carlsbad artsplash

DAY TWO

the final piece !!  and no that peach color chalk . .  . not mine . . . over flow from the square next to me!!  i cleaned my work up . . . punched the colors . . added some details (esp. the fish and panda which were first done in the dark of the night !!)  added blue one of my favorite things to do to black (some purple too).

and because i was running around i wrote below . . . can u find the 10 animals and name them !?  parents were doing it with their kids on their own.  once i wrote it everyone joined in.  the baby guenon monkey on it's mothers back . . . the hummingbird and the cat were the most missed in about that order.  the lemur was often called a raccoon.

in the center of the event was a celebration of the 10th anniversary !!! a 26 foot multi artist piece with lots of x 10 items to be had !!!

i had a train to catch but was going to stay through the 3:00 artist award announcements.  but since i was done i washed my face and hands . . . put on a clean shirt.  was going to slide jeans on b4 the train . . . try not to look too dirty and homeless !!!  but nearing the 3:00 hour i was approached.  another artist had to leave.  so i grabbed kyra and we got the kids who did the letter 'z' to help. . . . along with one of the artsplash coordinators of the day.  oh and one of the kids was being picked up within 30 minutes.  it was a drawing of this tree with some flames coming out . . . just the initial drawing . . . some colors laid down on the landscape and that was about it.  turning chalk into powder . . . using erasers . . . crushing the chalk and all those hands  . . . we were the fastest square in the west !! about 15 minutes . . . we took a sketched out square to completion !!! yay !!! see below . . . oh yeah the camera was on it's way thru !!!

on my wanderings i had the pleasure of talking with amy and amanda burkman . . . turns out they won judges choice !!!  

more shots from the weekend:  including the honorable mention work, ever galvez, willie zin and others on my wanderings i had the pleasure of talking with amy and amanda burkman . . . turns out they won judges choice !!!   enjoy the small shots below:

oh and the silent auction . . . i last checked on it at mid day . . . my wine bottles had bids of $45.00 . . . the recycled piece was in a more crowded space and was one of many without an bid  . . . 

all and all a successful weekend . . . at least from the artist side !!! hope goals were met in $$ raised !!!

carlsbad artsplash

that time of year again !!! 
DAY ONE

once again doing a small square ! i love the small square it gives me time to play and talk !!!

this year was our 10th anniversary and there were 76 chalk artists !! i arrived late because i had to catch a train.  but i did send a sign as to create excitement instead of a void in my absence ~~

i was greeted at the train station with the news that my pic made the north county times !! this time in the artsplash insert. yay !!!

my square was way down on the end ! but i was next to kyra again (my 'fun with chalk' neighbor) . . . patrick who is 12 was in the square above mine doing a charles shultz tribute:  the great pumpkin patch !!! and yes, somehow i did not get a pic of patricks !!! oh . . . and we were on the end by the family activity area !  the other end was music, featured artists and silent auction (yes the vessels!).


so my plan was to illustrate the 10 year "tentastic" celebration . . . a dragon for year of the dragon . .  . and then last week i found out that TGI FRIDAYs was my sponsor !!  oh and 10 animals . . . which i would get the crowd involved with !!!

so . . . . i chose a mouse as the waiter for FRIDAYs . . . red/white stripe shirt and cupcake !! plus the button of flare on his shirt.  i put a little blue and black on the far side of the dragon as a note of the dark background i wanted.  then i focused first on the mouse . . .  thought it would help the square read better since the dragon would take a bit . . .

the cupcake originally was on a plate but since we are a seaside town (and have an ocean view from the event) . . . i made a hybrid (skateboard/wakeboard/boogie board).

the guenons on the tail and the ringtail lemur on the neck are a reoccurring theme of mine . . . . but all the others were suggestions that took life !  the bat was patrick's idea . . . i made him swooping in on the cupcake.  the cat (in the lemurs arms) was a suggestion from a nice gentleman who loved drawing cartoon characters (out of his head) in his freetime.  someone suggested a bird and since the lemur looked like he was talking to someone it fit in just perfect.  the frog fit nicely on top of the head.  and a fish was suggested several times . . .  a fish without water hmmmm. . . . ahhh the tail has a nice flip how about it launching a fish bowl !!!  oh the panda bear . . . that was the result of a five minute conversation with a little girl where i figured out what she liked by talking and waiting for a head shake 'yes' or nothing for 'no i don't think so'.  her parents were cracking up . . . i guess she usually isn't so shy.  at least see answered (sort of) . . . at least she didn't cry !!!!

everything was out of my head . . . no looking at pics or sketches.  the dragon has about 4 colors to make the red . . .  5 if you count the purple . . . . but the color variations are not picked up by my camera . . . esp in the sunlight.

close up view

so day one had me working into the evening while the concert was hopping.  but had to clean up because it was hard to even see your own hand where we were !  fortunately my son was there to help me clean up.  i did want to finish laying down all the color and characters.  i find it soooo easy the second day to clean up colors and punch the contrast.  the pastels seem to settle in the night air.

oh one interesting thing that happened to me on day one is the kid that ran across my square and came right up to my face and went "ROAR" . . . i moved really slow not wanting to scare him and have him run through the picture again.   besides i could hear his mom behind me . . . a little mortified and very apologetic . . . i knew she could lift him up and out with no problem !!  well i guess my art is entertaining the kids !!

near the later part of the day we . . . artsplash . . . was missing an artist so some of their young volunteers decided to take on the large square.  but they wanted to recreate something.  being just 2 squares down they snagged my book, alphabet kingdom, and chose the letter ‘z’.  they told me what they liked and i drew a quick layout for them.  they broke the box with the wave all their own (but like my book illustration).  first time i had my artwork recreated . . . at least that i know of.

more to share on day 2 plus event pics  !!

silent auction #3

VESSEL #3 FOR THE SILENT AUCTION . . . CARLSBAD ARTSPLASH

this is the most truly recycled of all three vessels !!!

if you hadn't read the preceding post then you won't know vessel #3 is the middle one.  this one centers on a scrap piece of paper.  a piece of paper which most would throw away. the lutradur to the right is white and has wholes through it . . . so when you paint it you may want to lay down a piece of paper.  and there u have how the paper on the left was created. this one was created when i was working on a project for ct publishing.

i  proceeded to spray with crystal clear and varnish with matte medium.  i painted the reverse side orange and using matte medium adhered it on top of the organge.  light weight lutradur . . .  . i used medium weight lutradur to reinforce the base of the vessel . . . along with grommets and ceramic stucco.
i use all these products in painting.

next phase was lining up the grommets and making holes . . . or in other words fun time with my mallet.

      base piece                                     inside                                             reverse outside

 upside down . . . . . drying

inside view . . . 

next were adding the grommets up the side of the vessel where i planned on lacing it up.

then before attaching the large grommets at the base i stitched the medium weight lutradur into a box . . .  and added glue . . . actually i did one side at a time and then did the grommet for that section.  to keep more control i used a heavy screwdriver to flatten the grommets.  they are paper grommets and have the prongs to fasten with.  i filled in holes added weight and the texture of my paintings with the ceramic stucco.

the final piece was still pliable . . . easy to flair out the sides above the bow . . and it still could get a cress if crushed.  maybe it would even become more interesting ?  but it has the feel of thin leather. even though i made it i think it is very cool and hope to make my own down the road !!!!

FINI !!

silent auction #1#2

VESSEL #1 + #2  FOR THE SILENT AUCTION . . . CARLSBAD ARTSPLASH

so the carlsbad artsplash is coming up and i have been a little more involved this year.  in the past couple years i loved their silent auction projects . . chairs and albums turned into clocks.  this year it was vessels . . . was vessels or is . . . oh never mind i think you have the picture !!!  i've been wanting to break my 2d mold and now i had a purpose . .  a challenge !!

at first i tried some stuff  called paper clay . . .  love finished products made with this.  but it is much softer than clay and i was having some very unsuccessful hours.  but not defeated !! still have some projects in my head but later . . .  .

so new goal:  make my vessels from things i have around my studio !  recycled studio !!!

VESSEL # 1 :  the lion

the bottles to the left i have been hauling around with me since 2000 . . . yes, the year 2000 maybe 2001.  from a large wine bottle charity auction with livermore winery assoc. i wanted more variations in my painting and mediums . . . as well as not being able to scrap it off as easy . . . so i worked with a rice paper and gesso.  did some test runs and so i had some extra bottles.

so vessel one took to life (on the back bottle u see the makings of vessel #2).  so with ballpoint pen and acrylic washes we have the first vessel.




VESSEL # 2 :  sir draagon

so i did a quick tracing of my 'sir draagon' illustration and then proceeded with the ballpoint pen and acrylic washes.  smooth and easy . . . well as much as drawing on a round slightly textured surface can be easy !! choose the dragon for the year of the dragon and for the kids . . . fantasy fans . . . . the decision was the background . . . went with the yellows and golds.  my iridescent gold was south in the gallery teaching supplies so in the am when i had better light i played around with colors.  blues, lavenders, orange and yellows were in the mix.

the photos make the gold look better . . . but the blue is really cool !!!!

first . . . closure

jack-in-the-bowl

so i did finish jack in the bowl . . . the background became too blue (still photographs with strong blues) and i was going to take it back to the original cement looking background and then during the process found out i liked the totally dark design too !! something a little different.

so that is about the end of this tale . . . .  on to the next postings !!!