Saturday, November 30, 2013

Altogether different...

I volunteered to paint a chair...The Woman's Club of Palo Alto is doing a fund raiser titled, The Painted Chairs Project.  They were looking for artists to paint their 1930's folding chairs, then they will be auctioning them off in March 2014.  I thought this would be fun so I'm just about finished with mine.  I've been working on it for over a week now.  My idea was to be a little edgy and create a chair that would actually make a person uneasy about sitting in it...is that even possible?  You tell me.  So my ideas...make the seat look like it is broken wood and have someone looking up at you from underneath.  I had a goofy photo of my son - it was perfect.  Then for the back I wanted things you might not want to lean up against...how about a snake, some bugs, and maybe a frog that looks like lunch for the snake.  Also I decided the back should look a little weak so I tried to make it look like the back is just a few slats of wood screwed into place.  here is my progress so far...
I still need to paint the reverse side of the back, as well as paint some breaks in the wood along the legs and sides.  What do you think?  Too creepy?  Should I have painted flowers and rainbows instead?  Thanks for coming by... should be done with the chair in a few days.  Mark

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Yosemite completed

This was a challenge.  A very good challenge.  The fun and satisfaction I get from spending a month working on a painting always starts with an interesting photo.  It was well worth an overnight trip to Yosemite last month to shoot a bunch of morning and evening photos in the valley.  So it's been fun to interpret one of these photos and enjoy the memory of being there with my wonderful wife.  Here you go...

Not sure what's next - please come by next week.  Thanks, Mark