Monday, May 29, 2006

purplebabydaddies: painting and talking to Lynne


I stayed up till 3:30 am last night with my paint brush in one hand, and the telephone in the other, talking to my sister Lynne.....about- a half of a million sister type things.
I think the painting is done....This has many, many layers of paint, which I like, because it gives the surface a very rich, luscious texture. It's small, 10in.x8in.
It feels so good to be painting.


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Sunday, May 28, 2006

purplebabydaddies: Huge Flowers



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purplebabydaddies: Huge Flowers

This is a purplebabydaddies flower, sure to make a statement wherever it is placed. It is suitable for outdoor placement, but people put them everywhere- foyers, by hot tubs, bathrooms, kitchens.
Last year a woman bought one from us saying that it was her 11th flower and all of them were in her kitchen, a huge indoor flower garden.
They come in all sizes. The one shown at the left is a medium-sized one. It is 5ft. 8inches tall, but the size range available is from 15 inches tall to over 6ft. and the prices range from $95 to $325.
Each one comes with a handmade mosaic base embedded with glass hand-painted by the artists.
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purplebaydaddies: flowers and flamingoes




Flowers and flamingoes, indoor-outdoor sculpture by Leslie and Markel Leland available for sale now at
Dennison- Moran Gallery in Naples
1-239-263-0590
Island Style Galleries in Key West
1-305-292-7800
Sanibel Island
1-239-472-6657
Though we make many flowers and flamingoes, each piece is painted and embellished differently, a one of a kind piece.
Stay tuned for 3-D cats and mermaids.
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Monday, May 22, 2006

purplebabydaddies: on e-bay?


An enterprising seller has decided to give selling our work on ebay a whirl, with a couple of my pieces. We know nothing about Ebay so we're glad she is trying, and we are happy to provide her with the work to sell.

This is one of my pieces that she has listed. The face is painted on primed, galvanized steel, attached to a copper stem, which is anchored in a hand-made mosaic base embedded with hand-painted glass
and a painted border.
It is 15 inches tall and the widest part of the base is 10 inches.
Like most of our pieces it is treated with laquer so that it could placed outside on a deck, or garden table, or used inside, anywhere....
It is ebay item number-7417372233 in case you're interested in seeing how it's doing.
There is also a small panting of mine and a very nice small Markel sculpture.
We enjoy making the art, and other people enjoy selling it. Perfect combination.
Something new, purplebabydaddies adventures in e-bay land.
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Sunday, May 21, 2006

purplebabydaddies: back to making mirrors

New Mirrors by purplebabydaddies designs, painted by Leslie Leland, can be purchased at Island Style Galleries in Key West and on Sanibel Island, as well as Dennison-Moran Gallery in Naples, Florida.

The one shown on right comes with a wire on the back and is ready to hang.
It measures 15inches (from the top of the flower to the bottom)by 15 inches, but they can be made in any size.

on right:
detail of flower and butterfly

materials: galvanized metal, acrylic paint, clay, and wire
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Thursday, May 18, 2006

purplebabydaddies: large wall suns

This is a markel sun for the wall and suitable for placement inside or out. It is 2.5 feet by 2.5 feet. Colors shown are not necessarily true as it is difficult to accurately photograph and print them. It is very vivid and hot in color.
This is a close-up of the markel sun shown above, a mixture of painted metal, wire, hand-painted glass, and clay.
Markel sun for the wall in cool colors, also 2.5 feet x 2.5 feet and suitable for indoor or outdoor palcement.
Close-up of Markel sun from above. The suns were completed on May 18th, 2006 and are available from Island Style Gallery in Key West- 305-292-7800 Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

purplebabydaddies: New Faces in New Sizes

Markel and Leslie Leland, designers and producers of the purplebabydaddies design line have reprised the tabletop sculpture sunface that they briefly began making last spring.

It is as detailed as the larger pieces but it's smaller size makes a place on the mantle or an outdoor garden table an easy addition.

On the studio table, very close to being finished are two large markel sunfaces specifically made for the wall.

Markel continues to increase the complexity of the surface design with his use of metal, paint, wire, glass, plastic and clay. The finished pieces will be shown on this site within the next few days.

The new-sized suns will be available for sale at Dennison-Moran Gallery in Naples and at Island Style galleries in Key West and on Sanibel Island very soon. Please call the galleries for information on purchasing one.
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Thursday, May 11, 2006

purplebabydaddies: Hurricane Wilma- October 2005



Top picture: Our god-daughter, Marisa, pointing to how high the water came up during the flood.
Middle: My friend Martha's (Marisa's mother's) house where we weathered the storm
Bottom: Leslie, photo taken on May 10, 2006
We were very lucky.
Markel and I had evacuated to that house, my friend Martha's house, after putting our cars up on high ground at the local middle school. We didn't want to leave because if the storm bypassed us, as they often do, we needed to be able to open the store right away. We had already lost so much money with the 3 other storms that had hit the Keys before Wilma last summer.

We had weathered the whole night of the storm,wide awake and finally fallen asleep when Eva woke me up at 9am to ask how we were doing-
When I opened the front door to look outside, that's when I saw the floodwaters, which were still rising! What a sight; I couldn't believe it.

The houses on either sides of Martha's house are at ground level and they were full of seawater, boats driven by teen-age boys were going down the middle of the street trying to help people in trouble, and cars still parked out front were filled with water. We had no idea how much higher the water was going to go, but fortunately it stopped rising where Marisa is pointing.

Martha (who evacuated to Michigan with her family) had a storage shed in her backyard which had come loose and impaled itself on the fence leading to the back. All of the contents of her shed were ruined and belongings were floating all over the back, bobbing in the water.......all of her stored antique and new Christmas ornaments, books, artwork by her parents, photographs, paperwork....it was heartbreaking to see.

Our own house on Ramrod Key is also at ground level and we just assumed that it had been flooded. When the flood waters receded later on that day, we managed to drive to our house to survey the damage we were amazed to find that our house hadn't flooded. Apparently our property is on one of the highest parts of Ramrod Key. The water rose two inches according to our next door neighbor. Our storage place was also dry and our cars were safe. Our store didn't flood either. We were very lucky! Some people lost everything, cars, furniture, photos.....you name it. We were very lucky, because like many others down here we have no insurance.....for those who did, there are a lot of car dealers and furniture store owners who had a very good year.

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purplebabydaddies: Markel Leland New Work



3-D sculpture before painting it
Leslie and Markel- May 2006
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The Changing Painting




Painting is a little like sculpting. You can carve away the image you're looking for, adding paint and "carving" into the image again.
I have to be careful of the emotional state that I'm in when I paint because it always come through in the image, especially the face.
The photos show the progression of the painting, the top being first and the last being where it is now, still not done.

Markel and I watched the DVD Capote a few nights ago and the face I painted in the second frame reminded me of the face of the actor who played thekiller Capote befriended.... that bothered me, so I altered it, then it became the face of a woman I know, who I am not very fond of.....and that didn't set well either, so now, in the last frame I'm happier with that face, but not completely settled on it.

Last night Markel and I watched a documentary about David Hockney where he talked about painting his mother's face over 12 times until he got it where he wanted it.....which illustrates the wonders and plasticity of paint
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Monday, May 08, 2006

purplebabydaddies: Markel Leland- Then.....




markel leland- early work from the early 1990's
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purplebabydaddies:.....and now



markel leland, May 2006, working on the background of what will be a 3-D figure
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