Superhero Window Painting

Got commissioned to do a window painting at Chick-fil-A this weekend for a superhero dress-up party and Halloween coming up. It was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I managed to work out all the kinks. Hopefully I will be hired to do quite a few more, and then I will definitely know what I'm doing and it will be a lot smoother and quicker. Due to time constraints I had to make two of the characters smaller and fit them on the same window, and leave out poor Iron Man. The only thing that I don't like is that Spiderman looks like a fatty haha! Still turned out great though! :)

Two New Pieces

Both of these were homeworks for the painting class I am currently taking with Ed King at Germanna Community College.

Pop Art Boxer

Blue Ram

Both of these pieces are for sale in the Gallery section of my blog. :)

More still to come soon! There are quite a few pieces that have been lying around for a while in various stages of near completion. One day I will find the time and energy to put on the last few finishing touches...

Google

Finally my blog is on the first page of google when you search my name! Thanks to everyone who commented and visited just for the sake of traffic. Keep it coming, guys. :)

More art up very soon, by the way.

Christmas is drawing near!

It's will be here faster than you know! This year I would really love to make some holiday greeting cards and rent a table at a craft fair to sell them, but realistically I know that won't happen. I have a list of about 20 designs that I want to do, and I haven't had time to complete the first one I started yet. Perhaps I'll have all of them done by Christmas 2011, haha? We'll see. So I won't worry about that for this year. But I do have to start thinking about gifts!

Last year I started shopping 3 months early, using a little from each paycheck and still had to rush at the end. We'll be in Michigan this year, doing stockings again. As much as I'd like to make a painting for all of my friends and family, totally not going to happen either. So I'm thinking that I'll have a few prints made of a couple of my best paintings (that already exist) and let each family choose between them. There, Christmas gifts are already done, just need to make a quick trip to Kinkos!

If anyone has any paintings of mine that they like, but aren't ready to commit to an original, just let me know. I will have a couple extra prints made, and would be happy to sell them upon request. :)

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE HOLIDAYS! :D

First Friday

Tonight was absolutely perfect! As well as hanging out with some great friends and eating some delicious food, the 6 x 6 exhibition at Liberty Town opened today. The reception started at 5pm, and I was really nervous to see what it would be like. 1st place went to one of Bill Harris's students, second went to the praying mantis Ed King painted in class one day, and third place I could not find (obviously was not me). I was, however, greeted excitedly as I walked into the door of the gallery. My octopus sold! My first non-commission piece sold! And better than that--there were several people fighting over it, waiting until the moment the clock struck 5pm to buy it! AHHH! I'm like a REAL artist now! :O

Everyone was just so incredibly encouraging and excited for me tonight. No one is seen as competition, and that is what I really love about the Fredericksburg downtown art scene. It's more like one big happy family. Can't wait to get more pieces out and about and start selling more! Getting started has been really hard and expensive, with no pay off. Finally all the effort I am putting in is beginning to be validated. Looking towards a brighter and brighter future every day. :)



Weekend of Via Colori Fredericksburg

Well, I have to say that this weekend certainly did not go according to plan. Saturday morning I arrived, got my supplies, set up, and got to work. I even upgraded to a 6 x 6 square. It was a very hot, very sunny day, and with little means of shade other than personal umbrellas, it was hard on everyone. Besides this, I developed a cold the night before, and wasn't feeling so well. It was a good day though. I got to meet a lot of new artists and see all their work. The public reaction was great. There were tons of people coming to see despite the heat. There were newspaper and television reporters filming and interviewing the artists as well.

I was doing pretty well until about 1pm, when the combination of sickness and sun exposure began to be a bit overwhelming. I ended up leaving the festival, intending to return early the next day to make up for lost time. I feel like I didn't get as much done as I wanted. I only got to grid, sketch, block in, and then do most of the detail on one face.

But of course, after a summer with almost no rain at all, it had to happen this weekend. I awoke this morning to a slow drizzle and an email saying that all of the drawings got washed away despite the efforts of the volunteers trying to salvage them with tarps. A little disappointing for everyone, but in a way it was sort of a relief. Now at least I won't have to drag my sick but out there and doodle on the sidewalk for 8 hours today in the rain (not that I would mind if I wasn't sick). Even though we didn't get to finish, the festival got great exposure, and I know the turn out of artists and the crowd will be a million times better next year! Here are a few more pictures:

May Kimmer; her piece is about metamorphosis.



Curtis Goldstein; street artist and founder of Via Colori.



VIA COLORI

VIA COLORI - FREDERICKSBURG

Saturday and Sunday, September 25 & 26, 2010

Downtown - Sophia St & Charlotte St

10am-5pm

Via Colori is finally here! It is basically a street art festival taking place downtown, following the style of the centuries old tradition that takes in Italy (I am guessing, haha). There will be live music, entertainers, food vendors, shopping booths, ART, and much more! Gabriel Pons is our area's featured artist, and will be recreating the image above on the streets of our city.

My 4 foot square will be located halfway down Charlotte St between Caroline and Sophia, in Via Area 2. Square 2D to be exact. I (hopefully!) be recreating Leonardo da Vinci's famous work 'Virgin at the Rocks', with a few changes of my own of course. ;P

 

I will be downtown Saturday 9:30am till 2pm, and Sunday 9:30am till whenever the heck I finish this monster. I am a little nervous about the festival, but I know it will be a lot of fun. The reception was tonight, and I was surprised at how small the stack of papers for the artists was. I figured I would just be lost in a sea of better talent than mine, but maybe not after all...

More than anything I am worried about the completion of the piece. It's fairly detailed, and I honestly have no clue if it will work out. Unfortunately, if it doesn't, I can't just say "I hate this!", ruin it, and start over. Hundreds of people will be watching every little mistake. I REALLY hope it goes well!

I saw only briefly saw Gabriel Pons today, but I read an online interview with him recently. He was talking about he was apprehensive for the exact same reasons I am. Today he told me that he was also worried that his piece might be too complicated as well. It's actually kind of reassuring that little ol' me that no one knows exists will be up all night thinking about the same exact things that the famous local artist Gabe Pons is. Everything always works out though, so I know everything will be fine for both of us.

I decided to go out and practice once more tonight, to try and calm my nerves. My last practice was about 30 minutes just before nightfall on my front porch using soft pastels. Tonight was similar, except on the back stoop and with hard pastels. After a while I was just drawing in the dark so I had to call it quits. Not to mention the mosquitos were driving me mad!

Please please PLEASE stop by the festival this weekend! I know it will be crazy amazing and tons of fun. Hope to see you all there! :)