All I can say is...wow.

    Another full day spent in my 'penthouse suite' at Hotel Parking Garage Sarasota. It was much more pleasant today....slight breeze and it got warm enough to remove my sweatshirt, unlike yesterday when I was sure I was going to go home to retrieve my winter coat. Really....

    Today I almost finished the marquee....I was sure I'd get it all done....the marquee, not the mural. It wasn't meant to be....and I worked steadily from about 8:30 am until after 6:30 pm. I think I need to use bigger brushes:-) I did start work on the ticket window, which, after some indecision, is turning out kind of nice....I'll spend tonight working on the image of whoever I decide should be sitting behind that window, which is really going to be iron bars.....

    I'm going to post my latest photo below but then I'll post some of the other artists work in progress below and you'll see why I titled this post the way I did.....

    So here is my progress...it probably doesn't look a whole lot different than last time...

Me, Maci and my mural. Oh..and my wind-blown hair...

The ticket window, so far.

   Now for the other artists work.....

   Below is the Opera themed mural being painted by Monica Spain and Marco Bell, both from Sarasota. Very cool.

Opera mural in progress by Marco & Monica

    Next up is MTO  (I'll post their links at the bottom). MTO is one guy and he brought along an assistant. They are French but are currently based in Berlin. They use only cans of spray paint and their theme is 'film'. And their work is incredible. Hence...the 'wow'.

Mural in progress by MTO of Berlin, Germany

    One more floor down (we started up in my penthouse, remember?) is Chor Boogie who is from Cailfornia. He too uses spray cans.....a lot of spray cans:-) And his work is also amazing.

Mural in progress by Chor Boogie of California

    And the last floor down being painted is the work of Edwardo Kobra and his crew. They are from Brazil and use air brushes to paint....not sure yet if they use them exclusively. All I know, so far, is that they started only this morning, have at least 2 airbrushes going at once...maybe 3 or 4, and the work is again, incredible.No pics yet of the garage project murals they are painting. I'll take a few in the morning and post tomorrow night.

    Oh...and a HUGE thank you to Denise Kowal, Jonathan Parks, Chris Gallagher and Michael "he who should not be named" (inside joke) for choosing us to be a part of this project. 

    Below are the links to those participating.

Monica Spain & Marco Bell - Bella Arte Studio, Inc. 
MTO
Chor Boogie
Eduardo Kobra
Jonathan Parks (architect)

Still on the roof....

     Well...I did not finish the marquee today, which was my goal. Not even close. I'll finish it Friday. And maybe even move on to the ticket window. I haven't yet decided who I want to use as  the ticket window person. I have ideas though:-)

    So see that name on the marquee...on the right? Verman Kimbrough. As mentioned in my previous post, he was the reason I decided to use the play "The Man Who Came to Dinner". And as I also mentioned previously, he went on to become president of the Ringling School of Art. Not many people know this, apparently. At least those that have seen my sketches and the mural. Which is interesting, because tonight I attended the Chalk Festival pre-event celebration. As I entered the campus and on my way to  the hall were the event took place, I walked past the library.....the Verman Kimbrough Memorial Library. Huh....go figure. I guess it was meant to be....  

   The party was fun. Kurt Wenner was there as was some amazing singer from Montreal. Catered by Carrabas. Very cool.

    Not much else to say tonight....I'm fading fast. So..I'll leave you with this, thanks to my good friend, Drew...

It's Lonely at the Top...

     Well...it's lonely at the top sometimes. I finally got started on the Palm Avenue Parking Garage project this past Monday afternoon. I really wanted to start two weeks ago but it was not to be. So after the rain stopped on Monday, I drove over there and got to work. Sixth floor. Very top. At first, it was very lonely. Oh, every once in awhile someone would visit. Michael "he who should not be named" (inside joke...for now) stops by to check on us often. And there has been a parade of city officials checking in to make sure I haven't painted the elevator doors or fallen off the roof:-) (so far, so good). And a few friends. I appreciate all of their visits. It's what I really enjoy about public art projects that are outside. Interaction with the people. And....a bonus. This great view......see below...

     Yes...that's my view...one of them. All the other artists are envious:-) I didn't ask for the top floor. We were assigned floors and themes. My theme is 'Theater'. More about that in a bit...

     So after several months of planning and a month of nonsensical bashing of the project by a few local sour grapes (that's my label), the painting has begun. Each floor has been assigned an artist or artist group as well as a theme, as I mentioned previously. The themes are all art related and will, in a way,  be used as a sort of way point (I think that's the term) for people that use the parking garage. So if you park on the third floor, it may be movies, so that will be your reminder of what floor you parked on, just in case you return to find your car after one too many martinis. It happens....don't laugh.

    The artists that were selected are from all over the world. Two showed up today...MTO is originally from France and lives in Berlin. He and his partner use spray cans to create larger than life images of people, and in the parking garage, it will be movie stars. And even though he started just today, the images already look very cool. One other artist is local, other than myself. The team of Monica Spain and Marco Bell. Very talented duo. Marco is a muralist like myself. They are creating the Opera floor....it's going to be fabulous.

   As I mentioned, my theme is Theater. I originally thought I could somehow include every past and present theater in Sarasota. Well..that didn't quite work out. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information around on the history of theater here. Or rather, none that I wanted to use. Besides, I didn't want to forget anyone. So, instead of focusing on actual theaters, I decided to focus on a particular play. The play is "The Man Who Came to Dinner" and was a very early play put on at the Player's Theater, which is the oldest community theater in Sarasota and the second oldest community theater in Florida. But I'm focus more on the play, not the theater. The reason is that the start of that particular play was Verman Kimbrough. That in itself isn't all that interesting, although I'm sure he was very good. What I found interesting was that Verman Kimbrough, cast as the lead in “The Man Who Came To Dinner,” also had a distinguished international operatic career.  And...he became president of the Ringling School in 1933 and Mayor of Sarasota in 1938-1939. I thought that was interesting...so...he gets to start in my mural.

  I'll post more about the design later....for now, I'll add a photo of what I've gotten done so far. It's not progressing as fast as I had hoped, but they never do, it seems.

Class is now, I mean...soon, in session

I have decided to open the studio and teach a few classes.  As of this writing, one is scheduled and that is a one day floor cloth class on Saturday, January 15th from 9am to 4pm.  I'll also open the studio for finishing the following Sunday morning for several hours if needed.

The class will paint a 30" x 48" (approx.) canvas floor cloth and the cool thing is that they will have a choice of designs to paint....not everyone has to paint the same design. So far I have three designs ready and am working on several more. Here are the particulars...

Date:  Saturday, January 15, 2011
Time: 9am to 4pm  (plus Sunday morning if needed)
Include in the price is your canvas, paints, you can use my brushes, tape to hem the edges, varnish for when you're done and each person receives one of my floor cloth design packets to keep, which is the design printed on special transfer paper that can be used again.
Lunch is included as are morning snacks! WooHoo!

Price is $160.00 per person in advance. Reservations are required. I don't have a ton of room here so it'll be umm.....cozy:-) Although, several months ago I hosted the IDAL folks and we had 13 people in here, each working on a 20" x  28" painting. Worked great.



Below are some of the designs I have ready. I'll post more soon on my website.

I'm also planning on mural painting classes, one in which I'll partner with good friend and talented muralist Abby Kent. Additionally, I'm offering Photoshop classes but that's limited to two people at a time and we'll also be offering Beginner's glass fusing classes.
Email or call for more info....

This design is for the cat lovers...a stained glass look

The image above shows one of my floor cloth packets and the finished product.

A somewhat simple, yet classy design. Good one for adding a bit of Trompe L'oeil

Class is Now in Session...(or...was..)

For the first time in quite awhile, I had a class here at the studio. Nine of the fine members of Florida's Golden Palette were here for the better part of a Saturday for their monthly meeting and to paint a design that I had prepared for them. The group is our local chapter of IDAL, International Decorative Artisans League. We all had a great time, or so it seemed, had probably way too many snacks available, thanks to my wife, Illene, and everyone did an amazing job on their paintings, especially given the time constraint and the fact that they all had to stand while painting (poor babies....,sigh>  ;-)). I don't usually keep nine chairs in the studio.....I will next time though.
The images they painted were based on a small painting I did a long time ago....sort of based partly on a banana tree from a Zuber wall covering design and an urn image I foun...probably in a Dover book. I basically 'erased' all the color from a digitised version of the original to end up with a line drawing, or cartoon, which I then printed at about 17" x 24" on base coated wall liner. As I mentioned, everyone did a great job, as you can see in the photos below.

Thanks to all that took part. It was fun.

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The Secret Garden

This project took a while. It was worth the extra time spent, I believe. The concept was to paint a panel, approximately 45" x 52" which was to reside behind a set of windows on my client's lanai. The panel was to look like a hand-painted tile mural and it would be somewhat old...a little weathered and cracked. Below is a detail image that includes my red string, or part of it. And below the image is a little video I made of the mural in it's final location, with music by good friend Dave Berry.

Bye, Bye Winnie:-(

Well....it's been a long and enjoyable visit with Winnie the Pooh, Tiger, Piglet and the others. But the time has come to say goodbye and prepare for a new adventure on Mackenzie's bedroom walls. She'll be 10 a week or so from now and has outgrown Winnie and friends. Make no mistake though...we all still love Winnie and his friends very much. They be just fine.

So here in the photo we see Mackenzie-angelo and Shelby Van Gogh, ummm....erasing our furry friends. In their place, I will be painting something a little more contemporary in shades of light greens and blues.....a sort of water or deep blue sea theme to go along with Mac's new bed coverings. I'll post a photo of the finished walls later....I haven't yet started....

Oh, yeah...did I mention we listed the house and studio last week?
Go here for more info...