Aside from a bit of touch ups and a good cleaning, the contiguous United States are done. I still need to lay down Alaska, and color in Hawaii to be officially done-done. In a few days Casitas de Esperanza is having their first annual Easter egg hunt, for all the kids housed via Amigos de Guadalupe, and they’re accepting donations for pre-filled Easter eggs. I bought a bag of plastic eggs and chocolate candies and loaded them up. I also drew a different smiley face on a each egg. Another fun, busy and productive day working on the map. My friend Catrina came to help paint then my other friend, Carolina, came and she brought her goddaughter, Natalie. Alex, one of the staff members at Amigos de Guadalupe, hung out and gave us a hand too. We made so much progress and we’re a lot closer to being done.
We had 5 volunteers today to help us with our murals. We covered a lot of ground, no pun intended. I was so busy I forgot to take pictures but we did stop for a pizza break. Tomorrow I’m hoping to finish painting the top half, lay down the stencil for the bottom and Alaska and start painting some more. I had a few volunteers help me paint today and we still didn’t get far. I thought the whole top half was going to be finished and the bottom half chalked by the end of the day. The asphalt is really difficult to paint with a brush and the mini rollers work better but some letters are too small for the roller. There was a fair amount of trial and error today. I hope I can finishing painting the top half tomorrow and be 100% done by Monday night.
I didn’t start painting today after some difficulty laying out the first stencil. It was too windy to lay out both so I only did the top half, and by the time I finished chalking it was almost quitting time. I learned the kids were still walking & playing on the map even though I put cones and caution tape up last night so I tonight I covered the the chalked area with a few tarps and taped & weighted it down the best I could. I want to get in early Saturday and start painting the top half before chalking & painting the bottom. Another busy day! This morning I went to Local Color to pick up and pounce the missing piece of the map that didn’t print last time. At home I cut the new pieces and taped them to the main stencils. Later, I went to Home Depot for some supplies before going to Casitas de Esperanza and priming the Hawaiian islands with white paint. I’m hoping that on Friday I can start painting the states in color after making another stencil transfer. Another busy day working on my map mural. I taped the long printouts that I pounced yesterday into a couple larger, and slightly easier to manage, sheets. I then packed them in the car, along with other gear and paint, and drove them to the Casitas site where we’re painting the playground murals on the ground. Carman and Emily both helped me line up the two extra large sheets, weigh them down so they wouldn’t fly away, chalk the perimeter of the map and paint the base layer. I was so busy I didn’t take pictures of the process. Tomorrow, with a little help, we’ll set the stencil again, chalk the whole thing and hopefully start to paint the states in color. Today at Local Color, Ben from Brush House printed out my map on 5 long sheets of paper and trained me how to operate an electro-pounce to make a stencil. I took me about 8-9 hours to finish. Now I gotta assemble the stencil and hope that tomorrow, when I hit it with powdered chalk, I get a good transfer on the coarse asphalt. Today was our first day working onsite at Casitas De Esperanza (Tiny Homes of Hope.) It’s a non-profit run community that provides shelters to unhoused families in downtown San Jose. I, along with a couple other artists, are going to paint murals on the ground for the kids to play on and to brighten up the place. My US map will be one of 5-6 murals getting painted this week but before I can lay down any paint I gotta get my map printed & pounced to make a stencil. I’m excited to be a part of this and can’t wait to get going!
Many thanks to Local Color for adding me on this project and Amigos De Guadalupe for operating the site. I burned the midnight oil getting this done. Later, I gotta figure out how I’m gonna transfer the image on to the asphalt to start painting. As of right now I’m planning on a large print then pouncing holes in it to make a stencil. For now I’m gonna take a nap.
I had a late start again tonight and only vectorized 7 states. Earlier today I picked the 5 different color paints I’ll be using and made a color mock up.
It’s got nothing to do with them ending their mask mandate early. Instead it’s fitting the name into the shape of the state, and making it look good. As you can see in the previous sketches below, it’s already gone through a couple revisions. I’m not 100% in love with the current version so it might get changed again before I’m done.
I vectorized a few more states today. Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico & North Dakota are done.
I’m finally getting around to vectorizing & finalizing my US map design. Afterwards I’ll need to figure out the best way to transfer the design to asphalt to paint into a playground as well as making prints to sell.
The weather has been cold & rainy since I got back from my trip on Wednesday. I’m so close to being done with Grant County Park.
I didn’t really do shit today besides catch up on sleep and watch movies. The coolest thing was installing the bidet I ordered and regaining that clean butt feeling I’ve been missing since I came home from Hawaii. Besides that, here’s another self portrait.
I spent today unpacking my luggage, shopping for groceries, and doing laundry. I’m slowly adjusting back to normal life. On the bright side, I received my negative COVID test result, and the bidet I bought online was delivered. Cheers to no cooties and a clean butthole! I meant to record myself getting my nose swabbed at my covid test this afternoon but I accidentally stopped recording before it was my turn. I did manage to record myself doing a booger check in the mirror while I waited. I'm back home after spending the last 3 weeks in Hawaii. I'm getting another covid test, after being on a plane for 5 hours, just to be safe. So now I got a hot date with a cotton swab Thursday afternoon. I've got no complaints about getting tested but I do look forward to getting vaccinated as soon as I'm eligible.
Tonight’s my last night in Oahu. Wednesday afternoon I fly back home. It’s been a blast hanging out in Hawaii for 3 weeks and look forward to coming back for more.
This morning I paid off the remaining balance from my car loan from my phone while sitting the toilet with a bidet on it. Technology FTW!
We hiked the Koko Crater Railway this morning. It’s only about 1 mile long but it’s 1000 ft of elevation. It’s one hell of a workout but the views at the top of the island and the ocean are totally worth it.
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Frankie Mcfly's
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