After 8 weeks on display at the Martin Luther King Jr./San Jose State University Library, my exhibit finally came down today. I'm so lucky to have had this opportunity though I feel like I didn't take full advantage of it while I had the chance. I was too focused on my Inktober drawings, followed by 31 Skulls and the Eastridge mural to make the best use out of the library exhibit. The few things I wish I had done were hang the my large framed drawings, put info cards on all the pieces, and put up an "about the artist" sheet somewhere with my website and Instagram handle. Oh well. Next time.

Tonight I went in hoping to finally finish with the green paint. I did a some small details then went in with the roller but they're going to need a second coat. I originally thought I was going to knock out all the green in one day. It's taken 3 days and going on 4 now.

I outlined all the letters but I'm still not done with the green. Only a few things left to outline before I can use the roller to fill it all in. Then it's on to the brown background at the bottom.

I thought I was going to finish the green background today but nope! I only outlined half of the green areas in the 9.5 hours I was there. I wanted to stay longer but I have to meet my cousin at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in the morning so she can check out my artwork on display. She's driving in from out of town. I'll come back to Eastridge Saturday night and hopefully finish all the green.

Today I slept in, ate a lot of turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, and watched a few movies in bed. Tomorrow, I'm planning a long day & night of working on the mural.

Tonight I went into Eastridge and painted the light blue sky on my mural. First I went in with the brush and did all the edges then I used a small roller to fill it all in. It took me almost 2 hours to prep, 3 and a half hours to paint, and one hour to put everything away afterwards. I took time-lapse videos of the whole process but it all kinda looks the same so I only included one segment below where I'm outlining what will be the the James Lick Observatory.

I slept all day after staying up all night working on the Eastridge mural. I didn't want to pull another all-nighter so to stayed in tonight. Tomorrow I'll go in at a decent hour to start painting. 

The jumbo projector I borrowed from my buddy, Mike, worked out ok. It took a while to get it dialed in, and it wasn't as sharp as I would have liked, but it was good enough to trace my image on to the wall. It took me a little over 7 hours to trace everything. The next thing to do is start painting.

After the 31 Skulls event yesterday I was beat. I spent the day resting in bed and watching movies. I only went out to get food, buy some supplies and pick up my buddy's projector to use for the Eastridge mural. This thing is huge, compared to the other projector. I think it weighs like 30 lbs. I hope it works out for me tomorrow night when I go back to Eastridge. 

After months of work on the 31 Skulls Fundraiser for Local Color, and all the frustrations that came with it, I still had a fun time MCing the giveaway this afternoon in front of a live audience and online via Instagram Live. I'm so glad it's over.

I got to Eastridge around 12:30 in the morning. Long after the mall closed and after the last movie at the AMC Theater let out. After the security guard let me in I pretty much had the mall to myself. After getting getting situated I set up the projector, to trace my design onto the wall. After a few minutes trying to focus the image I realized the projector was not powerful, or big enough, to work. I need a bigger & brighter projector ASAP! Today was lost and I can't come in tomorrow because I'll be working the 31 Skulls event for Local Color, then going to my buddy's show afterwards. The soonest I can be back at Eastridge is Sunday night, if I get my hands on the right projector. I DM'd my buddy Mike, who's got a heavy projector he uses for drive-in movie nights at his ranch. I hope he can let me borrow it! Stay tuned...

Friday night is when I officially start working on the Eastridge mural. I'm going to use a projector to trace my design on the wall and I need to run an extension cord across the floor so I'm going to wait till after the mall closes, when there's less foot traffic, to get started. I might be there all night. Then the next day is the 31 Skulls event at Local Color. I'm going to be really busy the next couple of days before I can focus my full attention on the mural. I'm a bit anxious but also excited about it all!

Tonight I went into work to prep for the 31 Skulls Giveaway + Art Party we're having on Saturday. I laid out black linens across the counters where we'll have all the skulls on display. A couple weeks ago I mounted some lights above the counter to light the skulls as well. There's still much more work to do in preparation so I'm going back in tomorrow to do some more.

Here's the link to register for a chance to win a skull on Saturday.

After weeks of working on this mural design, today I got the news that it was approved and we'll be moving forward with it! The mural is going up inside Eastridge Mall, on the second floor, on the boarded-off entrance where Sears used to be. It's going to be community mural, where volunteers can sign up to help, so I had to make it easy enough for people without mural experience to be able to paint. The scope of the mural design was to celebrate Eastridge Mall's 50th anniversary of serving the community. Inside the letters are objects, or as I've been calling them, "icons," that represent stores, past and present, inside the mall. Outside of the letters, the background, represent the surrounding East San Jose landmarks. I'm officially starting work in a few days and the community paint day is scheduled for December 4th.

This project has been facilitated by Local Color and I'm excited to finally share with everyone what I've been working on.

To sign up for the community paint day please register via Eventbrite. (There is a $5 fee, that goes directly to Local Color, plus a processing fee)

Today I took a break from working on the mural design. Instead I worked on the 31 Skulls campaign for Local Color by posting some pictures of the skulls to social media, made a minor website update, and went shopping for food and drinks for the event on Saturday. I can't wait to finally be done with 31 Skulls so I can focus on the upcoming mural!

I pulled an all-nighter working on the mural design. Colorizing, then picking out the the paints, the best I can. I submitted everything. I hope they like it!

The colors for this mural design are slowly coming together. I hope I can finish everything by tomorrow.

Tonight I started playing with colors for my mural design. I need to lock something down this weekend to present on Monday.

I knew it looked kinda goofy to include a pair of feet in the mural design I submitted this morning. I got feedback saying to remove them and replace them with something else. No problem, but I did let my contact know why I chose to include them. They represented a local spa/massage parlor and I got the idea from the poster they have on display. I have no problem changing it. I just thought the whole thing was kinda funny.

I just submitted the mural design that I've been working on for the last few weeks. I think I overdid it with the details. We'll see what they say in a few days.

Another long night working on this mural design. 

Besides painting the skull for Local Color's 31 Skull's event (which I finished today), putting away all the gear from yesterday's live-painting at Viva Calle, I've been working on a mural design. The plan is for me to draw the design and for volunteers & community members to paint it. Sort of like a coloring book, or paint-by-numbers. I have to submit the final design in a few days so I've working long hours to meet the deadline. Here's a sneak peak of part of what I've done so far. Can you guess what it is?

I had so much fun painting a mural alongside my friends TWC (Together We Create) at Viva Calle this morning and into the afternoon. I was so so focused on my work (being in the zone) the 5 hours just flew by. I painted the EMN sketch I drew last night. I used yellow because it was the paint I had the most of. I wasn't happy with the black paint because it didn't cover well but it looked fine from a distance, and in pictures. I had to rush to get as far as I did before the event ended. I didn't completely finish. The eye with two pupils, at the bottom, didn't get a white fill. I also didn't outline the pink hot-dog shape (with my name) or anything above it. I'm still really happy with the way it turned out. In the end, the panel was taken apart and hauled away. Some day, the folks in TWC, will paint at another event and reuse the panels and paint over them. I knew that going in and was totally ok with it.

A few things I learned:

• Painting the background, drawing the shapes in chalk, and doing the white fill-ins are boring to watch. The sooner I get to outlining, the better. Maybe next time I I wait to fill in the whites at the end.
• I need to step back more often and look at the mural as whole. I was up close most of the time, about a foot and half away from whatever I was painting. It looks different when you step back. You don't see a lot of the details. Up close, the black paint looked like shit but when you stepped back 5 to 10 feet, it looked fine.
• Buy better black paint! I bought a can of Painter's Touch Flat Black and it looked like crap up close. It didn't cover the yellow well. Next time I'm gonna buy some of the good stuff!
• Don't use chalk to draw on the wall/panels. I did the same thing when I painted my brother's logo on the wall of his studio. The chalk made it almost impossible to paint clean lines. The dust also accumulated on the brush which was really annoying.

I recently got invited by my friends in TWC (Together We Create) to join them in live-painting at Viva Calle tomorrow. Viva Calle is where they close down some streets to car traffic and open them up to bicyclists, pedestrians, skaters, etc. I rode my bike at the last one and visited the TWC folks while they painted. Now it's my turn to paint. I just finished a sketch for tomorrow which I'll be painting on an 8 foot square panel. It's my EMN design.

I finished drawing drawing/painting everything in black. Tomorrow, I'm going to look over it to see if I missed anything, sign my name on the bottom, clear coat it, and be done with it. I'll then deliver it to Local Color on Monday.