Pandamonium

Hard at work at Deep Ellum Arts Fest 2014 painting in the 4 hour mural competition

A gentle rain is falling softly over Dallas. A peace has settled over the sleepy house that just yesterday was awash in chaos as I quickly mixed latex colors, packed cans of spray paint into luggage carriers and ran down a mental checklist of all supplies I could possibly need to accomplish something stressful.... A four hour mural!

Giant panda mural in progress at Deep Ellum Arts Fest: Tunnelvisions Mural Tournament

A whole host of great talent was asked to participate in this tournament, the very first one of its kind at the Fest. All artists were given a 4 x 8 foot board and allotted time slots to paint. Everyone had 4 hours to finish.

The prizes include cash (over $1000 to first place!) And various gifts from sponsors such as a stay at the Omni hotel. That would be cool but I would love to stay at my house for another month so I hope one of the cash prizes falls into my lap so I can pay rent this month!

This is the practice Mural I did the day before the contest. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for painting outside and the total opposite of Saturday... Grey, chilly and rainy. I wanted to see what  I could actually do in four hours, what would be problematic and what could be faster. I also wanted to work out my color scheme. If you are familiar with my work you know it's many painstaking hours and layers and liner work. Had to totally switch gears for this big piece.

I've been low on cash but had to get supplies so tried to keep it cheap at home depot. A few cans of spray paint and some cans of latex... I tried to ease the wound by telling myself I now have some supplies for future work no matter what.

I was lucky my buddies at Eyecon let me use their projector and pounce machine so I could get my design up in large scale fashion. 

I based my design on my panda I've been doing on vinyl records. 

I wanted to make sure the composition worked and there was a background and foreground and lots of color to create a happy bright vibe.

Because of the rain the last fifteen minutes of competing was a wash. I just signed my name quickly and put the work in the dark recesses of Club Clear view with everyone else's. There was more I could've done but whaddya do?

It was great fun painting with the others, I never do live painting and these contests are super stressful to me sometimes. But met some nice new friends and a bird who liked my painting so much he dropped two giant loads on it, same spot in one hour! Some people who witnessed it said it was lucky in Japan!

Double luck! Poop Poop!

I forgot to take a photo of the finished piece! Yes! Me! Facebook posting queen! So today when I go up to hear the winners announced I'll snap a few.

From 3-4 today you have the chance to vote in the People's Choice awards. Winners announced at 4. The location is on Crowdus, between Main and Elm. Across from Serious Pizza. All the works will be displayed and eventually dispersed around.

Hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes look at competing, preparing, designing and tearing your house up in the name of Art. Working on my knees and contorted for two days has me walking like I'm 90 and indulging in Epsom baths. I think I did the equivalent of 500 squats!

Ouch!