The response was so positive that Capeau decided to paint Monroe next to Einstein. On the great thinker’s other side is a question mark — and Capeau is asking Herald News readers to choose the next star who will appear on the wall.
The candidates are Charlie Chaplin, John Lennon, Humphrey Bogart, Lucille Ball and Judy Garland. To vote on a selection, log on to heraldnews.com. Capeau has agreed to paint the selection that receives the most votes.
Ed Capeau paints celebrity mural. Photo by Jack Foley for Herald News
Kimberly Brooks paints a series of portraits as part of her Stylist Project, as seen in this one of Rachel Zoe.
Rachel Zoe portrait by Kimberly Brooks on The Examiner
These are some fascinating portrait murals created by chipping the paint away, or scratching the surface of the existing paint — a reverse process of painting, by Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto.
I was really taken with the moment when I saw this mural and its subject, Marc Abrams, a physician who was a celebrity in his neighborhood for walking 20 -30 miles, shirtless, while often reading the paper. He was a fitness advocate but sadly was found dead in his backyard at age 58.
Marc Abrams walks past a subject in a mural painted in his likeness
And in light of the upcoming election, here is one of my favorite murals. This is a link to other optical illusion murals besides this one in DC, that I’ve always admired.
Trompe l'Oeil Graffiti Mural in DC. Photo by katmere on Environmental Graffiti
The murals I mentioned in the last post must have required a lot of tape. Although painter’s tape is traditionally used for “taping off” areas for painting and mural projects, this sticky blue stuff can also be used to make unusual and temporary tape art and murals as seen in this examples by Michael Townsend.
Michael Townsend. Photo via Technology Review by John Maeda
Bonfire Tape Art by Michael Townsend
I also ran across this unusual site via Trend Hunter for tape murals by Multipraktik. This video describes the process for making their creations and shows the fun involved.
I should have put Trend Hunter on my blogroll a long time ago because I get so much interesting info from this source. This time I discovered “25 Eye Catching Murals,” so I posted a few visual screen shots here that are worth exploring on your own.
While exploring, I got so caught up in other images that it was fun to drift around on this site and discover wild and wacky things that are equally innovative as they are humorous and inspirational.
Remember the days of finger painting? Now you can avoid the mess and “paint” with this fabric.
You can learn about a new concrete cloth that can be used for commercial as well as military purposes.
Unusual billboards such as this “Fake Sky” for Berger Paints caught my attention. I think my brother, who is in the billboard business might like this innovative way to advertise, but I bet it is expensive and difficult to install.
Since I like this billboard’s visual effect, the optical illusion curtain also caught my attention.
Thought provoking public service announcements here can’t help but grab your attention. I also like Trendhunter’s public rating system and photo gallery with related pictures but getting back to the original post isn’t all that easy.
Finally (and I could go on and on, there is so much to see), since I am traveling back from the beach, I’m disappointed I didn’t see this post at the start of my trip. If I only had thought about getting sunburned as an art, rather than missing random spots with my sunscreen.
I must have books on my mind because that is what I try to catch up on while on vacation. Lately, I’ve been getting audiobooks through audible because I can listen while doing other things but I have hard copies to read. So what to do with them once I return? We have so many books that I make my husband take any that he’s never going to use again down to the used books thrift store, every time he buys new books. Storage is a commodity where we live.
Radiohead (again), Jigsaw Falling into Place, seems to make sense for this post and Kick-Starting the weekend. I like this song but I had to laugh when I saw the video as it made “trying to hold a book on your head” operate on a whole other level.
On another note, I cannot believe I have a 22 year old son! Piers, my oldest son just celebrated a birthday. I remember when he was a 6 week early preemie coming into this world amid a lot of surrounding complications. He’s proved that it all works out eventually.
There is a little known piece of the Eiffel Tower in New Orleans — little known that is to non New Orleanians. The funny thing about this structure located at 2040 St. Charles Avenue is I remember it well when it was first constructed in the 80′s and operated as a restaurant. Then it sat abandoned for nearly 15 years or so. Just a few years ago it operated as The Cricket Club, a rental place for events. My brother and sister-in-law, in fact, were married here and it was a gorgeous wedding. Toni, his wife, lit the entire front space with candles that reflected light off of the towering bank of windows. The only trouble at that time was that we didn’t know if the evening wedding was going to happen until 6pm — after the waters subsided enough from a sudden torrential thunderstorm that down poured on the city and left it flooded. It was the first flood after Katrina, so you can imagine how all the residents, not just those trying to get to a wedding on unsurpassable streets, thought, “Oh, no, here we go again.” The caterer had to wade into the event holding the cake above his head.
That’s a side note of family fun. This story, however was brought to my attention by my mother, who still lives in New Orleans. Evidently a group of artists got together via the Eiffel Society to “create art” while living in the structure for a month. OK, I like great art but decide for yourself if this unfortunately fits the artist stereotype. This supplied my humor for the day and why there is a huh in the title.
This is where two posts meet. I could have easily found a quick mention for Friday and included my weekly Kick Start your Weekend music but I’m dealing with a conundrum and in also trying to find something to write for my other weekly blog post, Slipcovers for your Walls, I realized as I was searching for this one, that in thinking through this creative process, I found the answer to both. I’ve already posted this on the casartblog but here it is with more thought process.
I keep list of topics to write on and my favorite always comes back to the creative process. It is how artwork begins and how it evolves. There are hoards of information on this topic but I always find inspiration in unlikely places: from the creative innovation of the Old Spice commercials that I just blogged on; to research for finding visual inspiration; to explanations regarding how to give good critical analysis; to the visual humor describing the interactions between artist and client (I’ve had some of these types of moments); to some brilliance and clarity in a web enthusiast’s and an electrical-engineer graduate’s take on The Art of Design and Creative Thinking, just among many. I believe the analytical process of design is similar if not the same as creating artwork. Artwork may not always have function whereas design might. If you click my Design category (on the right), you’ll see plenty of examples that involve art. Richie Thimmaiah of Richworks above states, “Design is Everywhere.” Well, I can’t help but agree and also in that Art is Everywhere.
Here’s my conundrum (not only trying to figure out what to write) but the value — the artistic merit and importance of some latest designs / artwork that I’m working on for Casart coverings. We posted a while ago on the Slipcovers for your Walls blog about our efforts to help the Gulf Coast recovery. It’s an issue that is very personal to me and I’m passionate about wanting to do something. As Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, states so truthfully in his editorial, this area needs some help. It’s still reeling from Katrina and now this?!
As an artist, I think about art to help in the response, so I have created a Gulf Coast Mural and designs where proceeds will go to two selected organizations that are at the forefront, helping in this effort. I helped this way for Katrina and other artists that I have posted on, have done the same. But what do you do when you start to question whether or not it makes sense to do. Will people like it? How will they use it? Will they purchase it? Will they even understand it? I have some valid answers that I think apply to all of these but I know I am too close to decide.
There are some valid points from the links above to consider and some quotes I’ll pull:
“I like to say, to find inspiration, one should take a look around. What is surrounding you?” — Rebecca Reilering (Research to Feed Your Visual Mind)
“...destroying your designer’s artistic confidence by tearing down a design without acknowledging any positive points, is usually not good policy…One reality that I feel escapes many clients who hire graphic designers is that while this is a form of commercial art, the process is still art. The creative process is still emotional, inspirational and can be very personal, so it’s important to acknowledge…” — Fuschia Mac
” I’ve looped my mother in the conversation…she has a good eye for design….The design you put together needs some brighter colors…perhaps a little pink? Throw in a kitten or two. Everybody loves kittens!…All hope is lost…You are no longer a [web] designer.” — Oatmeal (How a Web Design Goes to Hell)
“Success without taking risks is impossible. Mistakes are a part and parcel in the process of achieving extraordinary results. A good designer is not taken apart by such mistakes, rather he learns from it…Some people embrace it and others don’t. If you want to to survive in a world which is changing rapidly as we speak, I suggest you listen closely to the former kind and try your best avoiding the latter.” — Richworks (The Art of Design/Creative Thinking)
And a quote he pulled for his blog that I found really thought provoking:
“Talent hits the target no one else can hit; genius hits the target no one else can see” — Arthur Shoepenhauer
OK, so now I know why some artists, myself included at times, feel a little crazy and that part may explain the stereotype. Can you have talent and genius together? I would say yes, I hope so.
Here’s a glimpse at the latest work. I’ve posted a blog poll to get feedback and of course you can always comment with more specifics but I’d like to know your thoughts. The concept here is to offer an interactive mural — a way for the customer to design their own mural (from these already painted creations). This is an example. The hard part is how to explain this on a website where we don’t have the technology to create something with code to drop and drag in the images. I wish we did.
This mural can be created in any configuration with these separate panels
Here’s an example of one of the individual panels with wording. They will also be offered without wording in a white or water background.
Casart Pelican for Gulf Coast recovery
Since you can’t bring your wall artwork with you to show others in public, what about wearing your mural, or parts of it? I came up with a new Crawfish Cotillion design made with the crawfish that I painted. So, I thought, why not make it into a weekender or beach bag that you can hopefully use on the Gulf Coast beaches? Here are some preliminary designs for this concept, showing two ways to offer the crawfish design + we’ll have this in many colors. Cross over the the Casartblog to vote on your favorite patterns, after you vote here.
Weekender Bag concept with Crawfish Cotillion Design
Casart coverings Beach bag concept with a mural element
Many thanks for your input and in keeping with tradition, here’s some appropriate music to Kick Start your Weekend, and one of my very favorites for New Orleans’ music, “Yes We Can” by Allen Toussaint, accompanied by Elvis Costello:
These images have been making the email circuit but they are too interesting not to post. Obviously this is a reference to Escher with updated scenarios — taking technology into consideration, for example. Nonetheless, they are technically well done and I appreciate their trompe l’oeil appearance. They are even a bit wacky and make you think that things are a bit crazy and off kilter. I don’t know how this first one appears animated, but it’s pretty cool.
Unfortunately, there is no known credit but I did come across this FreakingNews link in researching.
Here’s a previous post with reference to Escher, an artist who’s work I’ve always enjoyed. I have this picture of his hands and other works in my studio.
PS: Sorry for the late posting. I thought I had scheduled this one and I guess I had not.
With Israel in the news these days, I remembered seeing this article and thought it might be interesting to repost, although the exhibit is currently on hiatus. Click on the picture for the link.
Flashes of Jerusalem History," The Night Spectacular" show. Photo by Amit Geron /Washington Post
I came across this video that I thought it was very clever and even manages to find humor in the latest serious event. It certainly makes you think about what you’re not seeing on TV. There’s even a Bob Dylan sound alike. Not sure who the other pseudo celebrities might be but one looks like George Michael to me.
There's a lot I could say about art regarding The Kentucky Derby, just by association of my family's Kentucky heritage and my very prolific artistic Aunt but the Derby, specifically, is Louisville's sophisticated Mardi Gras — meaning lots of eccentric stuff happens — even with all the upper crust fancy hats to be seen on Derby Day. No matter how you celebrate Derby Day, here's a few things that you could use:
1) A Rose themed centerpiece — better yet, one made of chocolate cake.
4) Burgoo — a type of stew (gumbo can be compared but without the seafood). I didn't even know what this was but here's the recipe for Chess Pie, the other essential — to eat as reward after eating the burgoo:
– featured in the Kentucky Derby Museum and from the Kentucky Derby Museum Cookbook (can’t get more official than that!)
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup flour
pinch of salt
2 tbs. Kentucky bourbon
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped chocolate chips
1 9 inch pie shell, partially baked
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, flour, salt and bourbon. Add chocolate chips, and nuts. Stir well. Pour into partially baked pie shell and bake for 30 minutes or until center is set. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Here is another recipe with a great picture.
5) And of course hats…. Happy Kentucky Derby Day this Saturday.
PS: I'll be celebrating twofold because I got my blog, image upload working again — due to my FTP beefing up their security and I had to reset the permissions. One more thing off my list.
These photos seem appropriate after the last post regarding trompe l’oeil painting. These might be what you could call, trompe l’oeil trick photography.
These came to me in an email that is circulating so unfortunately, I do not have photo credits except for Interesno.dn.ua. (Russia I think.) Most express a good sense of humor — especially for the end of a hard business week.
I could post a lot of music to do with eyes and seeing but here’s some appropriate music from one of my favorite bands, Eyes Wide Open by Sixpense None the Richer to Kick-start the weekend. I was surprised, after seeing them in concert (in an intimate setting), how good this video is for a live music concert. All I can figure is it must have been done by one of their stagehands. Otherwise, how would a fan to get this close? Well done, nonetheless. Also true, is their music sounds just as good live as it does in studio. I just checked out their MySpace link above and didn’t realize they were now in Nashville, TN. What can I say, TN has strong affection for me, particularly as we are discussing Sewanee as a possibility in our younger son, Jackson’s future, at the present moment. I did know and like that their name was inspired by a passage from the book Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.[1]
Regarding Images used: I do not claim ownership of any of the images posted on this blog (unless stated otherwise). I try my utmost best to give credit from original sources. If you have ownership rights of a photo and wish for me to remove it, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
