February 2012
1 post
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Illustration Friday: Suspense
January 2012
10 posts
2 tags
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Designing... but Muraling sometimes too!
I am way focused on graphic design these days: free lancing, working on personal projects, learning new techniques. It is my newfound super-hobby.
Two years ago, i was practically bathing in mural paint. My love for painting has not diminished an ounce, even if I don’t get to focus on it as much. But this is a small alert that I am still available for mural commissions! I’ll be...
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Make Something Every Day
I am inspired by the work of Noah Scalin and his Make Something 365 website. The idea of taking a single concept and exploring, expanding, & extricating 365 creations from the one idea is not onlyexciting, but its sure to garner skills you perhaps never realized you should develop in your creative process: news ideas, fresh perspectives, and a more interesting portfolio as reward.
now, just...
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Thoughts on the Amazing Logo
Working on a logo design, and being reminded of the importance of this good-lookin, multi-tasking little piece of design. It is amazing how much is in it. Designing a logo means creating something simple, but memorable. Something that looks good way up close, and from a distance. Something that translates from small to humungous with ease and grace. And it must do all this while encompassing an...
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For this week’s Illustration Friday topic (which is “grounded”), I decided to dally in logo design.
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Vivien Leigh - digital illustration
just happened on a gorgeous black and white picture of Vivien Leigh and was inspired to post my digital illustration of her: tossed hair, silvery dress and all.
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Illustration Friday: "Highlight"
pen & ink drawing based on this week’s Illustration Friday topic: highlight. See the rest at their site!
tumblrbot asked: WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?
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4 Bloody Marys and a 3 Legged Dog
I designed this logo with a New Orleans experience as inspiration: Couple months ago, while ambling through NOLA with some folks, walking among the street musicians and smells of beignets, we popped into a dark and intriguing bar for breakfast. The waitress and bartender talked with those unique New Orleanean twangs and called us “baby doll,” and a friendly white boxer dog with three legs...
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Zombies for New Year!
Presenting “Stitched and Sutured in 2012” - a single-page-calendar I designed for 2012, featuring the gorgeous zombie girls from my illustration portfolio. Buy your own for $8 at my etsy shop.
December 2011
1 post
2 tags
New Directions
After much hemming and hawing, I decided to incorporate my graphic design posts (my new and exciting career branch!) into my old mural blog. So this will be a cacophony of graphic design with some paintings, prints and murals. Starting with the announcement that I have recently posted my design and illustration portfolio featured in my new and improved website - much-pared-down for visual...
March 2011
1 post
5 tags
Mural Scouting, & Hello from NYC!
First off, please excuse my absence. I’ve been through a tumult of changes, including moving up to New York and enrolling in a graphic design program, starting a full-time job, and developing a rock/ice climbing habit. Murals are still a part of my artsy soul, so I vow to restablish my posting habits. In the future, I’ll likely post about design, oil paints, and other areas i love -...
November 2010
1 post
"Every Single Mural in the World Should Be of... →
October 2010
1 post
New Orleans Dreaming in a Baltimore House
Here are some scenes from a recent mural I painted in a Baltimore residence, in their basement bar. The inspiration? New Orleans.
August 2010
1 post
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Georgetown Mural Rejected →
July 2010
4 posts
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Mural Locator →
National Endowment for the Arts has this wonderful mural locator, with a map of murals around the world.
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DC Muralist G. Byron Peck featured on NEA's blog →
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Mural Process: New Orleans Dreamin
One of my current projects is this mural that I’m painting on canvas, which will later be installed with wallpaper paste onto a wall of a home bar. Just finished the section that will fit underneath the stair case (hence the weird shape). Here’s what I got:
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Longest Mural in the World →
It’s in the Philippines, and its over 23,000 feet long. holy cow.
June 2010
5 posts
3 tags
Met Branch Trail Mural: Before & After
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Check out more shots and the community that helped to paint these murals here.
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Mural Artist Mission to Paint 23,000 Dolphins →
This is a beautiful example of combining artistic vision with an ecological mission.
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A Mural in Arizona and Racist Responses →
I just watched American History X last night for the first time. The movie is terrifying in its portrayal of racism in America. I coincidentally ran into this article this morning depicting the same horrible, inexplicable hatred conveyed in the movie. Mural artists in Prescott Arizona painted four child figures in a piece about green transportation, located on a school wall outdoors. One of the...
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My Day on the Trail
It was super rockin! Unbelievably hot and muggy, but the community spirit overcame the weather. Many folks stopped by to paint a few brush strokes, some staying for hours to leave their mark on the mural. All ages too, and all totally enthusiastic. It was a reaffirming kind of experience - and it reinforced the importance of community involvement in art and place. Here are some snap shots of the...
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Prepping for Public Trail Mural
Today I primed two stone seating areas along DC’s new Met Branch Trail. All I was doing was painting these things white, but it instigated a lot of smiles, thank yous, and conversations with the trail users.
The big issue is that everything on this trail gets tagged within nano seconds of its placement. I am hoping these stay relatively clean through the night, since tomorrow is the big...
May 2010
4 posts
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Mural Scouting: New One on H Street
Snapped this mural from a car window as we drove by it on our way from our old Cap Hill row house to meet the landlords at our new Eckington apartment. This mural is on 10th & H NE, and looks like a celebration of H Street’s vibrancy. I’ll have to go back for a closer look though…
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Yikes - Shepard Fairey mural in NYC to be torn... →
:(
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Michelle Obama: mural painter! →
The First Lady gets involved in a mural painting and other community revitilization projects in DC.
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DC mural gets flack for not enough community input →
A mural in this DC park was proposed to the community via listserv - a move that some residents resent. They say many people didn’t even know about the mural until after it was painted, and were thereby not able to put in any of their own opinions and desires for what they would like in their park…. On the other hand, with a small budget and super tight time frame, this is what the...
April 2010
5 posts
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Scenes from "Give Me a Vote" Mural Jam
Albus Cavus hosted a mural jam yesterday in Edgewood centering on DC’s fight for a vote. The concept is that each artist creates a hand on the mural. Met lots of cool folks, and used spray paint for the first time - totally rockin!
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Some communities pay big bucks for public art...
while others demand the murals they have for free be wiped out: http://tinyurl.com/2fwv4ue
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Mural Scouting: Duke Ellington's Legacy
Yesterday I went to see Sophisticated Ladies at Arena Stage on U Street (Lincoln Theater) … U Street is of course the perfect setting for this choreographically brilliant tribute to Duke Ellington. Considering the standing-ovation worthy performance, it seemed the perfect time to snap this mural painted just across the street.
The mural is by G Byron Peck, who runs City Arts. Duke is...
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Mural Technique: What Kind of Paint to Use
I recently received an email from a fellow artist wondering exactly what kind of paint is ideal for murals. After all, murals are a completely different animal than works on canvas or paper in terms of surface type, size, and elements it will be exposed to after completion. Where murals are concerned, I hold the firm belief that acrylics rule. Why?
They are quick drying – which is important....
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Getting Filmed! And learning how to talk about...
First of all, yikes! Sorry about the long absence from the blog-world. Many things a-happening: working on my own fine art, starting a new job, house-hunting, checking out trail-mural possibilities for the summer… BUT, I am going to be better about updating this blog…. starting NOW.
I thought I’d start back up by talking about a recent experience of being filmed by students from Silver...
March 2010
5 posts
3 tags
Some see mural in NYC as offensive to women →
A Times Square mural painted by Sofia Maldonado, a Latina woman herself, is found offensive by some to women and minorities. Whether you like the art or not, here is public art that is getting people talking and engaged.
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Happy St Patricks Day from the Daily Zombie.
Get your own original Irish Zombie from my Etsy shop.
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The Electric Maid Mural - Community Art
A few weeks ago I finished applying the last stroke of varnish on the Electric Maid mural. The Electric Maid is a non-profit space that will be a “community living room.” A gathering place where local musicians and artists can participate with the community. Rockin music gigs, an eclectic mix of adult and youth classes, art showings, films… And also, quite simply, a place to be comfy in the...
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Greek Food, the Acropolis, and Cats
I’ve been working with Maria Kyriacou the past couple of weeks painting a mural for Mama’s Kitchen in Alexandria, VA - a Greek restaurant. The scene: a nightlife street scene in Athens, with the Acropolis gleaming on a mountaintop in the background. To the upbeat tunes of Mama Mia’s soundtrack, we had fun painting in the unique details of the balconies and various characters on the street...
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Art Whino's G40 - beautiful and fun
Trekked out to Crystal City this past weekend to see some of Art Whino’s G40. There are five floors of eclectic art: paintings, sculpture and installments, and a lot of mural-y street art (see photos). It is an intriguing experience to wonder through the various rooms and displays - a journey akin to exploring Artomatic. Unlike Artomatic, however, G40 is curated.
For those hands-on kind...
February 2010
9 posts
4 tags
Mural Scouting: Lines of Colorful Figures on H St
Brilliantly colorful abstracted human figures line H Street NE right behind Union Station. Many of these mosaic figures have dedications, posted on plaques on their panel. A great mural close by to public transportation, and a gateway for visitors entering the H St NE corridor – a strip which is flowering with all sorts of new establishments from coffee shops to a bar that offers mini golf.
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Public Murals: "Ghettoish"? →
A mural adds color to a handball court, bringing youth together to create art and address public health issues. But a woman in the area calls the mural “ghettoish.” …. It’s true that public art cannot please everyone. However, I feel like its always a good idea to take a step back from traditional (and perhaps out-dated and ethnocentric) beliefs to evaluate things like...
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Sketches for Takoma Park Mural Unveiled →
Metro just released the designs for two upcoming public artworks coming to the area. DC artist Sam Gilliam will be presenting his colorful art as a public mural near the Takoma Park metro station. In addition, Michael Sirvet will install his beautiful sculptural artwork at the Farragut West metro station.
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Murals as Part of Something Larger
One of the reasons I love murals is because they exist within communities, instead of inside galleries. But while public art is an important ingredient in community enrichment and place-making, it cannot make a successful community space just standing on its own two legs… or, err, its own wall. Creating good community spaces – like parks, playgrounds, centers, markets, and meeting places – must...
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Back to the Mural!
Back to painting at the Electric Maid today. But first, because its right across the street and I am constantly hungry, I indulged in one of 7-11’s awesome salads. Who knew? They’re actually delicious.
Check out the world today: healthy salads and pay-for-plastic-bags at 7-11. So awesome. But I digress. The mural painting was the real highlight of my day, beyond the salad-eating....
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Keeping the Creative Energy Awake
Photo from Youssef Nabil’s art installation at the Kennedy Center’s Arabesque show in 2009. DC metro closed again for all above ground stations today… Which basically means that I’m continuing to not work on that mural I am clawing to paint over in Takoma Park. At first I was disappointed that I couldn’t get cracking on it – all my energy was ready and raring to go. I just put in a...
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Beautiful Aprons, Salvadoran Policemen & Lotsa...
Public Park Mural Painting In the midst of this mad-shoveling snOMG day, thought I’d post on warmer memories… specifically, painting a mural in the dappled sunlight of a public park in San Salvador - El Salvador’s capitol city - this past November. In addition to muraling at an El Salvadoran school, I was given the opportunity by Glasswing International to design a mural for a massive...
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Mural Technique: Priming
First off, let’s define: according to the ever-handy Dictionary.com, to prime is “to prepare or make ready for a particular purpose or operation.” So, priming a wall means preparing a wall for the mural to be painted on it. Primer seals the wall and also allows subsequent layers of paint to adhere to it. Still, you might be asking yourself when exactly do you prime, and what do you prime with?...
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Empowerment for Valentine's
On days like good ol Valentines, whether loving it or hating it, I like to focus on inner strength and empowerment. Love for yourself is the basis for all that mushy romance stuff for others. Without it, the mush is really just complete fluff.
I’m out here opining on all this because I have an artsy style that is a cool Valentine in the sense that it is an expression of love and...
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Mural Scouting: Afro-Columbian Culture on U Street
Muralist Joel Bergner painted a scene soaked in Afro-Columbian culture on DC’s vivaciously eclectic U Street Corridor. I love this mural because it shines light on one culture’s struggle that we in the US can and have easily ignored. A well-rounded work of art, the mural doesn’t focus solely on tragic violence that Afro-Columbians face. It also shows a beautiful culture: with dancing, rivers,...
January 2010
10 posts
3 tags
Murals and Yoga: Lessons Learned
Holy week-long hiatus! I was up in Rehobeth painting a mural at Hot Yoga Delaware. I didn’t expect to come home converted to bending my body into crazy positions in 104 degree heat, but turns out? I did. Painting a mural in the company of the amazing Holli and Lisa (the wonderful ladies who own and run Hot Yoga Delaware) changed my world:
The Hot Yoga DE girls are dedicated to their students...