glasses on normal glasses maybe like for people repairing watches?
From what material are the figurines and interior elements?
What do you do, that you get them so detailed - that violet dress?
They are really amazing!

Originally Posted by Sageous

... And here are some more:

Here are a couple of images of my “brass bed series” tubes, "History" and "Nightfall," that were sourced in dreams:



Here is a tube, “Gloria’s Dream,” that I made from my model for the cover art of Simply Pay Attention.



Here is one drawn from the opening of Oneironauticus, though it didn’t make the cut for cover art.



Finally (for today), here is a shot of "Glass Floors" that I really like:




Thanks again for looking at my work, folks, I do appreciate it; if you have any questions about any of them, please ask!

I love the two brass-bed-tubes - and very clearly dream-inspired, but they probably all are to some extent - as all your life, I guess..wink.gif
I especially like 'Nightfall' - the bed and everything is upside down, isn´t it - where through and where to does she fall?

I also really like the two, which are connected to your book-covers a lot - esp. the black sea, which has it´s surface following the angle of the tube..

Oh - and - the view I didn´t find for "Glass Floors" - this is the suicidal woman?
I sometimes am a bit blind - and had only found the side-view - but this side-view you should also attach!
Thank you for sharing!

:bravo: Sageous!!


(just as an aside - I couldn´t have made them big, as I did, if you hadn´t first posted them as attachment - like this I could click on the attachment picture with left - and then the dance with right-click copy img url and so forth.
Something with the forum-software..)

Originally Posted by StephL

Beautiful - this one with the copper-staircase and a carousel is great!!

Thanks! This reminds me of something I forgot to say earlier: As a writer at heart, my pieces each tell a story rather than an examination of my inner self or some such, as the artworld inexplicably dictates. Can you guess what the story of Brass Rings is? No worries if you can't, but I'm curious.

And that first one is really mini mini - how do you do this?
With a magnifying glasses on normal glasses maybe like for people repairing watches?

How do I do this? Well, I swear a lot, for starters! The first one, ironically, I did in front of the TV without any magnifying at all. Later, though, as the sculpts got more complex, I graduated from looking through a handheld magnifier to one of those big jeweler's magnifier with a light around it, until, when 5x just wasn't enough anymore, to a binocular microscope. Also, my tools are very, very small -- I have a set of chisels whose tips are almost invisible to the naked eye, for instance.

From what material are the figurines and interior elements?

From pretty much anything that works. I've used wood, metal, Sculpy, stone, plastic, rubber, super glue (yes, you can sculpt with superglue) found items, guts from the tubes themselves, and about 5 gallons of epoxy over the years. For instance, when I made Marlboroed Man (below), I couldn't think of how to make that smoky hand that is hovering over our poor smoker's prone body. Then one day my wife was complaining about all the cobwebs in the basement and voila! I had the material for the smoke!

Here are a couple of shots of Marlboroed Man (also my wife's favorite):

marlboroedmanclosefront.jpg marlboroedmanclosesideb.jpg

What do you do, that you get them so detailed - that violet dress?

That dress is one ply of a Kleenex tissue, wrapped carefully around a tiny sculpt of a girl on a horse, then coated in Duco Cement (great stuff, BTW). After all was dry, I carefully clipped away excess tissue and applied about 10 coats of paint... and it only took 3 tries to get it right!

I love the two brass-bed-tubes - and very clearly dream-inspired, but they probably all are to some extent - as all your life, I guess..

Yup. At this point very little is not dream-inspired.

I especially like 'Nightfall' - the bed and everything is upside down, isn´t it - where through and where to does she fall?

That's up to you... but it is a distant pile of rocks (actual rocks, BTW) glowing deep red, so it couldn't be good...

Oh - and - the view I didn't find for "Glass Floors" - this is the suicidal woman?
I sometimes am a bit blind - and had only found the side-view - but this side-view you should also attach!

Yes, this is the suicidal woman. She just put down her copy of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (yes, you can read the title through a microscope), and paused to consider the trials of all those other people below her (people not lying comfortably in a fine couch in their Little Black Dress), and maybe her own selfishness.

Here's that side view plus a full-front view:

glassfloorslongside.jpg glassfloorslongfront.jpg

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, "Glass Floors" is a re-do of a much earlier tube that I did in front of the TV with no special tools or magnification, "Exhaustion:"

exhaustionlongfront3.jpg

(just as an aside - I couldn´t have made them big, as I did, if you hadn´t first posted them as attachment - like this I could click on the attachment picture with left - and then the dance with right-click copy img url and so forth. Something with the forum-software..)

I guess that's a good thing, though I have no Idea what you're talking about!

^^ I just looked at that picture of "Exhaustion," and didn't like it at all, so here are a couple more:

exhaustioncloseside2b.jpg exhaustionclosefront2.jpg

These things are unbelievably hard to photograph, so I hope you're bearing with the occasionally questionable quality of them!

Originally Posted by Sageous

Thanks! This reminds me of something I forgot to say earlier: As a writer at heart, my pieces each tell a story rather than an examination of my inner self or some such, as the artworld inexplicably dictates. Can you guess what the story of Brass Rings is? No worries if you can't, but I'm curious.

Wow - how fitting - from my DJ about last night:

Spoiler for DJ - Sageous-Inspired Building:

Third Fragment:

From another dream - I was in an empty flat with big windows - in the company of that Swiss friend, I dreamt about the night before.
And we could see a high-rise-building from there - it had a core, and around it a glass front, through which we could watch the ongoings.
Between glass front and core was a ramp, which was not a staircase - it had some small rooms as well - but it clearly was the means to go up and down in the building.

Actually - very much like Sageous´ miniature with carousel - but without carousel and without so much colour - all chrome and glass and the people we watched were all in dark business-like attire.

The really weird thing is, that I did not look into his thread - see my sig - before last night.
I had thought about this thread last night but without clicking it.
Okay - I knew some of the miniatures before - and there are several, which could have given me that inspiration - but this one I mentioned, I didn´t see before.

Also weird, that I only now remember it - and not instantly, when I saw that sculpture.
This is the third fragment, that comes back to me..


What is memorable?

The above is curious - my subconsciousness going about it´s business in interesting ways.
But I am sure, it is my dream-fragment - not a false memory - my picture and the scene, I was in while looking at it, is very clear - also different to the sculpture in many respects.


And - I am really surprised, that anything showed up!
Posting on my DILD workbook shortly before had me empty!

I usually only write, what I have dictated - plus some details, I remember while re-listening.
This intensive probing into dream-memory works much better, than expected.

I will have a closer look at your posts in a while - but putting this dream-fragment in here, was on my mind on it´s own.
Maybe that catches something of the story?
Since I have dreamt this - I steel away from further guesses for now..
See you later, Sageous!

^^ Pretty strange stuff, Steph! Likely a bit of deja-vu, but hey, you never know!

it doesn't quite match Brass Rings' story though, so you can still take a guess if you'd like.

Your brass rings are the story of life. The way it is continuous, as reflected in the rings that spiral wards. Yet somehow it seems like discrete moments when reflecting back on it.
Your art is BEAUTIFUL
I think that it's incredible how each one of them manages to tell a story in a single, unique, feeling that I get when I look at them.
I don't ever share the art that I create. But your art made me feel, and I think that it might be cool to give that gift to somebody else instead of keeping it all to myself.

Thank you for sharing it

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

Your brass rings are the story of life. The way it is continuous, as reflected in the rings that spiral wards. Yet somehow it seems like discrete moments when reflecting back on it.

Oh, I'm saving that description, Anotherdreamer; it's way better than my own! And right on the money, except there was one more aspect to why it's called "Brass Rings." Since it might be fun to keep guessing, I'll hold off explaining ... but it does have to do with that carousel.

I don't ever share the art that I create. But your art made me feel, and I think that it might be cool to give that gift to somebody else instead of keeping it all to myself.

It is cool; and sharing it with an audience is what art is all about, I think. I'm glad my work gave you that feeling, and thank you for your kind words!

Originally Posted by Sageous

Thanks! This reminds me of something I forgot to say earlier: As a writer at heart, my pieces each tell a story rather than an examination of my inner self or some such, as the artworld inexplicably dictates. Can you guess what the story of Brass Rings is? No worries if you can't, but I'm curious.

I am not sure - distracted me - but yesterday the carousel did remind me of Winter´s Tale ..
I will wait and see, what anotherdreamer comes up with..

Originally Posted by Sageous

How do I do this? Well, I swear a lot, for starters! The first one, ironically, I did in front of the TV without any magnifying at all. Later, though, as the sculpts got more complex, I graduated from looking through a handheld magnifier to one of those big jeweler's magnifier with a light around it, until, when 5x just wasn't enough anymore, to a binocular microscope. Also, my tools are very, very small -- I have a set of chisels whose tips are almost invisible to the naked eye, for instance.

A binocular microscope - ah - now that is doing it properly!
Cool

Originally Posted by Sageous

From pretty much anything that works. I've used wood, metal, Sculpy, stone, plastic, rubber, super glue (yes, you can sculpt with superglue) found items, guts from the tubes themselves, and about 5 gallons of epoxy over the years. For instance, when I made Marlboroed Man (below), I couldn't think of how to make that smoky hand that is hovering over our poor smoker's prone body. Then one day my wife was complaining about all the cobwebs in the basement and voila! I had the material for the smoke!

I love the idea with the cobwebs - also that you do use everything - much more freedom like this!
Have you tried out construction site isolation foam? If you have very sharp scalpels - I find this a great material - always lying about somewhere reachable - if you lacquer it - looks similar - did some chess pieces like this a while back.
It needs to be fine-grained - but the coloured all are (here).

Originally Posted by Sageous

Here are a couple of shots of Marlboroed Man (also my wife's favorite):

This is fantastic!!
I understand her there -one of mine as well!

Originally Posted by Sageous

That dress is one ply of a Kleenex tissue, wrapped carefully around a tiny sculpt of a girl on a horse, then coated in Duco Cement (great stuff, BTW). After all was dry, I carefully clipped away excess tissue and applied about 10 coats of paint... and it only took 3 tries to get it right!

Cool - I really like this approach - and the glass tubes are such a genial frame..

Originally Posted by Sageous

Yup. At this point very little is not dream-inspired.

That's up to you... but it is a distant pile of rocks (actual rocks, BTW) glowing deep red, so it couldn't be good...

Hehe - I knew that my spontaneous idea of it being a dream - and she - lucid - maybe being able to fall into another beautiful redness - was not on spot.
Real rocks - aallright!

Originally Posted by Sageous

Yes, this is the suicidal woman. She just put down her copy of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (yes, you can read the title through a microscope), and paused to consider the trials of all those other people below her (people not lying comfortably in a fine couch in their Little Black Dress), and maybe her own selfishness.

Here's that side view plus a full-front view:



Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, "Glass Floors" is a re-do of a much earlier tube that I did in front of the TV with no special tools or magnification, "Exhaustion:"
See initial post - eventually..

Ah - thank you for the story!
Wow - book-covers readable - you are a freak - and that is purely positively meant!!

Originally Posted by Sageous

I guess that's a good thing, though I have no Idea what you're talking about!

Yes - it is!
It basically means, that once you have - like you have done - uploaded a picture from your pc in small - it is on the net.
Just a problem with the forum software.
So - what one can do is click on the small picture - then right-click - copy img url - paste it per symbol - with un-checking the little box - then it is in here in big.
But the attachment must stay also in one post - the same or another - not sure if citing works.

Originally Posted by Sageous

^^ I just looked at that picture of "Exhaustion," and didn't like it at all, so here are a couple more:


These things are unbelievably hard to photograph, so I hope you're bearing with the occasionally questionable quality of them!

No doubt - to make pictures of something so delicate is not easy in the first place - but doing it through uneven glass is another story again.
They are good photographs - some especially so!!

In the end, though - they are three-dimensional - and the better your eyes - the more you will see and enjoy!
Do you do exhibitions?

Once more - I was a bit nasty and left the right attachment small..
You could use the above method on it.
Not sure, if it is enough, that I have the right side pic small above in my answer now - but actually it should be.
In that case you could get rid of the small one in your post - then it´s not here three times all in all (fine with me - sure of course!):

For that - you would not only have to delete it in the text - but also go under the answer window - additional options and click manage attachments.
The one from this prior post, which you are editing will be there - and have a little x-closing thingy right upper corner - click and then okay - attachment gone from post.
Hope I don´t overload or nerve otherwise with this..
And if it doesn´t work - I will do it - not that exactly one of the two you like is not big..redface.gif

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

Your brass rings are the story of life. The way it is continuous, as reflected in the rings that spiral wards. Yet somehow it seems like discrete moments when reflecting back on it.
Your art is BEAUTIFUL
I think that it's incredible how each one of them manages to tell a story in a single, unique, feeling that I get when I look at them.
I don't ever share the art that I create. But your art made me feel, and I think that it might be cool to give that gift to somebody else instead of keeping it all to myself.

Thank you for sharing it

Oh yes please!
I find it a wonderful compliment to Sageous, that you say this - and great feeling for his art, you have, too!!
More than me - but I also find it very, very beautiful - and I love the method.

On a forum like this one - I find it really a good idea to open a thread on what you create - people are very interested in each others dreams - so it is natural to also want to enjoy each others art.
Art is really for sharing, I find.
In a way a sort of reflection, which you can not do without interaction - but I´m getting over-analytical again..

What do you do?
And please, please, please be not shy with opening a thread!
When I posted the one about Andrew A. Gonzales - I was a bit wondering, why nobody seemed to react - but more and more did - things are a bit hidden there - which has two sides to it..

Hahaha okay I think I got it!
So it's just like on a carousel, there are ups and downs as you take the ride round and round. The brass ring is what you can grab to get a prize, in this case I think that it symbolizes the prizes in life. If you miss the brass ring at first, you can try again on the next time around (Even if you mess up, there is always hope). I still feel like I'm missing a bigger message though, I can almost taste it. Maybe it's just my own conclusion about this matter that is bubbling under the surface, but it feels profound. I'm sure it will come to me after sleeping on it.

As for my own art, I write music. Specifically, on piano and guitar. By write, I mean that I almost never write it down (I store the songs in my memory). I have only shared one song, when I was little. I won a national composing competition, but I thought it was terrible. Was really embarrassing. Since then it has always been something that is just for me, a sort of emotional reconciliation at times, I create it for its own sake.

Originally Posted by StephL

I am not sure - distracted me - but yesterday the carousel did remind me of Winter´s Tale ..
I will wait and see, what anotherdreamer comes up with..

Nope, it's not inspired by Winter's Tale -- as far as I know! And yes, Anotherdreamer nailed it exactly again, happily confirming for me both that the tube's message made it through, and that someone else on the planet knows the source of "Reach for the brass ring." Very cool.

Have you tried out construction site isolation foam? If you have very sharp scalpels - I find this a great material - always lying about somewhere reachable - if you lacquer it - looks similar - did some chess pieces like this a while back.
It needs to be fine-grained - but the coloured all are (here).

I have used isolation foam before, but the tiny scale of the tube sculpts makes it impractical for them. It does remind me of a fun story (that wasn't so much fun at the time) about one tube where I did use a foam material similar to isolation foam. It was called "Secret Santa," a piece I made for a Christmas show at a local gallery. Here are a couple of views:

secretsantalongfr.jpg secretsantaclosefr.jpg

See the brick wall of the building? It is basically foam. Well, when the tube was about done -- fully sculpted, painted, and assembled inside the glass (about a months' work) -- I noticed some dried smudges of cyanocrylic glue (aka super glue) on the inside of the glass. So I dutifully got a q-tip, dipped it in acetone, and carefully cleaned the smudges. All good... except I came back in an hour to find that the vapors from the acetone dissolved the wall, and I had to take it all apart and basically start over!

... and yes, I did try to follow your instructions to make the images bigger, but it didn't seem to work for me ... I guess the "click on the image for a bigger view" will have to be my method for posting... maybe I'll have my wife take a look, as she'll likely look at what you wrote and say, "Duh!" In the meantime, feel free to continue enlarging in your replies, if you care to... they do look good really big!

Do you do exhibitions?

I did for a few years, but now that I've gone back to writing, not any more. My work has been in several shows ("Late" even won a "Best of Show" in Cape Cod), I've had one gallery show (sold four pieces -- very exciting!), but these days the remaining pieces sit comfortably on shelves in my home.

Once more - I was a bit nasty and left the right attachment small..
You could use the above method on it.
Not sure, if it is enough, that I have the right side pic small above in my answer now - but actually it should be.
In that case you could get rid of the small one in your post - then it´s not here three times all in all (fine with me - sure of course!):

Ah, what's done is done, I guess... I'll leave things be, I think.

Originally Posted by anotherdreamer

Hahaha okay I think I got it!
So it's just like on a carousel, there are ups and downs as you take the ride round and round. The brass ring is what you can grab to get a prize, in this case I think that it symbolizes the prizes in life. If you miss the brass ring at first, you can try again on the next time around (Even if you mess up, there is always hope). I still feel like I'm missing a bigger message though, I can almost taste it. Maybe it's just my own conclusion about this matter that is bubbling under the surface, but it feels profound. I'm sure it will come to me after sleeping on it.

As I already said above, but somehow find worth repeating: yes, you got it! That is most gratifying! It is also encouraging that someone still knows the source of the brass rings cliche!

There is another theme, perhaps even a bigger message, built into it; since you're doing so well, I'll keep it to myself for a time, just in case it bubbles to the surface for you!

Originally Posted by Sageous

Ah, what's done is done, I guess... I'll leave things be, I think.

Tse! I wanted to show you how you could make that one big as well yourself - but what was not done is done now!
The second "Exhaustion" just "grew" in my answer, too!

Originally Posted by StephL

Tse! I wanted to show you how you could make that one big as well yourself - but what was not done is done now!
The second "Exhaustion" just "grew" in my answer, too!

Thanks!

You are very welcome!
More:




This last one is incredibly well photographed - I wasn´t sure at first, if there was glass around it at all!
I really like this one - and it makes me curious, out of which story´s happenings these very different people have been caught and frozen behind glass.

This is not optimally said - maybe you understand - "dynamic" sounds cliché and doesn´t fit either.
Will you tell?


Or anotherdreamer ..hehe.

Originally Posted by StephL

I really like this one - and it makes me curious, out of which story´s happenings these very different people have been caught and frozen behind glass.

This is not optimally said - maybe you understand - "dynamic" sounds cliché and doesn´t fit either.
Will you tell?

I think you're asking me about the story of "Secret Santa," or perhaps its theme. Well, I wanted to capture a moment of "real" Christmas spirit, so I decided to portray two children gingerly sliding some cookies and milk on a skateboard toward that down-and-out fellow rooting through garbage. They are doing this unbeknownst to their mother (or so they think!) which makes that spirit all the more special. That's it, no more!

If you were asking something else, let me know (and all apologies!).

That I was asking!
I like it!