Calgary Skyline Project - 3

The show must go on.

I was super ill and losing time and now I had the speed bump getting the text the right size to fit all the names and had to start over.

I had to do an all night er to get some distance between me and failure. Here is how far along I got before taking a much needed break. Eyes crossed, hand cramp and headache starting... but progress is being made in the name of art.

Due the the angle of working on the wall my hand was cramped and I couldn't hold my materials any longer. But I had to keep working like a marathon runner using all my stamina in order to meet the specified deadline.

 BAM! I got home the next morning for a quick nap just after 6 am. But I had the first panel completed and able to show the people who needed to see something. I felt like a champ over this initial victory.

After my evening animation class I rushed back over to my studio to crank out hundreds of more names on the back panel. At this point I really lost steam and instead of wrecking what I had done and pushing through on virtually no sleep, I did what any smart, self respecting, creative would do and I took a nap.

Here is a shot taken with my iphone to show a bit more detail of names that make up the texture of the silhouette.

I go back to the studio for one more all day session so that I can have it ready when I meet the photographer at 8pm to snap the photos to send to the designer.  Some of the lighter whites are because I had to start with a new pen and when the paint first comes out it is pure white and gradually it gets a bit darker. Once the image is put into photoshop it can be edited to even out these tones.

I cut the pieces in half where the binding would be to make it easier to work with and photograph. Later, we may stretch the pieces to display at the publication release event. Its a labor intensive part and falls outside of the expenses of the budget, so I'm not entirely certain if it will be done.

Another view of the two panels form the other side. We re-hung the works on the far wall in my studio to be photographed.

Here is Sean at the far end of my studio after meticulously setting up and measuring then taking many large format long exposures without us moving an inch. I was excited to finally be done, as I waited for the thumbs up that we didn't need any changes or a re-shoot.

The next day I was estatic! I pulled off the impossible!

Both the Designer and the Calgary 2012 rep sent me very supportive emails full of praise after seeing the delivered final image. It made my day, and it really made all the hard work and lack of sleep worth it. I cant wait to see the finished publication!

Calgary Skyline project - 2

There is a deadline to make! I may be in a residency full time during the day and teaching most evenings but that leaves a few weary hours at night to complete the task. I want this, and there is no chance that I will fail once I put my mind to something.  So for a few days I worked without sleep into the wee hours to get it done for the very short timeline.

 Here is the mock up in reverse colours that I used to plan out the piece on  much grander scale.

I charted out the buildings in charcoal on the black primed canvas. The area was measured and outlined in pencil and measures 54 inches in height by 76 3/4 inches in width. The publication will be nine inches tall so the final work will be reduced 6 times.

I used a level and this long stick to maintain accuracy in the horizontal axis and vertical axis.

Here is the back page panels sketched out in charcoal.

The canvas is stretched and stapled right to the drywall.The entire length of the piece took up the majority of my studio wall.

I set up some time lapse photography of me working the first run, here is a still form that series. As you can see the letters are large enough to read, I'm working from a print out of a list with 1700+ names on it, checking them off one by one.

After this night of work, I realized that at this scale of text there would be no way to fit all the names on the piece. I sat back and looked for a while, sucked it up...... I got brave, and painted over it!  This starting occurs when you are doing something you've never done before. I wanted it to turn awesome so it had to be done! Time was ticking away.

Artist talk - Calgary Public Art

PublicArt 101 - Professional Development Series 

Artist-in-Residence Programs 

In this session, we will explore and discuss artist-in-residence programs and opportunities both in Calgary and worldwide. Presenting artists will share their experiences of working in local and international residence programs, and present information on what's involved in the application and funding process.

When: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Where: Cliff Bungalow Arts Centre, 2105 Cliff Street SW

Presenting artists include:

Brian Batista, Calgary Allied Arts Foundation, St(art) Residency

An artist based in Calgary, Brian holds a BFA with Distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design. He was part of the exhibition 7 BY 7: RISING TALENTS at Stride (2009) and his first solo exhibition, Sacred Images, was held at the Untitled Arts Society Gallery. Brian recently showed his series "Divine Inspiration" at the Stride Gallery. www.brianbatista.com

Dick Averns, Calgary 2012 AiR Program

Currently maintaining a practice in Calgary and teaching at ACAD, Dick is actively involved in exhibiting through public institutions, artist-run centres, public art projects and via performative events. His interdisciplinary approach invariably places the audience as a central component to works that thematically engage with the commodification of space. www.averns.com

Rachel Duckhouse, Watershed+ Artist Residency

A visual artist based in the UK, Rachel studied at Leeds College of Art and Winchester School of Art and has been a practicing artist for 14 years. She specialises in drawing and printmaking and her recent etchings, screen prints and drawings are abstract, geometric works that explore 'how things fit together'. www.rachelduckhouse.co.uk

Yvonne Mullock, International Residencies

Graduating from the fine art department at Glasgow School of Art, Yvonne's creative practice has developed into a research-led multi-disciplinary approach that spans interests in nature, landscape and craft - making sculptures, drawings, films and textile works for both gallery and site specific installations.Yvonne has participated in residencies in Scotland, England, United States and Canada.www.yvonnemullock.co.uk

Space is limited to 75 people. Please register in advance.

Contact: Evan Woolley, Program Coordinator, Public Art Program

evan.woolley@calgary.ca / 403-476-4329

♬ Roll out... ♬

I grabbed the remaining supplies that were necessary to undertake this project and got down to the studio for a late night session to get me back on track with this project.

To begin, I had some ordering to do to open up the long wall in my studio. Stacked my paintings, moved a bunch of stuff around and took a load to the Epcor UAS +15 space that I will be in residency for, for the next 2 months.

Play this Ludacris video "roll out" to add to the feeling of this process blog :)

I rolled out the canvas and stapled it along the wall. Got the flat black onto the paint roller and began to roll it out......................
Lots of splatter.
Doesn't matter.
The wall is blacker.
The job's done faster.
 ♬ Roll out, Roll out, Roll out!  ♬

Calgary 2012 cover proposal

Here is some of the new design after getting the layout notes for the magazine cover with folding flaps.

The left most panel will be the front cover, the far left the spine. The area to the left of the tower is most likely where they will place the title.

The photos are just off of my iphone and will be true black and white. Below is how the image will look as white writing on a black surface.

I am proposing white paint pen written on black gessoed canvas approx. 54 inches tall.

More to come.

Shots from my Stride Show

All photos below of my "Divine Inspiration" pieces are courtesy of Stride Gallery and taken by photographer M.N Hutch.

Airbrushing workshop

I attended a 3 hour introductory workshop to airbrushing at Swinton's.

I brought my Iwata HP -CH airbrush and got to try a few others like the black Aztec above.

Here is a photo of the notes I took during the demonstrations.

We began with getting the proper flow and creating some dots and lines using the dual action feature on the airbrush.

Then we worked on dagger strokes and playing with the distance and flow of the paint in the airbrush.

We then worked on blending two colours. The paper was a bit unforgiving though.

So I moved onto card stock, I did a blend from bottom to top of yellow.

I blended to red and then topped it off with blue at the top.

I decided to dabble in a bit of the opaque white.

I made two cheesy 80'2 style tests, but my dagger strokes on the palm trees definitely needed more practice. I also vignetted the larger of the two test panels.

Here is the instructor Vince showing another participant how dagger strokes are done.

Here is his demonstration board. He made it look easier than it really is. 8+ years of experience does that.

I did some more practice and experimentation.

The final demo was on the use of stencils, we made space scenes with cut out circles.

Here is the start of my space scene. I like the star burst made with 4 taped together business cards as a stencil.  I sprayed the corner of one of the cards at an angle and held it close to the surface to create the star pattern.

Did some different patterning with the example stencils. We finished up the workshop with  dismantling the airbrush and proper clean up.

If life gives you lemons.......

.....
and some vinegar.....

Make something outta them!

 I squeezed an entire cup out of my gift lemons and put them in a jar in the fridge for later use. Then I took a glass jar and put all the rinds in and filled it up with pure white vinegar. I am going to let it sit, and forget about it for a minimum of 10 days, after which I will have the ultimate in natural lemon scented multi-purpose cleaner.

WINNER!

bird is the dead

Back to the piece I have been developing before the life drawing intensive I completed.

The main focal point of this piece is the skull head on the birds body. I used raw umber, for the outline and shadow elements. I blended titanium white to create shadow. Raw umber goes a bit grey when mixed with white so it is a perfect candidate for bone. I brought in a bit of the red as reflected light and added highlights with some yellow ochre mixed in.

The previous layer of paint is dry so I sanded it down with 80 and 120 grit sandpaper. It gives it a nice worn out feel and allows the under painting to show thru a bit for the next stage.

After the skull had been painted in I painted in the brightly coloured feathers and added some textute to the image.

I then filled in the background making it a very dark burnt umber to pop off the colours.

I drew in a branch for my "angel of death" to perch by scraping away to the under painting and brought in some white to set off the space with some light areas.

The paint is wet and shiny and hard to photograph straight on. I'll let it dry and revisit the piece on my next opportunity to work in the studio.