365 Project #371 Third LEAF

The third annual Llano Earth Art Fest was held on March 10, 11, 12 and 13 this year and it was a mighty fine festival. There were rock stackers in artistic and competitive activities from all over the world and the US, organic art and fine art, food and vendors, music and festival entertainment, camping, all on the beautiful Llano River. There's nothing quite like it anywhere.

Here is Don's and my album combining the photos we took during the festival.

I was asked to contribute an art installation and decided to paint the rock spiral I have maintained in Grenwelge Park for the last couple of years. Marcus Hammons has been maintaining the beautiful stack in the center (it falls down from time to time).

Since I wanted it to be organic and washable, I made a paint from constarch, water and liquid watercolors. The result was an Easter-egg colored spiral. We've had a few light rains, so the colors are washing away gently. Then, imagine my delight when the spiral was featured on the front page of the Llano News!

Photo courtesy Terry Schroth

Photo courtesy Worth Green

Photo courtesy Terry Schroth

365 Project #369 We Shall Overcome

Grenwelge Park in Llano, TX is a pretty special place. The park is located on the Llano River adjacent to the beautiful Llano Bridge. The river cuts through solid granite as it winds through the park.  It was the site of the first and second Llano Earth Art Fest and the third one will be the second weekend in March.

The festival has become a magical blend of Earth and Art, attracting stackers from all over the US and getting inquiries from as far away as Yemen.  Home of the World Rock Stacking Championship, the event has something for everyone, from stacking to art to music to food and activities. The stacks are works of art that are shared photographically all over the world.

After the first festival, a heroic undertaking in itself, a group of people came under cover of darkness and knocked all the stacks down in an excess of religious zeal. Within days, the community and visitors were repairing what they could and building their own stacks. Also within days, plans started for the next festival. 

Since the first and second events, locals and visitors come to the park for serenity, family activities and to stack. This past weekend vandals once again knocked down other people's work. We understand that this is an ephemeral art and it's the doing, not the keeping that's the point. But, still... On Monday, the community was repairing and stacking, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW WE ROLL.

This is one work that was destroyed after the first festival, that Marcus Hammons and I maintain at the park. Whoever built it the first time may be happy to find it's still there.

Update; a little further along

  

365 Project #361 Tumbler Project

I got a phone call last week from the Llano Chamber of Commerce, saying I had been referred to them. They needed some stainless steel mugs personalized, and pretty quick. I did some research and got back to them. Decent-looking lettering is real precise stuff and for most applications your best bet is cut vinyl lettering. I went shopping at WordsAnywhere.com, got the order made and sweated the delivery. Fortunately the lettering arrived in time, I was able to apply the names and they were delivered 2 hours before they were presented. Whew!

365 Project #357 Inkscape Video Tutorials

I've been learning to use Inkscape and come across the best series of video tutorials! Derek Banas has done us all a favor by making these tutorials. They're fast-paced, comprehensive and understandable. I'm on #4 now, can't wait to finish and keep this series as a reference.

365 Project #356 ARToberfest 2016

Yesterday, Oct. 1, Turnabout played for the Llano Art Guild and Gallery's annual fundraising event, ARToberfest. We had a great turnout, fabulous art in the Silent Auction, a wonderful German-style dinner and good music. Thanks so much to all who contributed their time and effort and to our wonderful guests!

Don Crowder, Lisa Miller, John Carpenter, Beth Henderson, Pat Gibbons

photo courtesy John Hallowell, Highland Lakes Weekly

365 Project #352 Sign Painting

Spent the early afternoon at Valerie and Marcus's art and gift shop, Calamity And Grace in Llano, painting decorative signs for the Llano Courthouse Square. The simple designs I came up with worked up nicely and should be easy to read from the road. Yay, Fall!

I'm pretty pleased, these are the first signs I've ever done.

365 Project #351 Painting With Inkscape

My friend Valerie asked me to paint a couple of seasonal signs for her to decorate the Courthouse Square in Llano. They'll be painted on some vintage steel siding and need to look 'rustic'. I took the opportunity to practice using Inkscape, which has a pretty hefty learning curve, to develop the designs. Here's a preview, let's hope I can do a good job actually painting them tomorrow.

365 Project #349 Burnet Art Festival

The Llano Art Guild was invited to the Burnet Art Festival in Burnet, TX to represent the Guild and give artist demonstrations. This Saturday I gave a demo on the Courthouse Square and manned the booth for part of the afternoon. A good time was had by all, thanks so much to the Burnet artists and coordinators of this event!

photos courtesy John Hallowell, Highland Lakes Weekly

365 Project #347 Inkscape

Lately I've been frustrated that sometimes I need a good vector graphics editor and I'm pretty deficient in that category. Today I worked the Llano Fine Art Guild and Gallery and had the time to 'do my homework'. I downloaded a simple introductory User Guide and Inkscape to a laptop and worked on navigating my way around the tools.

Inkscape is the free, open-source equivalent of Adobe Illustrator. There are those who would say it's not quite as good but there are many professionals who use it for their everyday work. Here are the current prices for the license, keeping in mind you do not own it. I think I know what to do with $700 per year lying around the house, that is if I HAD...well, never mind.

I'll try to do a little every day to build my skills and cement them in. One more thing :-)

365 Project #344 Digital Coloring

I made a couple of doodle pages specifically for coloring, just to see if I could. The difference between these and regular doodles is that you need to leave plenty of space between the lines to permit coloring. I colored these digitally in GIMP, using just the Flood tool to make it quick, no special techniques. It was fast and easy and I had a great time.

Skip on over to Doodlebug if you'd like to keep up with my Doodle Art.

365 Project #341 Steer Skull

There's all kinds of prep involved in painting, especially if it's something unusual like a steer skull. I purchased this big boy back in June and have just decided what to do with him. I really enjoyed the Talavera-style deer skull I did as a commission for someone else, so I've decided to do the same style with Oscar (he's Mexican). Here's me cleaning his teeth (cattle have shocking dental habits) and a rough first sketch of some of my favorite patterns.

365 Project #340 Doodlebug

Well, it seems doodling is very addictive, and the word 'Doodlebug' means not only a hard-shelled insect, but a doodling addict. I've caught the fever and hope I don't get over it.

I've started another blog called 'Doodlebug' where I'll keep copies of my doodles, just to have a nice convenient place to look at them.

365 Project #338 Everyday Art

Having been convinced for a long time that I can't draw, I try to draw a little something every day, preferably without sketching. The cool thing is, if you do something a little each day, you CAN'T get worse. I love to doodle...

365 Project #337 First Larger Canvas

I have been trying to emulate a style made popular by the Morton/Kngwarreye sisters of Australia. I love their representations of flowers. They fill in the spaces between the flower designs, but as soon as I reached this point, I felt done, so I'm calling it done.

365 Project #336 Movin' On Up

An artist whose work I respect has encouraged me right along to go to bigger size canvases. With some trepidation, here goes. Since this is a pattern suggesting flowers more than a representation of an object, I've tried to stick to a habit of making my paintings hang-able on any side.

This is about half done, I still need to place patterns on the rest of the underlying circles. When the white overlayment is done, I'll make the decision then whether to fill in the areas between the circles. The dimensions are 20"x 24".

365 Project #334 First Antlers

Spent a good part of the afternoon getting after the antlers I bought a couple months ago. These went well, another idea I had for drawing directly on the antler with a gel pen, not so well, so I gessoed it over and then will paint white and try again. 

365 Project #333 Scribbles

Lately I've been having to work in 'a little art' when I can, we're having a wonderful musical joyride. I like the idea of completing a little doodle every day just in case I haven't been able to get to the big projects. Here are a few scribbles with a theme.

365 Project #332 Kid's Art Camp

For the fourth year, Llano Art Guild and Gallery has conducted a Kid's Art Camp 3 consecutive Tuesdays in July. This year we had split classes, children aged 5-9 for 2 hours in the morning, and aged 10-15 in the afternoon. This Tuesday I taught the Rock Painting segment of the occasion. All the kids were enthusiastic, talented and got to take home some cool crafts to keep or give as gifts.

Early this evening we held a reception for parents, attendees and guests. It was a lovely day. Can't wait 'til next year!

365 Project #331 More Doodling

It's been terribly hot outside, so I spent the day hiding from the heat and doing more Zen Doodles. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I think perhaps tomorrow I'll be doing anything but drawing. Perhaps.

365 Project #330 Zen Doodling

There's been a movement of sorts lately to draw patterns, or artwork incorporating intuitive patterns, as a form of meditation and to encourage creativity. As with many artistic methods, there are as many variations as there are artists.

Yesterday, in an effort to become more spontaneous and get used to drawing (which I kind of hate, because INSECURITY), I picked up a sketchpad and a few pens and started. The only rules for now are no rulers, no plan, no restrictions, no erasing. I do go online for ideas and inspiration and in this image I edited out the greasy chocolate stains. OK, here goes...