New Small Work

New small work. That's an orange juice lid with a roofing nail on the second image from the top for scale on these little guys.

Stratford home game against CPA tonight. Joey and I made these to give away to fellow Spartan fans.

Mocking Bird Blues comes down

A month has come and gone and so my studio assistant and I took down the Mocking Bird Blues series from Ugly Mugs yesterday. The light was perfect outside of the shop so I took some pictures of the work as well as the truck packed up and ready for the commute home.

Press Release for Mocking Bird Blues

For immediate release: Contact: mikewindy(Mike Mitchell) Cell Phone: (615)788-0951 email: holaavocado@yahoo.com Mocking Bird Blues: an exhibit of art by mikewindy with a musical performance by The Scissormen Saturday August 4th , 2012 from 7-9pm Ugly Mugs 1886 Eastland Ave. Nashville,TN 37206 www.uglymugsnashville.com

UGLY MUGS presents “Mocking Bird Blues” new art by long time Inglewood resident mikewindy aka “Mr. Dan Mills 1987” with very special musical guest The Scissormen who are currently touring in support of their new CD release “Big Shoes” with an accompanying DVD directed by the legendary Robert Mugge. For part of the Scissormen’s set Ted Drozdowski will be playing a diddley bow custom made for him by mikewindy. “Both on record and in live performance, Ted Drozdowski is a guitarist of spellbinding invention and intelligence. His slide playing shears the skin off your bones, and he can unleash roaring gales of sound. But lyricism and musicality lie at the heart of even his wildest moments. I have never listened to him and not been transported to a strange, beautiful place I’d never been before.” —- ANTHONY DECURTIS, ROLLING STONE mikewindy received his BFA in Sculpture from APSU and his MFA in Sculpture from the University of Memphis in 2004. Last summer he taught the first ever Steampunk Sculpture class in a university setting at APSU and is currently an adjunct professor for Bethel University and is the k-4th grade art teacher at Neely’s Bend Elementary School where he feels at home among the 450 plus artists. He encourages them to become the best artists they can by singing the blues standing on their desks, making drawings of Memphis Minnie, noticing all of the birds in the neighborhood, making sculptures out of junk, playing primary color ball and generally paying attention in this world. About his Mocking Bird Blues series mikewindy says “My art is about being in love with my wife. It’s right there in how I sign it. mikewindy. my first name conjoined with hers(both lower case). My art is about sports and art being related. The moves I make in the studio often feel like the moves I make on a court or skating in a ditch. Performing/exhibiting in a gallery is like playing on a field. Letting the hammer do the work is much like letting the golf club swing itself. Babe Ruth and Pablo Picasso are twin giants separated at birth. My art is about play with purpose and without. My art is about geology. I stack up layers of paint, bones, ideas, wood, shoes and sounds. My art is about faces. Mine and yours. Ken Ohara showed us that they are radically different and almost identical, as do masks from all cultures. My art is about generosity. I send hand painted trophies to people like Terri Gross for making my world a better place. My art is about folk art and ART. My art is a bar where Hawkins Bolden and Sara Lucas can get together for drinks. My art is about watching birds on my in-laws’ porch. My art is about avocados. Fat that’s good for you.” For more information about the Scissormen check out their website http://scissormen.com/ or mikewindy www.mikewindy.blogspot.com

Simple Gestures family exhibit 2012

Our June Show was a success. Our favorite part was that Joey made a painting that he called "Strike One Galaxy" that is now in the collection of Stacey Capo. Everyone really liked Windy's new encaustic paintings."I like a bike" is one of my favorites. We talked to Steve about making it an annual tradition for us to do the June Show at Simple Gestures. He liked the idea. We do too. So it's settled. The Mitchell are the featured artists for June 2013. Mark your calendars.

New work from the back of my truck

New art from the back of my truck as well as encaustic paintings by my beautiful bride Windy and one painting called "strike one galaxy" by our boy Joey Fox will be on display tonight and for the month of June at Simple Gestures in St. Augustine Fl.

Scissormen

Windy and I went with a big group of folks last night to the Family Wash in East Nashville to see the Scissormen play. Those boys can play and Ted picks up most everything with a flat surface in the bar to use as a slide! Go see them if you ever get a chance. The have a new DVD/CD BIG SHOES out now. The documentary is by Robert Mugge! I had spoken to Ted some weeks back about Rick Saunders for an article I'm working on about him so I made him a guitar to say thanks for his time and for the music he plays. He liked it alot and played it right outside the bar. I forgot my camera but luckily a friend of Ted's took a picture with his phone and was nice enough to email it to me. The rest of the pictures are in our backyard.

Still Learning: An Alumni Educators Show

Here are the three paintings I submitted to the Alumni Educators show at the APSU Alumni Gallery on display January 5th-28th 2012 organized by Dr. Jennifer Snyder.
They are smallest to biggest titled: 1st Chair, 2nd Chair & 3rd Chair

Coffee in the Florida Sun

The big windows in the living room of our house in Hastings, Florida faced east.