The vase measures 10 inches high by 8 inches wide.

Back view

This painting was done in acrylic paint on copper leaf.  The Koi fish are also done in copperleaf with a light chemical patina.  The fish themselves are based on old Japanese scroll paintings.

It’s about 4 feet long and 2 feet high.

This is my first go at oil paint.  Its a picture of Toshiro Mifune from the classic Akira Kurosawa movie Seven Samurai.

This plum branch is painted with acrylic paint on copper leaf.  The poem is apparently the death poem of a celebrated Japanese actor.  I have no idea what it says unfortunately.

This is turned from the root ball of a Crape Myrtle.  It developed some nice cracks where the roots joined the tree so I filled the cracks in with epoxy tinted with black dye then touched it up with some black acrylic paint.  The top is ebony and some marblewood.

I was once again going for an Asian or modern feel.

I’m probably going to have to redo or scrap the lid.  You can see the top has a little rough patch right in the center.

I was buying some wood blanks at the local exotic wood supplier and noticed some pictures of vases that an artist (sorry but the name escapes me) had turned.  The vases were very Asian inspired and it is exactly the type of thing I am interested in doing.  This vase was my first attempt at turning something in that style.  I didn’t want to buy expensive wood (the artist was using some type of burl and ebony) so I used cedar.

After rounding the wood with the roughing gouge it was obvious that I would have to paint the piece due to the knots.  After finalizing the shape the top developed several small cracks as well.  The top was made from an extra piece of cedar that we had laying aroung the workshop.  To make the “horns” I turned a donut shape, cut it in half on the bandsaw, then cut it into quarters.  I taped the two pieces together and then cut the tops at an angle.  After drilling a small hole in the top and the horn I glued them together with super glue.

After turning

The paint job was based off an old japanese scroll I found online.  I drew the pattern on with a charcoal pencil and then painted it with some acrylic paint.  Next time I’ll be sure to prime the vase before I paint it because I had to put on about 4 coats!  I decided to paint the fish black and cover it with copper leaf to simulate the shimmering scales of a fish.  The scales were created by stretching it across the fish before putting on the copper leaf.

I decided to also cover the top with the copper leaf.  I wanted give the impression that the top of the vase was celestial.  After covering the top with the copper leaf I applied a patina of potash and sodium sulfide to make the copper leaf a little more interesting.  I attatched the crosspiece with some artifical sinew.

This is a large painting I did based on a classic image from the movie Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. It’s 6 separate canvases that I first hung on the wall and then painted. I used red, black and white acrylic paint.

The painting is about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide.