With Kelly Velasco and her new painting 'Black Hair...Blue Mood'...
Sharon got the brand new "Black Cat" painting...
I was mesmerized by the canine-ish gargoyles at the old Grossinger Cadillac building on Wells Street...lots of construction going on, hope they don't tear this beauty down.
A week ago last Thursday night I finished painting the bird bath for the HCS Family Services 'In Bloom" public art project at Oak Brook Center.
..it was an evening of re-lining to bring the images back into sharp focus!
It got to be a late night...
...the bottom/underside took way longer than I expected, finally finished at 3am!
Made last minute touch ups in the morning then signed it with my top secret tool...
...time to deliver it to Westmont to Remes Auto Body for the protective clear coat, Rich generously took the time to help me transport this thing once again.
...was very glad to have these gentlemen unload and carry it off the truck.
Can you tell it's late afternoon on a Friday? These guys were very jovial! I just received an email all the pieces were installed today at Oak Brook Center and the big award ceremony, ribbon cutting and sculpture walk is next Thursday, May 19th...kind of exciting!
Here's the color portion of this story...spent a week deliberating if I should have 3 different color schemes/tiers and in the end stuck with it. In the past I would have done a coordinating border like the black and white bones I did in the 'Suite Chicago Dogs' set....but since this is one single piece and that was 4 separate pieces opted to try something different. It might look a little odd here, but wait until you see it with the black outlines painted in....stay tuned!
Actually going home to finish it tonight as I have to deliver to the autobody show in Westmont that is doing the clear coating...wish me luck!
The weekend before last, I finally started putting some art on the crazy fiberglass bird bath! I started by drawing on the composition with purple chalk - I had started with a title of "Canines'n Blooms" and a brief color rendering, but couldn't really figure it out until I was working full scale. Chalk is great, easy to erase.
I then went in with black paint and it suddenly started coming to life...
This is great fun, I know I don't look thrilled here...but I was! ; )
I've captured most of it on video so stay tuned for the high speed painting synapses! Do you like my bike seat laptop video tripod?
And the underside...which few will see, was going to do bones, then all leaves, but settled for the swirl...I think it's a good solution: Almost forgot to show you my rendering...inspired by my 'dog park debacle' series of paintings:
CaninesNblooms
Stay tuned for part 2: color!
....so on Saturday Alice went in for her follow up appointment at Roscoe Village Animal Hospital (see doggie drama...part 1)...while there, I mentioned to the vet that Gracie had been sick several times over the last 24 hours with obvious signs that she had chewed up and consumed 1/2 of a large, black 'extreme' kong. She said to keep an eye on her and play it by ear...within 2 hours of being back home, things coming out the other end indicated something more serious, so we took her in. They did an exam and xray and it was not good news - pieces of the kong were blocking her lower intestine. They sent us to the Animal Emergency Treatment Center on Belmont for immediate retrieval of what turned out to be the most expensive 3 pieces of kong we would ever see!
Luckily there were no complications and she is at home healing up, her incision is at least 8" long. No more kongs for Gracie, someone suggested deer antlers for pit mixes - got one and she loves it. Here are some photos from the 'canine infirmary': all the drugs for the 2 dogs and...oh yes, in the baggie are the 3 very pricey pieces of retrieved kong! (kind of strange though, only one was black the other two were tan colored...maybe her stomach acid bleached them?)
The staff at AETC were great, and they loved sweet Gracie (who looks much smaller than 60 pounds with that cone on her head). I was taken aback walking into their beautiful contemporary hopital to see all this vacant wall space - whose art do you think would go perfectly in this pet ER? (where people definitely need a reason to smile!) Could have outfitted the place if we had done a trade for the surgery!
This is the long overdue Narrative Portrait that I'm working on of my dog, Alice....
The image below was my initial sketch. There are so many silly things about her, it was hard to narrow it down, but I think these translate well:
If you live near Lake Forest, I hope you can come by The Deer Path Art League Gallery this Saturday, February 12th from 10:00-2:00. They have some wonderful gifts for your special Valentine!
I will be giving a brief talk at 10:30am about my art business, commission work, my passion for animals and art. I hope you can come join us and enjoy some complimentary Valentine treats!
Deer Path Art League & Gallery
♥ 400 E. Illinois Rd. 2nd Floor ♥ Lake Forest ♥ 847.234.3743