New mural projects developing in (almost) real time.

Using my iPhone, some social media services and my new Wordpress blog, I've been tracking two mural projects developing this summer/fall, one almost completed and a second well underway.

Here's a picture of the almost done Cafe Mundo mural:



Anyway, this is just a reminder that I'm not keeping this blog regularly updated except for my Twitter updates at the top-left, so for more mural painting and faux finish project photos, updates and more, please check out johnhiemstra.com, follow me on Twitter or find me FaceBook, both are connected to these updates.

New Faux Finish Classes (finally!) posted at the San Diego Finishing School.com

The show of my paintings at Joe Bedford's Coalesce came together really well for last Friday's opening reception.

Another thanks to everyone who came out to Little Italy, though I'm supposed to focus on the faux and mural painting on this blog and leave the rest to my new Wordpress blog www.johnhiemstra.com".

The real reason for this (on-topic)post is to make sure anyone reading this who is interested in my teaching about faux finishing and mural painting in San Diego know that I've FINALLY scheduled two sequential days of semi-private painting classes at the Banker's Hill studio I share with HGTV Design Star Jen Guerin at the end of the month.

These will be complete intensives in my entire set of strategies for utilizing water-based media to achieve an incredible array of faux and painted finish effects.

Learn to interpret other surfaces and finishes and design your own one-of-a-kind painted finishes with non-toxic, low to zero VOC materials in creative ways that help position your faux-finishing or custom painting business for success.

Sky Painting Show opens this Friday July 10

Spent a couple hours of this gorgeous San Diego Sunday in the studio working on the sky paintings for this week, here's a quick picture:



The show of my paintings with Joseph Bedford's custom furniture opens this Friday at Joe's Little Italy space Bedford Built. Our reception is part of the first "NoLi Notte" or "North Little Italy Nights, which is a monthly art event that's emerged out of Kettner Nights.

The first round of "Little and Large" shows open at other spaces that night in Little Italy, but my wife Heather will be joining Joe and I in his space at 2360 India Street to debut her LifeChain project.

If you haven't seen the LifeChain series of videos we've done of Heather in her studio, I'm putting the first episode here below; I'll be posting parts 3 and 4 tomorrow on Heather's new WordPress blog at www.heather-reilly.com/sdmetalsmith. Check it out!

Return to the Sky Paintings

In addition to my teaching projects and a surge in new phone calls for custom painting and faux finishing work, I've been busy working on my own paintings for the first time in almost two years!

If you've been following along you know I've been working in art marketing, picture framing and a few other creative niches in San Diego in that time, and to be honest, I wasn't even looking for a show this summer, or really anytime.

Studio mate Jen Guerin introduced me to furniture designer Joseph Bedford, who needed a show for the July 10 opening of "NoLi Notte" ("North Little Italy Nights") in San Diego's newest art & design district, (you guessed it) Little Italy, conveniently located down the street from my house and studio.

I've been doing chalk art and ArtWalk in Little Italy since 2002 and a fan of Little Italy art galleries Seminal Projects and Noel Baza since last year, so its will be fun to see my own stuff in a gallery for a different perspective.

Anyway, more coming on these paintings soon, but here's a quick pictures of the two "Colisseum" paintings that have been sitting, moving and getting stacked over and over while taped and masked for all that time, here getting work on a sunny afternoon in the 5th Avenue studio (time that was a Father's Day gift from my family!)

SDFS partner and HGTV celeb Jen Guerin!

I am thrilled for my studio mate Jen Guerin whose participation in this summer's new edition of DesignStar on HGTV was just announced-- congratulations, Jen!

Here's a screenshot of HGTV page featuring Jen, click the image to check it out directly.



Check out Jen's first video from the show here.

And if you're in San Diego, come by Tin Can Ale House four doors up from our studio this Friday night to see Jen's newest fine art pieces, and meet Jen in person before you have to go through her publicist (Design Star premiere is July 18).

Back to murals and faux finishes here....

If you've been following this blog, you'll know that I've ranged all over my different activities here despite the very specific title "hand painted murals, faux finish walls".

Well, now that I've decided to follow my own advice an develop my primary online catalog with WordPress software (sorry, Google), I'm going to get this blog dialed back down to specifics of my mural and faux jobs only, and talk about the rest of my various work on johnhiemstra.com, a new WordPress blog which will cover my fine art projects, promotional and marketing work for my clients, updates on my teaching project for artists and small creative business at the San Diego Finishing School and all the other bits that don't really belong here under the current title.

So check out johnhiemstra.com when you have a chance, even though its brand new, for updates on other projects, back catalog pictures of jobs in process, and what will eventually be a truly comprehensive portfolio of my work, including old furniture design from San Francisco, stage work from North Carolina School of the Arts, and my web and print work for my marketing clients.

The first posts will be about my upcoming show of original paintings here in San Diego's Little Italy at Bedford Designs with furniture designer Joe Bedford. The show opens July 10 in conjunction with NoLi Notte, the latest incarnation of the Kettner Nights evening art walk in Little Italy.

I hope to see you there!

adapting, painting, teaching & following my own advice

What happens when you learn enough new stuff to radically alter your current opinions about running a business?

I've always preferred the word "adapt" when it comes to my creative endeavors, art, business or fun, and so over the last few weeks I've been adapting to a few new circumstances and "ah-ha" moments that have required some serious consideration.

I haven't tried to keep up with my posts and updates, which some of you have noticed since keeping up with kids and your own business is already more than enough for one person to do when combined with any kind of serious soul searching.

Fortunately, I have continuing demand for my various services, and more than one "ah-ha" had to do with delivering these services in better ways to the wider audience I've been developing through my online portfolio, this blog, and on Twitter, one of the many social media tools I teach other artists, contractors and small businesses to survive in the new economy.

So look for some changes and and new info over the summer with what I'm doing online as I respond to what's going on around us using the same theories and strategies about online marketing and social media integration that I teach my students.

Of course I'm still running a mural and faux finish business, and even though my marketing tools need tweaking, they've been running solid in bringing the work to me even in this economy. So here are some pictures of a little mural job I fit into my schedule this week at the new Broken Yolk Cafe in the Gaslamp, for everyone who wants to hear about hand painted murals and faux finish walls.

Per my usual, this painting project includes multiple elements of scale drawing, faux painting and aging techniques, and brand continuity-- everyone in San Diego probably recognizes their graphic from the flagship cafe in Pacific Beach.



The desired aged style of this piece was based on another San Diego restaurant mural project I did last year at the now all-new Lucky D's Bar & Grill.

Stage Design: "La Boheme" edition project for Franco Colavecchia

One of the reasons I've been excited for Franco's show here in San Diego is that it coincides nicely with the development of my Artist Services' project at The Frame Maker, specifically the fine art reproduction capabilities of the project provided through our partner Moebius Color.

As a student of stage design, I love Franco's stage design rendering work for its accuracy to the stage experience. I don't mean realism, but a painterly immediacy that transports you directly into the theatre audience; they are after all, stage design renderings, even though I admire them primarily as paintings, and their true function is to talk about a production of the design on a real stage with real people in real time.

That said, I find the timeless quality inherent in great paintings in Franco's best stage rendering work, yet, for a variety of reasons, much of it is unavailable to be seen or shown in the original ever again. This is where the Artist Services' project comes in.

Working together with Raber Umphenour of MOSDO, the Museum of Stage Design Online, San Diego Artist Services is proud introduce the first of a series of small fine art editions reprinting selected images from over 30 years of Franco's stage design rendering for theatre and opera.

In 1982, while living in New York City, Franco's designed the sets for Philadelphia Opera's "La Boheme" featuring Luciano Pavarotti. This production went on to tour Italy, and the subsequent PBS production won a series of Emmy awards.

This set of six different scenes and design concepts from La Boheme have been scanned from the original slides shot to document the work at the time and are printed in the original monochrome palette at full size, approximately 20" x 14" on heavy archival paper with UV resistant inks.

Here's a screen version of the second rendering of the six:



The first complete sets of six will be reviewed by Franco this week during his annual teaching visit to San Diego and presented as signed artist's proofs in his show "Franco Colavecchia: SoHo Memory Paintings", opening reception this Thursday June 4 in The Frame Maker showroom.

This is the first west coast show of Franco's work and the first appearance of any kind of reproduction of Franco's work anywhere, so if you live in southern California and are interested in theater stage design, come check this show out and meet Franco at a rare San Diego event on Thursday night!

Distinguished Artist & Designer Franco Colavecchia in San Diego!!

If you've been following this blog, you may remember how excited I've been for Franco's annual arrival in San Diego this year, partly because Franco is a dear friend and mentor to me as an artist, partly because we are presenting a show of his original paintings at The Frame Maker this summer, with an opening reception for Franco next Thursday June 4, 2009.

Called "SoHo Memories" after the series of paintings Franco began as he battled to retain his eyesight 1997-98. These paintings focus on the New York of Franco's career in the 1980's designing stage sets for New York City Opera and Luciano Pavaratti, among others.

Franco was also honored this year by the United States Institute of Theater Technology for his carrer achievement as a stage designer, so I'm reprinting this text from the USITT website here:

Franco Colavecchia has designed internationally for opera and theatre, working with Luciano Pavarotti, Gian Carlo Menotti, Frank Corsaro, and Ian Strasfogel among others such as Tommy Tune.

Mr. Colavecchia has designed productions for locations as varied as the New York City Opera, Chicago Lyric, Houston Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Washington Opera, New Opera Theater at B.A.M., Pittsburgh Opera, San Antonio Festival, The Music Opera Association/Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Den Norske Opera in Oslo, The Wexford Opera Festival in Eire, and Glimmerglass Opera.

He designed the Italian tour and the Broadway version of La Boheme for Mr. Pavarotti. His work has been seen in numerous locations around the world and he has worked for The Oxford Playhouse, the Roundhouse, the Edinburgh Festival, and the York Festival in the United Kingdom.

He was the assistant to Julian Beck of the Living Theatre on the London Production of The Brig. His designs have also been seen on PBS television for La Boheme for Pavorotti in Philadelphia, Faust for the Opera Company in Philadelphia, Carmen for New York City Opera (Live from Lincoln Center) and Treemonisha for Houston Opera.

He has also worked on several documentary films and has exhibited his paintings and drawings extensively through out the country. His designs have been included in the Prague Quadrennial three times, and some of his work is in the permanent collection at the Tobin Collection in San Antonio.

He has taught and mentored numerous students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he continues to paint and to design. He also has taught at DePaul University, Colgate University, SUNY Purchase, Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard University. He continues to be a guest lecturer in rendering all across the country.

Look for more on Franco and this show here and on The Frame Maker Events blog.

Rachael McDaniels at SDSU School of Art tonight

I've been busier than expected this week with many different projects coming to fruition some new and unexpected and most welcome, too!

I'm creating this post for artist Rachael McDaniels, who I had the pleasure of meeting at ArtWalk, and whose initial presentation and smart follow through as an artist representing herself.

When I finally saw images of her work in my email, I made a note to share them, and news of Rachael's graduation installation, with you.

THIS SHOW OPENS TONIGHT, details below.

(sorry for the late notice, when someone decides to fund my personal assistant, please email me here!)

Timescapes
an Art Installation by Rachael McDaniel

Timescapes is an exploration of human and environmental transience. Extreme Landscapes, Scientific Imagery and other Curious Illustrations of Time created with Painting, Photography, Lithographic Prints, Found Objects, and Book Art will be on display.

Come to the Artist's Opening
Thursday May 21st 7pm-9pm

Or to the Commencement Show
Saturday May 23rd 4pm-6pm

School of Art at SDSU
Rm. 418

See http://art.sdsu.edu/school_information/
For Maps and Parking

Artist Services project on display now at The Frame Maker

Reception this Friday May 15! at The Frame Maker, 3102 Reynard Way, 92103 (in Mission Hills north of Little Italy) for "Artists' Proof", a show of all six artists currently on staff at The Frame Maker exploring the digital reproduction capabilities of the my new San Diego Artist Services project(I wrote about this before both here and on the The Frame Maker Events and Design blogs as well.

Here's a picture of my contribution to the show, a series of 4 original collage/mixed media pieces digitally printed with outdoor,UV resistant inks right on to a new "advanced environmental composite" called ECOR™, stable, 100% post consumer waste panels that can be made to any size or depth.

Nice Note from Sandi Cottrell of ArtWalk on the Business of Art Scholarship Project

In getting organized for the week after a long weekend, this was so nice to find in my email from the end of the week I had to post it here right away. Thanks, Sandi!

"John Hiemstra was the co-creator of the "Business of Art Scholarship"...something ArtWalk had hoped to do for 5 years, but John's enthusiasm for the project made it a reality.

Working with sponsor The Frame Maker, John took our SDSU scholarship winner under his wing and not only helped her create a booth display for the event, he packed the equivalent of ten years of real-life experience into two months of incredible mentoring.

Jessica Siemens, the scholarship winner, was privy to advice, information and perspective that professional artists acquire in a lifetime.

The entire experience was inspiring, and we look forward to providing the scholarship on an annual basis. It would not be possible without John's passionate involvement."

Franco Colavecchia coming to San Diego

Memory-soho 15
Originally uploaded by Franco Colavecchia

Had to write quickly this morning about how happy I am to be welcoming Franco back to town (he teaches a two week class in scenic rendering at UCSD each spring), this time with something more!

This year, Franco has shipped ahead a crate of paintings which we just received yesterday at The Frame Maker. I unpacked them briefly to make sure they had made the trip okay (they did) and today I get to go down and sort through them in peace (the shop's closed!)

I don't know if any from this series are enclosed, but this is one of my faves from his Flickr stream, go check it out.

Announcing New Media marketing classes for artists in May!

I posted info on the first classes I'm offering for professional artists this pring and the reborn San Diego Finishing School.

I'm excited to share with fellow working artists what I've learned and tested in using the various "New Media" marketing and self-publishing tools available online to sustain my business.

Serious about developing your small business (even if you're not an artist) using all the free powerful tools online, but not sure how to make sense of it all? This class is for you! Check out the details at San Diego Finishing School, two sessions scheduled in May, Tuesday May 12 6-9pm and Saturday May 23 9-12am.

Questions about what I'm teaching? Let me know with a comment, email or phone call 619. 654. 6208.

Old School Chargers and Padres Logos at Lucky D's

I started to write about this project last fall shortly after it was completed, with trompe l'oeil brick and wallpaper paint treatments on new drywall to complement exposed, sandblasted brick of original building.

Because Lucky D's closed for business just a few months later, I didn't go on, but today I had an inquiry about doing weathered signage on original brick, so I'm posting up a few pictures of the rest of this commercial/hospitality painting project.

Once Dave had decided to go with the local sports theme, we thought up doing the original San Diego team logos on the brick wall behind the pool table. In addition to being the original logos from the 60's (part of Dave's theme at the time), I painted them in an aged or weathered fashion to look as if Dave had uncovered them from 30 years ago in the remodel.


Chargers and Padres logos on brick wall at Lucky D's downtown

The trompe l'oeil/faux aspects of this paint treatment worked out pretty well in context of the overall "age" of the bar. I will put up some more contextual photos later, but here's a couple of detail shots for now.


painted San Diego Chargers logo


painted San Diego Padres logo

New Classes, Testimonial at San Diego Finishing School

Recovering from ArtWalk, getting ready to launch the next show at The Frame Maker, and launching new classes and artist services programs at the revived San Diego Finishing School this coming week-- exciting times!

I will publish class schedule on both sites and must say I'm really looking forward to sharing new marketing information and strategies with artists looking to improve their business models, practices and sales.

Even though I haven't been "officially" teaching, I've been able to try ideas and new media strategies out with my wife Heather's custom jewelry business here in San Diego, the Business of Art mentoring project with Jessica Siemens that I set up with ArtWalk, and with the artists I've been privileged to work with at The Frame Maker over the last few months.

In fact one of the reasons I'm stoked today about what's coming up next is the great testimonial I got today from San Diego glass artist Lea de Wit about our work together that I published on the SDFS site-- check out one artists' version of why it works to work with me on your business and marketing skills.

Introducing San Diego Artist Services

This project started coming to life at The Frame Maker, where I've been seeking new ways to develop sustainable work and cash flow, a concern central to many small business these days.

As an artist, I have always sought to find service providers who understood my business as well as I did, but rarely have I ever been able to find more than a couple of people at a time to create a cohesive working unit.

Now in San Diego I am blessed with four savvy business partners in the art services field to create an expert service network for professional artists, called San Diego Artist Services.

The first collaborative fruit of us working together is the new show at The Frame Maker and the cool booth spaces we've created this weekend for southern California's largest outdoor art gallery, Mission Federal ArtWalk.

I've posted a few development details on The Frame Maker blogs, but here is the first look of my overview of the San Diego Artist Services project as a private sector economic stimulus action that dovetails nicely with our green objectives by acting locally to serve the community we love in a stressful time.

This is actually a detail of one of the print graphics I prepared for The Frame Maker booth this weekend that's been printed beautifully by Peter Moebius, Mike Miller and the team at Moebius Color, one of our collaborators on the project:

San Diego Finishing School Returns!

Just today I've published the new site for my San Diego Finishing School project, teaching professional skills to faux finish artists, muralists and painters and teaching new media marketing to art professionals.

I have a new space I'm sharing with my friend Jen Guerin in Banker's Hill, a short walk from our house and two steps to Balboa Park and downtown.

Check it out at www.sandiegofinishingschool.com, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Business of Art Scholarship Studio Visit

I love this picture of Jessica in the studio over at SDSU. We had a solid meeting about the body of work she is developing and how best to select and present in the 10' x10' booth space provided by ArtWalk.

I'm actually going to continue writing about the Business of Art Scholarship project-- created with Sandi Cottrell of ArtWalk, The Frame Maker, Arthur Ollman of the SDSU School of Art, and of course scholarship winner artist Jessica Siemens-- on another blog I just started with an address some of you might recognize, sandiegofinishingschool.com.

Yes, the SanDIego Finishing School returns at long last, relocated with a redefined mission here in Banker's Hill. Stay tuned for more.

Trompe l'oeil painting pictures as promised

stonetrompeloeil2
Originally uploaded by John Hiemstra

I have had a few requests to show more pix from the children's room circus mural project I painted last summer in an absolutely stunning historic home here in San Diego.


The circus room is only one of the treatments I designed and produced in this home, so along with rest of circus pictures, I uploaded the best pix of the trompe l'oeil/faux stone treatment I created for the majestic entrance and central gathering room of this unique home to my photostream on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnhiemstra/.

They're not sorted or tagged yet, but they're there.

Face's Home

Face's Home
Originally uploaded by siemens.jessica

Anyone who follows my work knows how much I love a contextual photo, and so, why I'm so proud of Jessica for taking initiative to get this photo up on her Flickr page.

If you haven't read about this yet, I am very pleased to be mentoring Jessica in a new "Business of Art" program I helped create with Sandi Cottrell of Mission Federal ArtWalk.

Check out Jessica's lovely work on Flickr (for now) and keep in mind she's been painting for just two years--

If you consider I've been painting for more than 20 years, you'll get why I'm so impressed with her work so far and also why I'm honored to work with her on her business as an artist, because she clearly has the potential to create truly spectacular work when she hits full stride.

Venetian Plaster Ceiling

On the theme of finishing up old business (see last post), I came across pictures of some past projects I've been meaning to publish, but haven't yet for variety of reasons.

So here's a room I'm really pleased with for its light touch but authoritative impact.



The yellow panels behind the piano are a simple acrylic faux finish that corresponds with the walls in the main room that includes the piano room (where this picture is taken from), I have pictures of that room somewhere, too now that I think about it.

The plaster ceiling is designed to correspond to that color but offer the depth and richness of the piano finish with dramatic reflectance and glow of highly polished wax finish over burnished venetian plaster.

Little Italy Chalk/Paint Trompe L'oeil: The (almost) Final Chapter

If anyone reading this recalls my first series of blog posts ever back in 2006, they're probably going to think "WTF? That isn't done yet?" when they see these pictures.



Yes, its finally done and I can prove it with pictures of the Little Italy crew carrying my three panels of Michelangelo out to the their truck two and a half years after I started them.



Rather than tell the whole long story right now, I'm just going to post afew detail pictures of the final product that no one will be able to see when its finally installed in Little Italy; its supposed to hang outdoors, four stories over India Street at Beech, so when I can get those pictures up, I''l finish the tale.

For now its a beautiful day in San Diego and this project is complete!

Dot connection

I love it when this kind of thing happens:

One friend of mine, photographer Mike Brown, calls me up to say that he saw some of photographer Maire Scharpegge's work at the new sushi place by our house here in Banker's Hill, San Diego.

Having been in touch with Maire fairly regularly since opening her show "Echoes" at The Frame Maker with glass artist Lea de Wit, I was a little surprised, and had to think about the connection, since I had nothing to do with these pieces being in this restaurant!

Since I was walking that way later, I decided to check it out for myself, thinking that I had only been there once since they opened, when I recalled that I had run into my associate Eric Gilliat (of Level One Art Installation) there with family. Eric had explained to me that he had known the proprietor for years at his previous establishment, and that his new place we were in Azuki Sushi was the best sushi in town.

Since Eric had been kind enough to assist us with the installation of Echoes back in January, where he met Maire for the first time, it became clear that Eric was the hookup between Maire and the restaurant. Now that's a creative community working together, especially because Maire's abstract photography, printed on stainless steel by local print masters Moebius Color, are PERFECT in the Azuki space:



Remember that we are so pleased with the original show at The Frame Maker that we extended it through April, when (I just found out) Maire and Lea will then take "Echoes" to a booth at ArtWalk the weekend of April 25-26 in Little Italy. If you live in San Diego, you've got another month come down and see this terrific show!

Green picture framing | painting update

So much going on on the last day of the month I barely have time to write, and in April things really get busy.

I just finished another custom picture frame moulding project with The Frame Maker, this one with a "green" design angle, for San Diego architect James Brown of Public.

His new show, "The Third Country/El Tercer Pais" opens this week at The Athenaeum in La Jolla. Its the first installment of a three-part exhibition (continuing at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego this summer) that explores "...through models and drawings, the nature of boundary, and linear patterns that might later translate into new strategies of designing the frontier.”

These beautiful little conceptual drawings are presented in moulding I milled for Jim by request from poplar, a sustainable, fast growing timber that Jim has used for many of his project sin the past.



I'm writing more about this project and the green aspects of using this lumber and some of the other materials usedin Jim's frames over on The frame Maker's Design blog, so let me get on to some other fun here.

I am finally finishing a painting project from 2006 that some of you may remember as a chalk project that was one of the first things I wrote about on this blog. I will get into the whole long story in the next few posts, but here's a quick pic from my temporary back yard studio of the almost finished rendering of an Italian master that will be hanging in Little Italy in time for this spring's annual Art Walk event.



Stay tuned for more on ArtWalk over the next month as I roll out my new Artist Services program in conjunction with 2009 ArtWalk event sponsor The Frame Maker, ArtWalk and the SDSU Art Department.

SDSU Children's Center A-is-for-Art comes to The Frame Maker

This is another cool program happening over at San Diego State that I've been able to encourage and assist as the Marketing Director of The Frame Maker.

With the dedicated work of professional artists supporting them, pre-schoolers from 18 months up to five years old at the SDSU Children's Center explore art-making all year long. The program culminates with each group of kids creating a piece of "finished work" that then goes into a group show. The pieces are auctioned off at the show with the proceeds going to fund programming at the Children's Center.

We helped out the A-is-for-Art program last year with a quick frame job for twenty of the canvases. This year not only are we framing up some paintings, but we're hosting a selection of the work in The Frame Maker showroom for the next ten days, too, with a reception on Tuesday evening, March 24, from 5.30-8.00pm, with refreshment courtesy of North Park's Urban Solace. A preview:



So ome check it out in person, meet some of the artists, parents and staff who make this incredible program possible. You can read more about A-is-for-Art at http://as.sdsu.edu/child/aisforart.html . More preview pictures of the new installation at The Frame Maker below.

ECHOES extended @ The Frame Maker

A few posts ago, I wrote about how happy I was with the show ECHOES now at The Frame Maker here in San Diego. I connected and assisted two artists, glass artist Lea de Wit and photographer Maire Scharpegge, create a very successful show.

So successful we've extended ECHOES through April 21st, when we begin preparing for our next show. So if you haven't seen this show yet, here's a picture, and you can scroll down to the past few posts for more. Because of the materials involved (glass and stainless steel) and their unique reflective properties, you should see this show in person.



Both artists have been gracious enough to replace the works we've already sold, so that the show is as robust as at the beginning, even though today there is a piece out on approval. I also want to add that as a mentor in the business-of-art department, I am especially proud of these two for their efforts and follow-through!

(So go visit them online:
glass artist Lea de Wit
photographer Maire Scharpegge)

Business of art mentoring scholarship for SDSU art students

I'm really excited about a new program I've developed with Sandi Cottrell of ArtWalk this year to mentor a SDSU art department student through the process of preparing, presenting and promoting a show of his or her work at ArtWalk as the launch and springboard of his or her business as a professional artist.

I'll write more about details later, today I want to share this pic of our first scholarship winner, Jessica Siemans. Taken last night with her purchase-award piece "Face" in the SDSU art galleries last night after the awards ceremony, this picture only shows a fraction of Jessica's energy and enthusiasm for her work.

It was really a pleasure to meet Jessica and feel the energy and excitement of all the artists present, student and faculty both. Definitely look for more posts about this project through April 25 & 26, the weekend of ArtWalk 2009--I'm really looking forward to the whole process and excitement of an artist getting response to their work and results for their efforts. I'll probably put up links to a new site blog specifically about this project as part of my new Art & Artist Services project with The Frame Maker.

Paintings by Franco Colavecchia

doublehead
Originally uploaded by Franco Colavecchia

I have been reveling in the work of my friend and mentor at NCSA Franco Colavecchia, who has a remarkable body of work assembled on Flickr.

Fortunately for us, Franco began teaching once a year at UCSD shortly after Heather and I moved to San Diego, so we've been able to stay in somewhat regular touch.

This summer is a special treat, because I'll be organizing a show of Franco's work, original paintings and original scenic renderings both, here in San Diego at The Frame Maker.

More on that later, go check out Franco on Flickr.

Not so fast, somebody needs something painted.

Humorously, not long after my last post, I got two different custom painting/faux finishing jobs, one larger (a new office), one smaller (a 6'x 6' painting that needs repaired/ refurbished).

Funny how that works.

Its not like I wasn't utilizing all those skills at The Frame Maker. I'm just posting some details on the Design blog there about some of the custom finishes we created last year for some specific projects, projects I had forgotten about until sorting pictures this past weekend.

The first custom finish post is about a painted wood grain finish I did for a client in a hurry when their first choice moulding was out of stock for far longer than the time frame when they needed them.



In this picture, the corner sample at the back is the goal: a clear finish over a lightly stained softwood with a simple tight grain, kind of a chestnut color. In this profile, we couldn't get that finish in time. What we could get was the same profile in a very dark chocolate-mahogany color ("espresso"). The moulding lengths in the foreground are actually a painted and glazed finish over what began as an almost black translucent wood finish.

The client wasn't just thrilled with the match of the painted faux finish, but with the on time delivery and installation of her framed pieces. The out-of-stock problem which started out of our control ended up providing us with the opportunity to deliver a clutch solution and an absolutely premium level of customer service.

Since that was part of my consulting spec at the time, I'm very pleased with this particular job to this day.

Current faux finish and mural work?

I've had more than a few inquiries from friends asking what I've got going for faux finish and mural projects right now, and the right answer is not one I've ever admitted before.

Right now? None.

I don't have an active contract right now to paint anything for anyone.

Fortunately, this isn't the same concern for me right now it could be otherwise. In the too-rare instance of me practicing what I preach, diversification has allowed me to remain relatively unstressed by economy, media gloom & panicked peers.

Rather, many of the business and marketing skills I had developed over the years to grow my mural and faux-painting business are now much in demand as everyone's business (and outlook) contracts to some degree.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I've been heavily involved in someone else's business for over a year now at The Frame Maker. I link to their website here because it is my most developed example of helping a business both 1) strengthen its bond with existing clients and 2)actually gain new clients in a shrinking marketplace driven by uncertainty and fear.

Designed and built by my company from scratch, The Frame Maker site and blogs (always featured on the left panel of this blog) help deliver real value to existing clients looking for info and examples and potential clients looking for the best custom picture framer in town.

These new web design and marketing consulting services will be fully documented and presented on their own at some point in the near future, but for the next few months you'll be able to find updates, links and testimonials here as I prepare to officially launch the "Artist Services" part of my "Art & Artist Services" tagline.

Stay tuned.

California glass artist Lea de Wit

As I said before, I'm very pleased with work we did together on the current show "Echoes" at The Frame Maker, and I'm putting up some pictures here today of the feature wall I helped contemporary California glass artist Lea de Wit bring to life in our showroom.

Inspired by the fluidity of Maire Scharpegge's 120" abstract water photograph at the other end of the gallery, we designed a custom wall installation for 14 of Lea's smaller vessels themed around water colors.



Here, Lea is laying out the pieces in front of the location. You can see we built a structural frame into the existing conference room window opening, which we then covered in plywood to support this and future art installations.

Next we made "section view" place holders for the different pieces and created a template for the mounting of pieces once wall was completed.



We mocked up the arrangement with the brown paper templates on fomecore on the floor, and then tacked the fomecore to the wall when we went to install. Lea commissioned clear acrylic shelves to mount into our reengineered wall, and her blown glass plates and bowls are secured with museum wax. We also painted a white panel behind installation to maximize the play of color, reflection and shadow of the pieces in the final installation.



In these last photos you can see interesting details of acrylic shelf installation and the lighting/ reflection/ shadow interplay of the wall.

ECHOES @ The Frame Maker

Among my other recent activities, I have helped two terrific artists prepare a show of their work at The Frame Maker. I met Lea and Maire at separate times in 2008 and introduced them with the idea of doing a collaborative show where their work would sort of riff off each other like a pair of musicians.

A week after opening the show in a whirlwind after returning from holiday in Cabo San Lucas and living with the installation "Echoes", I have to say I'm very pleased with the work we did inhabiting The Frame Maker showroom with these pieces and their arrangements.

Here is the online version of our printed postcard for the show.



This show couldn't have happened without Pete @ Moebius Color and Eric @ Level One Art Installation not to mention Steve Atlas (owner of The Frame Maker) who helped finance and install a significant lighting upgrade to our showroom for "Echoes".

Good work, everyone!

More Pirate Mural Pics & Details

Here is a much better photo of the central detail of my backyard pirate mural installation here in San Diego.

The pirate landing party was composed first on the panels covering the roll-up door, and these panels were painted separately in my studio. You can see the panels, attaching hardware, and some awfully fun painting in the next two enlargements.





I was inspired on this project not only by my clients Ron and Mary but also by my friend Helen Ward, whose illustrations for the book "Pirateology" fueled the project and whose design illustrations for "Into The Woods" helped set my high standards.

Pirate Mural Pictures

I'm jumping back to an older custom mural project that I never fully prepared for portfolio viewing at the request of woodworker Del Cover. The theme is pirates, and this series of pictures shows the beginning outdoor space, a design sketch and a few finished photos, including details of the mural image itself as well as the faux rock and wood grain treatments used as a surround.

The "raw" space for the mural, showing the clients' extensive collection of pirate memorabilia.


The final approved design sketch for pirate mural and surround.


Overview of finished mural and faux painted surround.


Detail of pirate landing party.


Detail of faux painted rock and wood grain surround for pirate mural.