Philadelphia Mural Arts training program: done

Last week I had my last Muralist Training class with Dave McShane.  We had to pick an actual wall in Philadelphia and design a theoretical mural for it.  Typical themes for community murals are:  social problems (anti-drug, anti-domestic violence),  history, portraits of role models, education, health, religion, and sports.  I was personally intrigued by how many horse and carriage pairs there are.  I especially liked how in lots in the heart of the city there are horse stables.  It just surprised me.  There happen to be a stable near my boyfriend's work, so I chose an empty wall near there.  I wanted it to seem like the horses were pulling the wall/building.

 

Mural drawing, 10" x 13", pencil on bristol paper, 2012.

The next step was to make a 5 ft x 5ft painting of a blown-up section of the drawing.  I had this pretty much done in one week.  I think I do want to work on it a little more.  I definitely need to take new photos since the direct sunlight hitting the dark parts of the painting in this photo make it look sort of dull.   I'm going to mount this on plywood and frame it before the class' show in June.

Pull, 60" x 60", acrylic on this weird fabric used for murals that feels like dryer sheets, 2012.

good art news! and good other news! about myself!

Probably over a month ago I went on an applying-to-calls-for-art spree.  Here's what I've heard back about:

• I got accepted into the Philadelphia Mural Arts Training Program and completed it.  I actually had my last class last week.  My class will be having a show in June, which I unfortunately won't be able to attend since I'll be in Poland.
• My bison model is in Philadelphia's City Hall right now until May, in a show called Meta-fiber (part of FiberPhiladelphia).
• My ceramic armadillo got accepted into TEJAS Gallery Space's Tactile show, in Ohio.  This means I have to properly package it and ship it extremely soon because it needs to be there by April 3.
• I applied to the Fleisher Olman Gallery's 2013 Wind Challenge and made it to the second round of judging.  In the second round, a total of 27 applicants out of 247 will be participating for 9 exhibition opportunites during the 2012-2013 season.  I have to bring one piece in to be judged along with the images I sent, and you better believe it's going to be my bison, which most definitely will be a pleasure to move.
• My bison will be published in the next issue of Whitefish Review - the "wild issue".

Not art related, but still good news:

• I very recently signed the lease for a 3 story house in Fishtown, Philadelphia.  It comes with a probably 15' x 25' garage, and all for the price of half of what I paid for just 1 bedroom in Boston!  I'll be moving in this weekend.  This also marks the end of my paying $150/month for a storage space for my bison (!!!).  Last weekend, my 2 other roommates and me ripped up the disgusting dog-hair caked wall-to-wall carpeting on 2 floors of this house, only to find sections of it had been water damaged and instead of being properly repaired, someone jigsawed out giant sections of the floor and slapped some pieces of plywood in.  We took up the plywood and replaced it with pine boards, shellacked it, and polyurethaned it.
• If you can, please donate a couple of bucks to have the second summer of the Poland project I've been working for be documented!: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/15287081/filming-the-replication-of-a-17th-century-wooden-s