To celebrate my 60th day in the City of Trees, the local townfolk have thrown a celebration. Well, actually, they may have been willing to hold it without me, but I'm choosing to feel celebrated.
Today was the 22nd Annual CHALK IT UP! event in support of local arts programs for kids.
And someone decided it would be just fine if I was allowed to be one of the artists!!
I have been pumped for this event for weeks, but I try hard not to say, "Hey, ChainsawPenguinners, here's the next adventure I am going to have." Instead, I tend to reflect on the day that has just passed. I do this so that this blog doesn't become, e.g., "Well, I know that I said, yesterday, that I was going to volunteer my time shaving cats today, but I came down with a sudden case of not being insane. Instead, I pooped. but really only a tasteful amount, and it was of a comforting firmness, so there's nothing to worry about."
BECAUSE I SUSPECT YOU MIGHT NOT COME BACK.
So, instead, let's look back on the events of today, shall we?
I woke up at 6:30...
Wait. I went to sleep last night around 2:30, because I was working on about 50 roughs of what I wanted to do today.
So. I woke up today at 6:30. I got dressed, grabbed my gear, and headed out to the park (which is across the street, so not much of a commute for me!). The artists were already lining up, so I grabbed a spot in the queue, and we all passed the time talking about various ideas, reasons for being there, distances traveled (I won "shortest distance traveled" hands down, though there's a rumor that one of the homeless artist had actually slept in the restrooms at the park).
Here is the line ahead of me:
Today was the 22nd Annual CHALK IT UP! event in support of local arts programs for kids.
And someone decided it would be just fine if I was allowed to be one of the artists!!
I have been pumped for this event for weeks, but I try hard not to say, "Hey, ChainsawPenguinners, here's the next adventure I am going to have." Instead, I tend to reflect on the day that has just passed. I do this so that this blog doesn't become, e.g., "Well, I know that I said, yesterday, that I was going to volunteer my time shaving cats today, but I came down with a sudden case of not being insane. Instead, I pooped. but really only a tasteful amount, and it was of a comforting firmness, so there's nothing to worry about."
BECAUSE I SUSPECT YOU MIGHT NOT COME BACK.
So, instead, let's look back on the events of today, shall we?
I woke up at 6:30...
Wait. I went to sleep last night around 2:30, because I was working on about 50 roughs of what I wanted to do today.
So. I woke up today at 6:30. I got dressed, grabbed my gear, and headed out to the park (which is across the street, so not much of a commute for me!). The artists were already lining up, so I grabbed a spot in the queue, and we all passed the time talking about various ideas, reasons for being there, distances traveled (I won "shortest distance traveled" hands down, though there's a rumor that one of the homeless artist had actually slept in the restrooms at the park).
Here is the line ahead of me:
So I was allowed to pick my squares, and I had two pristine tiles picked out. Exactly level, right next to each other, and in good shade.
And the lady ahead of me took one of them. Dangit.
But I had a backup pair of tiles! They were in no shade whatsover, but I knew for sure they were not cracked at all. I confirmed that I was willing to do two squares (and, frankly, I'm going to end up doing three, and I could honestly do this all day every day for the rest of my life if they'd let me!). I was sponsored to do a double tile by the good people at Tri-Counties Bank
I picked up my bag of goodies (including a t-shirt and a good-sized box of chalk), and headed over to check out my pristine tiles.
And the lady ahead of me took one of them. Dangit.
But I had a backup pair of tiles! They were in no shade whatsover, but I knew for sure they were not cracked at all. I confirmed that I was willing to do two squares (and, frankly, I'm going to end up doing three, and I could honestly do this all day every day for the rest of my life if they'd let me!). I was sponsored to do a double tile by the good people at Tri-Counties Bank
I picked up my bag of goodies (including a t-shirt and a good-sized box of chalk), and headed over to check out my pristine tiles.
Dangit.
I had a crack on the left-hand side. I was pretty sure I could work around it, though.
I sat down and...
You know, what? If ever the axiom "a picture's worth a thousand words" was applicable, this is the time. I'm just going to post up a truckload of pictures. Enjoy. Please feel free to ask me about anything!
Oh, before I go, I did want to specifically thank R for his amazing support. Showed up with BACON, he did. He was always ready with anything I might want or need, and hung with me through a long, hot day. Every time I took a break, he asked me what I wanted or needed to make the moment better. He was there for me all day, and kept after me to eat, drink some more water, take a break, check out that dame... He's a good and wonderful friend, and though he spent most of the day watching me draw, his positive energy and great company kept me going for ten straight hours. He also provided the vast majority of my supplies, and is sponsoring my third tile tomorrow. This helps out the arts programs for kids in the Sacramento area, and means I have two more days of fun artistic fun fun fun to look forward to. He has the biggest heart in the world.
Thanks, man.
I have no idea what I'm going to draw...
Also, big thanks to B23 and J9, my only other friends in Sacramento, who both made a special effort to come by and hang out for a bit. Thanks to you both. Your support helped more than you know, and your kind words were appreciated.
And, without further ado, on with the show (in addition to everything else, most of these were taken by R himself):
The Gallery
I'm linking you to an imgur album, but it's the most efficient way to do this kind of thing. It's relatively fast and light, and you can click on any image to see a full-sized version of any image.
You will note that at some point there was a woman on the bear's back. That was the original plan. Sometime during the day, as a joke, I scribbled the quote bubble as a joke, but then R and noticed that EVERYONE LOVED IT. And I couldn't get the woman to work correctly, because the bear kept overwhelming the composition (yes, on a 6' x 6' image, I couldn't fit in TWO elements), so she got kicked to the curb, and I ran with the joke.
All day long, we noted that people were reading the quote, and then reading it OUT LOUD, and laughing. It was awesome. Parents would ask little kids, "What is the bear saying?" This was by FAR the most adorable part of the day, and it happened a lot!
I will say that there was one little girl who actually started crying because the bear was so scary. I apologized to her parents, who made it clear that she was fine. Privately, R and I figured that was about as good a testament to the art as anything else. :)
I did get a lot of "awesome!", "hilarious!", and, best of all, "my favorite!" One woman said that my tree looked like it was actually raised. As Michael Whelan said under similar circumstances (when a fan actually touched one of his paintings because it looked like it was raised off of the canvas), "We artists live for such moments."
We really do. Thanks, lady!
Thanks to all of the guests who came out, and if you're in the area, you should come back to visit tomorrow and/or Monday!
Tomorrow, ADVENTURE!! :)
I had a crack on the left-hand side. I was pretty sure I could work around it, though.
I sat down and...
You know, what? If ever the axiom "a picture's worth a thousand words" was applicable, this is the time. I'm just going to post up a truckload of pictures. Enjoy. Please feel free to ask me about anything!
Oh, before I go, I did want to specifically thank R for his amazing support. Showed up with BACON, he did. He was always ready with anything I might want or need, and hung with me through a long, hot day. Every time I took a break, he asked me what I wanted or needed to make the moment better. He was there for me all day, and kept after me to eat, drink some more water, take a break, check out that dame... He's a good and wonderful friend, and though he spent most of the day watching me draw, his positive energy and great company kept me going for ten straight hours. He also provided the vast majority of my supplies, and is sponsoring my third tile tomorrow. This helps out the arts programs for kids in the Sacramento area, and means I have two more days of fun artistic fun fun fun to look forward to. He has the biggest heart in the world.
Thanks, man.
I have no idea what I'm going to draw...
Also, big thanks to B23 and J9, my only other friends in Sacramento, who both made a special effort to come by and hang out for a bit. Thanks to you both. Your support helped more than you know, and your kind words were appreciated.
And, without further ado, on with the show (in addition to everything else, most of these were taken by R himself):
The Gallery
I'm linking you to an imgur album, but it's the most efficient way to do this kind of thing. It's relatively fast and light, and you can click on any image to see a full-sized version of any image.
You will note that at some point there was a woman on the bear's back. That was the original plan. Sometime during the day, as a joke, I scribbled the quote bubble as a joke, but then R and noticed that EVERYONE LOVED IT. And I couldn't get the woman to work correctly, because the bear kept overwhelming the composition (yes, on a 6' x 6' image, I couldn't fit in TWO elements), so she got kicked to the curb, and I ran with the joke.
All day long, we noted that people were reading the quote, and then reading it OUT LOUD, and laughing. It was awesome. Parents would ask little kids, "What is the bear saying?" This was by FAR the most adorable part of the day, and it happened a lot!
I will say that there was one little girl who actually started crying because the bear was so scary. I apologized to her parents, who made it clear that she was fine. Privately, R and I figured that was about as good a testament to the art as anything else. :)
I did get a lot of "awesome!", "hilarious!", and, best of all, "my favorite!" One woman said that my tree looked like it was actually raised. As Michael Whelan said under similar circumstances (when a fan actually touched one of his paintings because it looked like it was raised off of the canvas), "We artists live for such moments."
We really do. Thanks, lady!
Thanks to all of the guests who came out, and if you're in the area, you should come back to visit tomorrow and/or Monday!
Tomorrow, ADVENTURE!! :)
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