Angel and Scarab

On 8.24.09 I finished some art comissioned by 'Inspired', a Salon/Day Spa in Monterey, CA.

I wasn't given any specific request, and didn't have a specific plan.

It was fun to do a bit of improvising as well as retreading a proven design.

On one side I drew a large egyptian type scarab beetle. Very colorful and with nice blends. In front of the door, on the other side, a sort of angel woman with her arms spread in welcome, and a large orangish lotus blossom in front of her. Small swarms of butterflies released from each hand.

At one point, 2 police cars showed up. The cop was nice enough. We talked for about 5 minutes. He said someone had called in that I was "vandalizing the area with chalk". This offends me a bit, as what I do is art, not 'vandalism'. To me, vandalism implies specific property damage, breaking things, scratching up walls, things like that. What amazed me is that, yes, whoever it was saw me understood that it was chalk, and still called it in. I remarked to the cop how upset people can get over temporary artwork. He told me of a couple other calls they have gotten which were ridiculous. (One: some one calls in to complain about transients sleeping on the lawn of Colton Hall. 'Can't you get them to move along?' When in point of fact they have a constitutional right to be there! Another: someone calls in and complains about the Mexican flag hanging at the bus plaza!)

So they show up, because they are legally obligated to when they are called; they see what is happening, and they leave.

A couple people seemed very interested when I was working there, and stopped to talk to me. (stopping their cars and getting out, actually) One seemed like a possible business contact. This happens regularly. I actually enjoy chatting with people who stop and look about art and the various permutations it leads to. I find this a little unusual sometimes, ....talking to people in an unfiltered way. Simply because its about art, a favorite topic.

Alchemical Dragon

I made this one over the days 9.2 and 9.3.09
along Market Street. A funny intersection where Market, Herman, Guererro and Laguna come together. A busy, slightly chaotic intersection. I found a spot on one of the corners near a dry cleaners shop, a nice wide bit of sidewalk under a leafy tree.

I had come across something in a book about Alchemy, and an illustration from a 17th century treatise. The imagery of a triple headed dragon with rainbow skin captivated me. It describes a chemical and a metaphysical formula. Mercury represents the ephemeral (spiritus), sulphur the fiery energy of the soul (animus), and salt the corporeal (corpus).

The combination of these could form the (materia prima) which could be transformed into the philosophers stone of wisdom. It is a reminder about finding harmony in a three fold solution.

The design itself is much simpler than the last two pieces along Market Street. The color blending was the key feature of this one. It took a while to get a decent semblance of the color spectrum. The outline was a bit rougher than I would have liked. The proportions of the dragon's body weren't quite as refined as the sketch I was working from, coming out a little longer and narrower.

It proved to be a lively location. Numerous people stopped to appreciate the work, and I got into a few conversations with various folks during the second day. Besides having a super cute girl to chat with on her work breaks, I got an offer to do a mural in someone's home, and had a lengthy talk with a travelling dude about San Francisco. At one point a gaggle of kids were being led around doing a neighborhood scavenger hunt, and the item: "temporary public artwork" (!!!)

Wall Flowers

On Saturday August 22nd I participated in the 'Sand City West End Celebration', an art and music event where the West End blocks are closed off for the party.

It is a nice social gathering, re-connecting with locals and other artists I know. I didn't bring any art to display this year, as I had the previous two years.

Instead I was contracted to do chalk drawing for the event.

I was given a wall to draw on along Ortiz Avenue, very central in the layout. I don't usually draw on walls with this medium, but it was a fortunate occurence that day. I was so tired and strained from the previous two days of drawing that using the vertical surface instead of hunching over the pavement was a nice alternative.

After looking over the wall I decided on one of the more basic floral forms. The construction of the wall, with numerous cracks between the cinder blocks would make any kind of detail very problematic. It turned into an 'audience participation' work, with kids and people who passed by picking up chalk and adding to it.

Rumpelstiltskin

Friday August 21st was the main event for the museum.

Myself and three other chalk artists created images for the event in the plaza next to Bubba Gump in Cannery Row. Each of us had to recreate one of the children's book illustrations that are in the show opening at the Monterey Art Museum. I recreated the illustration from "Rumplestiltskin" by Zelinsky.

It was excellent to have a setting such as this, and we each were given a tent over our drawing space and plastic chain stanchions to designate the area. It was an exhausting day. I had chosen the most complex of the images (enjoying the challenge) and the other artists finished theirs way before me.

A lot of tourists milled around, watching and taking pictures. The weather was perfect. I believe I worked on this one from about 1030 to about 630, with some breaks inbetween.

I had intended to do more to add a distinctive flourish to the piece; possibly by making the girl's outfit more elaborate, yet just recreating it as-is was difficult enough for the time frame.

Arrow to the Sun

As part of being invited by the Monterey Art Museum to participate in the "Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit Holes" exhibit, I made a rough sketch of this image from the McDermott story, "Arrow to the Sun".

I had come in by train from Oakland early in the afternoon of 8-20 and met with the Museum members at the MPC Farmer's Market.

It was a bakingly hot day and the drawing surface was black road asphalt; drawing on the actual road in the lower parking lot area. Asphalt is not an ideal surface to draw on because of it's texture, but for this particular piece it worked well. The native american theme lends itself to a more textured style, emulating stone and earth.

Priestess Profile

I will be posting images of a few drawings done in Monterey in August.

This one was done between other projects at the East Village Coffee Lounge.

8/23/09