I was asked to paint a mural at Atlanta's Carlos Museum, so I painted my son. More pics and info on Ganzeer.com.
“Mural” is a bit of a deceptive term here though—just a bit—because they are painted on canvas rather than directly on the wall. But, the way the canvas is installed and by extension how they are painted on, is all quite muralistic, so I guess it counts.
Also, a Gallery Talk with curator Amanda Hellman about the work in this video here:
I don't usually have my picture taken alongside my artwork, although from what I'm seeing on Instagram these days that seems to be the trend lately. I was over at Rice University's The Baker Institute helping guide Nash Baker with photographing the four murals I had recently completed there, after which he asked if he could snap a portrait of me. Situated in very narrow hallways, these murals aren't at all easy to photograph (let alone paint, btw), so it took multiple attempts before figuring out the right way to go about it. We decided a panoramic view was never going to work, and arguing that they'll likely be shown on a “carousel”-equipped web gallery anyway, perhaps photographing them in vertical segments is best.
They're all up at ganzeer.com for viewing: – Every Beautiful Poem – Tu Lucha – The ABCs of Growth – The ABCs of Power
A little low on energy today despite the sun finally emerging after a short absence. A short bike ride to the barbershop ought to help snap me out of it. Not to mention the added benefit of getting a haircut, which—ahem, looks at picture above—I clearly need.
I did this to myself. I know from experience that high contrast images with large shadow spaces make good stencil art and those comprised of thin lineart not so much. Also, it's obviously less of a pain to cut by hand.
But, I have determined that this is exactly what the last of the [Baker Institute] murals needs so it is exactly what I'm going to do; a large image that you can sort of make out from a distance but one that doesn't at all take away from all the layers of other content on the surface. This will make up the final addition to the wall, and after that it's just a matter of final touch ups here and there.
Oh wait, and some ceramic tiles :–)
Wall 2 is catching up with Wall 1, which I consider barely half complete. Which leaves me the month of September to finish them up. Will probably devote 1 week to mostly finishing each, and one week to the 2 additional walls I have to do (pretty straightforward those), with the final week of September left for final touches.
Tomorrow's tasks: – Modify posters and pasteups. – Wall 1 and 2: Wheat-paste posters – Wall 1 and 2: Take measurements for 3rd layer of art – Wall 1 and 2: Assorted scribbles and doodles
After a couple of 6-hour days on the murals, I was near destroyed (still forget it's been a long time since I was in my 20's), so I'm back to 4-hours a day now, leaving me enough time in the day to exercise, prep meals, spend a little time with moony, and plan the next day ahead, in addition to some prep work at the studio.
Speaking of, plan for tomorrow:
I've been working on a couple of slow-burn murals since July, due for completion by end of September. Each day requires a handful of tasks to check off. Tomorrow, I'ma need to:
Also: – Contact Mark about Hands Up
