am i blue Featured In Lights Out On FX

"am i blue gets cameo on
FX's new show, Lights Out"

One of my mobiles made it to Hollywood... or, um, New York... or, er, your TV...

Catherine McCormack and Stacy Keach are set to co-star opposite Holt McCallany on FX's upcoming drama series "Lights Out" and now so too is my little mobile, am i blue!

The show's set designer recently commissioned the mobile. Now, I'm just hoping am i blue doesn't get a big ego and think he's better than everybody else.

From everything I've read the series looks like it's going to be pretty stellar - both in star power and storyline.

Here's the storyline:

"Lights Out," from Fox TV Studios and FX Prods., centers on Patrick "Lights" Leary (McCallany), an aging former heavyweight boxing champion who struggles to support his wife (McCormack), a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, and three daughters after his fighting days are over.

Diagnosed with a neurological disorder called pugilistic dementia, he takes a job as a legbreaker, collecting on unpaid gambling debts."

I have to say I was pretty excited to learn that the lead character not only is a legbreaker for the mob (something I've always aspired to), but his last name is also "Leary." Perhaps my other lifelong dreams of being a washed-up heavyweight fighter can come true after all.

I can't wait to see where the mobile (or its stunt double - I sent two just in case one was injured during an action shot) will show up in the series, but if that all-star cast weren't enough, FX can count on at least one loyal fan before the series even begins.

If you want to see if you can spot the mobile you'll have to wait... Lights Out is slated to air beginning in Fall 2010 or early 2011.

Spring Rhapsody - New Show At Red Brick Gallery

Spring Rhapsody @ Red Brick Gallery

The incomparable duo of Jen Livia and Phyllis Gubins are at it again...

Their latest multi-artist show at Red Brick Gallery opens May 22nd and I'm once again grateful to be included with such fun and talented artists as we celebrate all things springy and natural-y.

I've officially declared May "Mark's Mobile Mania Madness Month" or MMMMM, as I'll have a series of SIX new mobiles spinning in the Red Brick Gallery just in time for the show and I just sent off five new mobiles to Rare Device in San Francisco and I will be releasing an exclusive set of designs with Hanging Mobile Gallery in the upcoming days, too.

If you're in the Ventura area, check out the artist reception from 6-9 pm, meet some cool peeps (humans, not chickens) and enjoy what is sure to be a really fun eve!

Got Scissors? Now Spinning In Downtown San Francisco

"Alex Talon Hair Studio"

The Challenge:

"The space is my hair studio. So I'm looking for something that will be an eye catcher and conversation starter for my clients. Walls are Red. Windows are huge 10 feet tall... OMG. I love the longer thin pieces in your mobile, trust me; they look like branches and the triangle-type pieces in your black beauty (like leaves) and want it to be about 36 -40 inches tall & 16 inches wide."

The Solution:

"I went with a design that evokes the branch/tree feeling you were looking for without being too literal. It's long and narrow as requested. And, it should be a decent spinner with a fair amount of visual interest, especially as backdropped against those amazing windows and the entire feeling of your studio."

The Reaction:

"I LOVE IT!!! You nailed my vision. I can't wait to see it in color and hanging in place!"

The Anticipation:

"I can't wait to see it finished! Now I'm going to have trouble sleeping! It's like Christmas! I'm vibrating with excitement!"

The Arrival:

"My mobile arrived and I have to say that I've never received such a pretty decorated package. It felt like Christmas and my Birthday all rolled into one. And as I stand back and admire it I have to say that the collaboration was definitely a success! It looks amazing!!

Thank you so much for creating my vision. Just looking at it brings a smile to me & hopefully my clients too. I know that on a hard day that's exactly what I'll need to make it home, at least without stabbing someone with my shears. Just kidding..."

The Reaction:

"It's become the buzz of the studio and everyone has been commenting. All good of-course. It's doing exactly what I wanted!"

Mission Accomplished

Inspiration Featured On Simple Elements

Buddy, My Shop Cat

When brilliant jeweler, Cynthia Benson, writes to ask me to share a few words about what inspires my art, how could I refuse?

Especially since like me and my Buddy, she has shop cats, Jack and Wrigley, and a faithful dog, Lily!

Here's how I responded in answer to her deceptively simple question,What inspires you?

I’ve always been fascinated by stuff that moves.

When I settled down in the mountains of Bend, Oregon, where the high desert air is constantly twisting and twirling, I think I finally found the perfect muse to inspire my creativity… and that took shape with mountain biking and mobile making.

As an avid (okay, obsessive) mountain biker, there are few things I dig more than pedaling deep into the mountains on some choice singletrack and watching the world (and my place in it) transform.

In my graduate studies, I explored our relationship to and with place, particularly the place of nature. I’m totally captivated with the way we interact with the places we inhabit and pass through and how – when we “bump into the world” – we create meaning/focus/purpose in our lives.

And, it’s that interaction with nature (usually as I’m zipping down a trail on my bike) that really inspires my designs – wresting form out of pure metal to realize feathers layering on a wing, leaves rustling in the wind, or bubbles rising into the air.

As I see the branches of a tree moving in a breeze, I’m mesmerized. A bird in flight, totally hypnotized. A ripple in the canal behind my house, spellbound.

See, I live by a semi-humorous "little things please little minds" mantra. Keep it simple. Keep it real.

In that vein, I’ve been inspired to keep my “process” as basic and fundamental as possible.

That means all my mobiles are hand cut, shaped, sanded, primed, painted, and assembled one at a time. I don’t use templates, or mass production, and regretfully I don’t employ a team of elves. It's just me in my humble little shop with Buddy the Cat enjoying good tunes and paint fumes while creating fun art.

The resulting creations range from works of peaceful simplicity, featuring repetitive shapes spinning hypnotically on an air current, to whimsical jumbles of bright colors and bouncy motion that vibrate with energy and joy.

In the end, I just feel pretty dang lucky to be able to create art for people to enjoy. That’s pretty cool.

You can learn more about Cynthia and creative spirit at her Simple Elements blog. Cynthia's magnificent work can be seen (and purchased) on Etsy and on Facebook.

SUPERSIZE ME!

"one orange one XL"

No, I'm not still on the topic of Del Taco fries, but if I was - mmmm, can you say "steamy hot crinkle cut goodness"!

I'm talkin' one orange one XL - my latest big ol' mobile that's just been installed in a private residence in Overland Park, KS.

The client is a designer and has raucously cool modern digs with a to-die-for collection (yes, I did... I did just say "to die for" and I deserve whatever punishment you can think up - as long as it involves french fries... okay, okay, I'll stop with the fries; my apologies).

At over four feet wide by six feet long, it was a blast creating this gentle giant in a variety of shades of blue and - of course - one of my favorite super sweet shades of burnt orange called Linda's Sunset.

I feel very fortunate to be able to hang high in this eclectically delicious space.

Viva Heartlandia!

Now Spinning at the HangingMobileGallery.com

I've got super exciting news... no, I have not figured out how to make a fat-free batch of Del Taco french fries... mmm, french fries... er, um, no, that's not it...

I'm super excited to share that a selection of my mobiles are now spinning large at the web's premier mobile destination, the Hanging Mobile Gallery (www.hangingmobilegallery.com).

Check them out here: http://www.hangingmobilegallery.com/category/artists.mark_leary/

As the world's highest ranked online mobile gallery, I'm in fabulous company with the brilliant likes of Matthew Richards of Ekko Mobiles and Portland's own glass mobilist extraordinaire and Etsy juggernaut Leah Pellegrini.

It's been a blast working with the fabulous team at Hanging Mobile Gallery, and I feel terrifically honored to be among such talented artists on such fantastic site.

Check back soon to see a couple exclusive and highly affordable designs that will spin only in the Hanging Mobile Gallery.

Yea!

what is REALLY going on at the www.themismatchedsock.com?

just don't call it a baby mobile

Mobile lovers come in all shapes, sizes and ages, but call this lil' guy "baby" and you might be in for trouble... toddler trouble with a capital ummm, er, well, give him a break... he doesn't know his letters yet... but I know for a fact it's a capital T!

I mean, really, check out those tough-guy camo pants and that "take no prisoners" look on his face! See how that cracker trembles in his fearsome grip! Take a look at how he's already thrown his so-called "baby monitor" to the ground and stomped it under his menacingly striped feet. And, of course, he's already broken out of his white-walled prison... leaving his furry yellow friends behind bars without a second thought.

And, if that's not enough, I encourage you to look over his shoulder to see who's in his toddler gang... when was the last time you saw an orange monkey wearing a wrestling onsie? Plus, does that monkey have a 5 o'clock shadow?!

It's always fun to see my mobiles - don't call it a baby mobile - hanging in the real world. Thanks to a dear client for sending this fun photo of my "am i blue" mobile (sporting a splash of panache with a red dot) swirling in their son's admittedly very hip room. Heck, *I* don't even have a bedskirt, but he has one AND it even matches his curtains, too!

Don't worry, lil' man, I won't call it a baby mobile... as long as you promise not to eat it!