AU Deadline: Aggghhhh!

The deadline for Art Unleashed design submissions is tomorrow (June 1, 2007)!

Aggghhhhh!!!

And I've been on vacation for a week in Florida.
It didn't do me any good to have early notice! Guess I'll be burning the oil tonight.

Art Unleashed 2008!

It's back!

Art Unleashed was so successful in 2006 that the Forsyth Humane Society of North Carolina has decided to do it again.

This blog began as a journal of my participation in the original AU 2006. My intention then was to write about three things. First, to keep everybody up to date on how I was progressing with painting my dog. Next, to keep up some excitement about the project during three months of silence while the artists franticly painted their forms. And, finally, to write about everything I learned about painting a fiberglass 3D form.

Last time, I found out about AU only eight days before the artist submission deadline! I was so excited about participating, though, that I worked constantly to get my design finished and submitted, quite literally, in the last hour. It was a wonderful experience so I was thrilled to hear they were doing it again.

Now that I'm on their mailing list, I got early notice that the deadline for artist design submissions is June 1, 2007. And wouldn't you know, my mind is a complete blank. Was it just serendipitous last time? I don't typically work better under pressure; I'm a wreck, actually. So I'm struggling. I will be infinitely sad if I can't participate again.

Stay tuned.

Post Adoption Auction Party - Part 2

(Go to Part One)

I was anxious to get back over next to SAM. When we got back in the lobby you could tell that the bulk of the crowd had finally arrived. The time they were spending in front of the forms was more attentive. When I got back to SAM, he had been bid on by a couple of different people! The price was $450. Once again I began introducing myself but this time they were introducing themselves as bidders. One was Gummie.

I had actually known about Gummie's interest in SAM before the party. There had been on-line bidding for all the forms about 30 days before the party. I was tickled to see that SAM had actually gotten a bid – from Gummie. As it turns out, Gummie was a volunteer on the Auction Committee and had fallen in love with SAM. Considering her ties, we decided to ask her how some forms ended in silent auction and others in live.

Gummie is fairly new to the area but not new to charitable auctions. The auctioneer that the Humane Society had hired told them that it was impossible to live auction 46 forms in one night. He set the limit. The forms that were chosen for the live auction were random. But Gummie said she had seen a live auction of 200 pieces of art in one night and disagreed with the auctioneer's assessment. I know that there were some artists upset to be "stuck" in the silent auction. But we would soon see why they auctioneer chose a limit.

I was overwhelmed with the idea that people were actually choosing to bid on SAM. That of a room of 46, SAM was one of their choices. There were at least five different bidders for SAM and three that battled it out until the clock struck 8:15. I didn’t see the final price before the clipboards were snatched up but SAM raised the Humane Society around $725.

They wasted no time gathering everyone for the live auction. I so wanted to stay for the entire thing but ValetBoy and Minx had left to get us a table for dinner and my feet were killing me. I had worn these adorable little strappy high heals with jeans. They were actually fine as long as I was walking. Or sitting. But to stand in one place for 2 hours... Yikes!

We couldn't see very well so I can't tell you exactly which forms we saw auctioned. I know we were there for Femme Fatale and Corky. The auctioneer was wonderful. He was entertaining and stirred up a lot of excitement in the audience. He took his time and made sure the audience was engaged. The first forms went for $1250. There were twenty more forms to auction off and the price went up every time. We left when Corky was sold for around $2500. I read in the paper the next day that the Humane Society raised $80,000 and the last form was sold for $7000. Oh, I wish I had been there for that!

This was such a wonderful experience - I would do it again. As we left the lobby, I looked back at SAM and said my last goodbye. I'm very proud of him.

(See newspaper article here.)

Post Adoption Auction Party - Part 1

Things have been very hectic so I haven't written a movie review or reported on the Art Unleashed Auction. I know you're on pins and needles.

The venue was the main lobby of The Wachovia Center. It was a perfect location. Around 26 of the cats and dogs lined the walls of the main lobby. They were a part of the silent auction that would take place until 8:15. SAM took his party position to the left of the ticket table as you entered the building. Next to him was Swirls the cat and then the Magical Mandala dog.

We were asked to arrive early and stand next to our form so that potential bidders could ask questions. I didn't see any other artists near their forms so I felt a little uncomfortable - conspicuous. So those perusing didn't think I was gawking at them I would introduce myself. "Hi. I'm the artist." Then they were very excited, even if only politely so, and usually had questions.

My nerves were getting the better of me and no one was bidding on SAM. I thought maybe it was weird with me standing right there so My Geek and I decided to check out the food and drinks which were generously donated by several local restaurants. Taking a walk and pacing in front of the food options didn't calm my nerves. Neither did the arrival of my friends (Valet Boy and Minx). It didn't help that the alarms in the area kept going off. Through the outer glass wall you could see additional seating on the balcony. People were trying to go out one of the many exterior doors which set off the alarms. Once triggered, the security guards seemed to be unable to figure out how to get it shut off again. Eventually the approrpiate wiring was yanked out of the wall to a round of applause!

Before leaving the food, I was interviewed briefly by Leigh McMillan who writes a column for the Accent section of the Tuesday edition of the Winston-Salem Journal. Leigh is a friend of the Minx who had told her that I was one of the artists. Minx told me to be prepared. Leigh was very sweet. Check out her article here.

On our way back to the food we passed the live auction area and the 20 remaining dogs and cats. The live auction was set to start at 8:30. One of the burning questions of the night was how did certain forms get chosen for the live auction and why weren't they all in the live auction. We would learn this later when we met Gummie.

Adoption Auction Party

It's been a long time since I've talked about SAM. This weekend is the final event in the Art Unleashed program - the Adoption Auction Party.

All of the forms will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to the Forsyth Humane Society. You can even bid on-line. Details about the party can be found on the Art Unleashed site under Events. You can still attend; admission is $20.

I've been very excited and nervous about the auction, as any artist might be.

I look forward to seeing SAM and the other cats and dogs again. When they're all together at once, it's like a story book come to life - where ruby slippers have magical powers and talking cats and dogs are all the colors of the rainbow.

It's nerve racking because it's where the rubber meets the road. You can't help but think that the results of this auction reflects how others feel about your work. I just pray someone bids on SAM and he goes for more than $5!

"Do I hear five dollars for SAM? Five dollars? Anyone?"

"Anyone?"



The noise in the room is a low hum. The sound is of dozens of distracted conversations while they flip through the program wondering when the next form is on the auction block.

"Two dollars? Do I hear two dollars?"

Yes, I know it's unnecessarily cruel but this is the way artists think. I need to invite my muse to the party instead of my critics.

Jacob Glidewell's blog entry, Your True Muse, got me to thinking about the company I keep (in my head) while I'm making art. I can easily picture my critics because I always invite them along but I had not stopped to think about who my muse is (I'll post about her sometime). This was a very fun exercise and I learned that I like this chick a lot!

So if you come to the auction and no one bids on SAM, you may hear some woman say, "You f------- idiots wouldn't know art if it bit you in the ass!" and then bite someone on the ass. I apologize ahead of time but she's a lot more fun than that pretentious bunch of critics I always bring.


I love you, SAM.

Parade Coutoure

I had intended on designing t-shirts for all of us to wear in the parade but I ran out of time. The designs had to be digitized, uploaded to CafePress and then ordered. They would never arrive on time. But, anyone who knows me knows that I don’t let ideas go that easily. It started when my friend said, “Just get matching green t-shirts.” Simple, ehh?

THE PROJECT
I had five days. I went to AC Moore during my lunch hour. They had t-shirts in OLA green. Perfect. But, lo! What is this? T-shirt spray paint? My mind started churning.

“That looks quick and easy. I just need to come up with a design, make a stencil and spray paint the t-shirts.”

Famous last words – “quick and easy”.


I bought four t-shirts, white and pink Tulip Cool Color Spray paint and Tulip 3D easy flow tube paint in black. For the next four days, I spent my lunch hour and evenings coming up with four designs. (Yes, four. I thought each t-shirt should be different.)

My parents were coming in from TN for the parade (so sweet). They would arrive the day before. I wrote mom earlier in the week and said I had a little project for us to do. She’s just like me. It was an insane idea but we’ve done crazier things. She was game.

If you would like a list of the products I used, instructions, tips, tricks and things I learned, click here for the long version. To make the story short, I was able to paint only two t-shirts because of a paint bottle malfunction. I don’t recommend buying the white paint but the pink worked fine. As you can see, they turned out pretty good.

As a back up (in case the spray paint didn’t work), mom and I made Cat in the Hat ties. I knew these would be fast and easy. I bought four sheets of stiff red felt. I sketched out the pattern on butcher paper. Mom cut them all out. We made them in two pieces so they would be dimensional. I glued them together with E6000 and used large safety pins as a fastener. I thought these would really pop against the green t-shirts.

So at the parade I wore one of the painted t-shirts and a Cat in the Hat hat. My Geek wore a green t-shirt with a Cat in the Hat tie. And there you have the appropriate coutoure for escorting SAM in his parade.

Pet Parade Pictures

I finally have my pictures of SAM up on the server so that you guys can see them.

Also, Art Unleashed has three pages of photos showing all the cat and dog forms.

Parade Details

I thought I would put a post here with some of the parade details. You can also go to Art Unleashed for info.


*** RAIN or SHINE ***

Saturday, April 29, 2006, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

TIME LINE
09:30 a.m. - Artist/Sponsor check-in at 4th & Spruce
09:30 a.m. - Parade line-up begins at 4th & Spruce
11:00 a.m. - Parade starts at 4th & Spruce
12:00 p.m. - Parade ends at 4th & Trade
12:00 p.m. - Festival begins at Trade St. btwn 4th & 7th
03:00 p.m. - Festival ends

PARADE ROUTE: 4 blocks
STRT - 4th & Spruce
---> - down 4th to Trade
LEFT - on Trade to 5th
---> - down 5th
END. - 5th & Trade
---> - Pets & forms continue on Trade to festival
---x - Take forms to their designated location
RGHT - Cars turn on Trade

PARKING
PUBLIC - Cherry St across from Benton Convention Ctr ($2 all day)
PUBLIC - 4th & Spruce

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Please contact Stephanie Belcher.

Help With Parade

We need some suggestions for transporting the dogs & cats in the parade on April 29.

This is a question that My Geek and I had been bantering around for a couple of weeks. It was obvious the wheels on the platform are not made to roll on the street. Anyone who rides bikes knows that a flat road in good condition can still be a rough ride. And for wheels that are not made for street use, it could be damaging.

My idea was small, flatbed trailers pulled by a car or truck or even a lawnmower or 3-wheeler. But the parade route is really short, about 3 blocks, and having that many vehicles with trailers would cause a major jam. I believe what Art Unleashed has in mind is still something that can be pulled manually.

Another suggestion was something like the flatbed lumber carts you can use at the home improvement stores. A good idea but how are we going to get 40+ of these!?

So we need your help, suggestions, and ideas.

Drop Off SAM

Well, it was a harrowing week.

Everyday this week, immediately after work, I worked until midnight painting on SAM. Everyday at lunch I worked on spots in the design that were still blank. It wasn't until Wednesday that I was confident that I could actually get him finished the way I wanted and make the drop-off on Saturday. Even still, I knew that Friday night might be an all nighter.

The platform was the biggest stresser. It was completely blank at the start of this week. The design was good but I still didn't end up with as much coverage as I wanted. It was really great to work on a flat surface for a change! Even though I kept laying my arm in areas I had just painted.

Friday and Saturday were emotional rollercoasters - partly from lack of sleep, the fact that SAM was actually going to be finished and that tornados had just hit my parents town in Goodlettsville (all are safe and sound).

Around 10:00 p.m. Friday, I decided to do a test to see how long it would take the varnish to dry. This was important since that determined when My Geek could go to sleep! I wasn't going to varnish until the dog was attached to the platform and he had to do that. What I wanted to know is, can he go on to bed and just get up in the morning and attach the dog and then I could varnish before going to the storage facility. It seemed to take a good hour for the varnish to dry. Perfect. We could attach and varnish at 7:00 a.m. Saturday and still make it to the storage facility before 1:00 p.m. My Geek headed to bed right before 1:00 a.m.

I was up until 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning painting. I wasn't surprised. I had told My Geek it would probably be 2:00 but I was thinking 3:00. And, as every good engineer knows, you double the expected time so I should have said 4:00.

It got very frustrating because I would squirt out some red paint and think, "This is it. This is the last paint I'm going to use." Then I'd step back and see and see a spot I had missed. "Damn!". And I'd go again.

I didn't really sleep much anyway. My Geek got SAM on the platform, I touched up some more spots I had missed and we ate some breakfast. Then I put on the varnish. I was surprised at how long it was taking to dry. I was really getting worried. I decided to go take a shower.

I don't know why it was at this moment that I felt sudden sadness. Maybe I was exhausted or relaxed by the steaming shower. But I suddenly realized I was done and going to give SAM away.

I was really looking forward to seeing some of the other forms. I was totally blown away. You guys are going to be in for such a treat. I just couldn't believe all the creativity and talent. The parade is going to be so much fun. I can't wait.

That's enough for now. I'm going to get some sleep. I'll be back here some more to talk about the upcoming parade, some t-shirt designs I have in mind and then, eventually, the auction.

Attaching to the Platform

What methods are you using to attach your forms to the platform?

My Geek is going to do this for me but he's not sure the best way to do it.

Dog Box Alternative

My brother called this week. He's a fabricator/builder. He's been in racing ever since he could sit on a motor bike and take apart a car. He had a great idea for my upside down painting quandry.

You could use two extra large styrofoam blocks, cut "V"s into them and craddle the form upside down in those. The form would not only fit snuggly without sliding around too much but the foam would be gentle on any painting already finished. It's like an upside down saw horse.


Brilliant idea, Robert. Thanks.

Lots of Sketching

I did lots of sketching this weekend and no painting. But I think transfering the design to the form is the most time consuming task. I feel good about getting these sketches painted quickly this week.

I also took pictures of the areas of the form that have no design. These are the areas that are on a 3D form but don't show up in a 2D picture: the belly, nose, chest, and back. I printed these off so I can fill in the design.


Each portion of the design is taking on it's own identity. There's the vine, tattoo, heart slide and water leg. This weekend I sketched the Siblings, French Guy and Pirate. I also settled on colors for Pink Tail. I'm still nervous about getting it all done by April 1. But I have a great circle of encouragers that are cheering me along. They are great at keeping me positive. I love this project. I'll be sad when it's done.

Day Off

I knew I would need to take at least one day off to work on SAM so I took Friday, March 10 off. I don't know how the weekend got away from me so quickly. I thought I would get so much more done. But I have a theory.

Pretty much all of my work has been with the designs on the legs. I may be wrong, but my theory is that these are the most time consuming portions of the project. I have to move the form into so many postions just to work on one leg. When I spend more time on the body and head, we'll see how this theory plays out.

Dog In A Box

This is how my dog in a box theory turned out. Works pretty well, too. I've put the whole thing on the rolling platform. I've got lots of mobility with this. I can even lean SAM over, almost laying him on his side. I can work on all parts of the leg much better this way - except for the feet. They're a "right side up" job.

Transferring A Pattern

The pattern up the right foreleg is a little complicated. The images themselves are very simple: a round flower, stem and two large curling leaves (I was studying paisley when I came up with this pattern). It's their interlocking repetition that's complicated. This is a piece of the design that needed to be completed in 3D to flush it out. Now I'm wondering, when I was originally drawing the design, "What was I thinking?" where the pattern stops.


In addition to figuring out how many of the flowers I can get on the inside of the leg, I am having trouble drawing the straight lines of the stem around the tubular shaped leg. Your eyes play tricks on you.


I finally decided to proportially increase my pattern on the computer and print it out. That way, I could place it repeatedly all around the leg, using temporary adhesive, turning and twisting them, until they fit. If you've never used temporary adhesive, you don't know what you're missing. I've had this in my basic office kit for years. The first one I bought was PaperMate. Tombow also makes one. You can get them at office supply stores.

Table On A Roll

I've finished painting the rolling platform with iridescent white. I thought of putting SAM on it and rolling him around to make it easier to paint and draw but I'm so worried about scratches.

Well that's just silly.

I went ahead and put my light, little drafting table on top of the platform. Under the feet of the table I put some fun foam. This should keep the table from scratching the platform and grip it at the same time. So far, it works like a dream.

I still need a way to work with the dog upside down. I grabbed a couple of paper boxes from work yesterday. They're not very big but I might be able to make it work temporarily. Good thing this form is fairly light. I'm really moving him around a lot to work on the legs.

Tools: blending stub

Do you remember having blending stumps in drawing class?

These are just tight rolls of paper in varying shapes and sizes used for blending, smearing or removing graphite or charcoal. I pulled one of these out of my tool kit the other day to "erase" the charcoal pencil I'm using to draw on SAM. Works great.

Thank You For Being A Friend

I have a hard time considering myself an artist next to my friend Erin. She's a wonderful mentor and always has great ideas. She's miles away from me now but we try to talk regularly. (Her blog is also wonderful to read.)

Last night I was thrilled she wanted to talk about SAM - how it was going and what I was working on. I unloaded my latest frustrations and then thought, "Hey, let me send you a couple of pictures and maybe you can help with the design on this front leg. It's bothering me and I don't know why."

I love technology (but not as much as you)!

I quickly fired over a scan of my drawing and a photo of what I was actually doing on the leg, because they were different. (I didn't like the original design. It seemed boring.)

It was really encouraging to hear her say she loved the original design and that I should stick with it. "Look at your Dr. Seuss books again," she prompted. She also reminded me to have fun and not worry so much.

I feel like I've taken a deep breath after being under water. Thanks Erin.

Electrical Tape

Up one of the legs I had this idea to do candy cane stripes. I was going to do one in OLA green and one red. But how am I going to get these stripes mapped out on the leg?


I pulled out some electrical tape my friend Erin sent me for some collage fun. This worked pretty good. It stretched, turned and pulled up easily. I wasn't worried about getting the lines exact but I wanted to make sure that the idea of "candy cane" was conveyed. After I got the tape where I wanted, I marked it with my soft charcoal pencil. Not bad. But now I'm questioning the whole idea of the stripes. For some reason they just hit me wrong. Hmm?

I don't know how far other artists have gotten but I'm noticing a couple of challenges.


SAM is standing up on my old drafting table. This is almost a perfect height. I can work sitting in my desk chair or standing. At other times, I lay him on his side. Even though there are towels covering the table, SAM is getting nicked! While I'm drawing, I'll rotate SAM around. The towel helps me do the rotatiing but then it will expose the edges of the table. The next time I rotate, his ear or leg will catch the edge of the table and scratch my nice iridescent finish. More towels?

I started by painting down one side of the torso and then moved to each leg. Boy, are these challenging! I don't know whether to work with the dog upside down or me! I haven't come up with a safe, stable way yet to work with SAM upside down. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. My Geek suggested a large box full of bubble wrap. A good idea but I don't have a box so I haven't tested this out. My friend Sue suggested pillows. They might work in the box if I covered them with bubble wrap.