Debra's Saturday Visit

I went over today to recharge the battery and help out anyone who might have been there, but, alas, I was there by myself.  I jumped the battery and pulled the van out into the sun.  While I was letting the engine run for the recharge, I decided to go ahead and paint the stripes as per the Thursday gang's recommendation to tone down the florescent lower panels.  While I was there, Debra stopped by to fit the cyclops eye on the roof.  We both got a good laugh and decided that it needed more foaming and carving. Debra is also installing a solar light in the eye for night time illumination.  She's enjoying her contribution to the project, besides the van, and took the eye back to her studio for additional work.

It was pretty chilly and windy, and surprisingly it was warmer in the space than out in the sun, so that was a good sign for working indoors now that the weather is starting to feel like November. We should look at our schedules to plan a work party in the very near future, a good chunk of time devoted to making a big dent in this process.  It is supposed to be warmer next weekend and that may be a time when we can do it.  Also, don't forget, don't play the stereo in the van as it will drain the battery, and since our battery cables have disappeared, jumping would be difficult unless you have a set with you.  Any thoughts? 

Election Day!!!

I hope everyone had a good day voting for you favorite candidate, and I hope you voted correctly (snicker).  We had some very productive work today and I'm very glad the weather is being considerate of our tasks.  Working out in the sunshine helps with our moods and our vitamin D dosage.  I hope Steve got some good shots of all the activity.  Progress was made on the back window and door, front side panels, the interior made some big strides also. We got some good ideas from Jamie and Nate for some diagonals along the sides, alternating gold and red.  As I heard someone say, "It's very sexy!"  

Canadian Maple Leaf?

Was one of the suggestions for this cliched symbol that appeared on the side over the weekend. It took about an hour to sand it off and restore that part of the quarter panel. I was not a happy camper for a while.  In my ranting and raving I hope the point was not lost that we are working collaboratively on this project, like an organism, we are conducting our activities of creating this artvan by our separate functions yet we are mutually dependent on each other.  If you have a brainstorm of an idea, spread it around and get some feedback before you disrupt an area that has already been planned out.  Again, we don't want to spend what time we share on this back-tracking and correcting areas.  And, again, please prep before you spray!

OUR GENEROUS DONORS

THANKS TO THESE GENEROUS DONORS FOR MATERIALS TO MAKE THE IUSARTCAR A REALITY.  We've received a gift card from Home Depot to purchase necessary materials, such as exterior paints, adhesive and grout for the stained glass, and other essentials.  Carpet Remnant Outlet for the new carpeting for the IUSARTCAR, and Preston Art Center for their huge range of paint colors and brushes for the interior attention to the Steampunk vision. Rainbows Stained Glass has made generous contributions of beautiful stained glass for the back window.Thank you all.

We welcome any donations that might be beneficial to our project: old clocks or clock parts, brass/copper fixtures of any kind, old mannequins, tubing (like vacuum cleaner hoses), used pens, pencils, brushes; anything that has a Victorian flair, old gauges or anything that has a gauge-look, old oriental carpeting 6' x 13' or linoleum that looks like oriental carpeting, blue velvet or velour - at least 14 yds, small frames (the more ornate the better, and the more the better)...or anything that sounds like the aesthetic hinted at above.

Again, sincere thanks to our three first and major donors. We hold a special place in our hearts for each of you. 

The Rear Window (so far)

Pre-Halloween

Kristy working on the stained glass window.
Hmmm....
RED!!!  That's a showroom color for sure.
Kristy, Randy, and Ben surveying the logistics of bumper removal.
Ben crawling under the van to unlock the back bumper.

When I got to Mellwood today, there was a crew working on the stained glass window and the side of the van was getting a coat of RED!!!  It's a very bright red, even I can see that it's red, which is pretty good for someone whose visual history has not included that hue. RED!!! Something will happen to it I'm sure....I hope.....there is a plan, right?

Kristy and I finished it up after I got back with two more cans of RED!  Ben and Randy stopped by to pull the back bumper and haul it over to the studio on campus.  Ben's casts are looking really good, although I've only seen a few, I'm confident that there'll be two impressive 3-D tableaux of Debra's face and Ben's hands adorning those bumpers after all is said and done.

Samantha came by with all kinds of goodies that she and Pasqualle found at Goodwill, and a very generous supply of studio materials donated by Preston Art Center, Inc.  We should be able to really tackle the interior with this full palette of colors.  Thanks, Prestons!!

I will be doing portfolio reviews at Manual High School tomorrow, so I'll be scarce around Mellwood.  However, tomorrow looks to be a very warm day and with those friendly temperatures, I'm hopeful that many of you will be over making a big dent, maybe you could take a break to run by Galerie Hertz to see my exhibition.

We still need more rooftop still-life materials, and those of you who are going to work with Scott on getting that put together might run up to his office tomorrow and see if he can come down to the space and give you some pointers.  It may also be a good idea to put it together before it all gets painted as contact/adhesive points may not hold as well if it's all painted gold beforehand, although those points could be sanded.

One last thought, try to be more mindful of the prep work you're doing especially if you're spraying paint.  Kristy and I had to redo some areas that were not masked out or that were masked too much.  Part of the hood had to be repainted, a tire, part of the roof, the windows scraped. Rather than having to do a lot of back-tracking, think through what you're doing so as not to interfere with someone else's work. It'll save us a lot of time. 

What's New?

We have a few computer issues happening on Steve's end this week (last week it was mine), but Steve is trying to get it resolved soon so we'll have more images to post, I hope, by the weekend.

Laurel has obtained a 'gift card' from Home Depot for materials, such as paints, grout, and adhesives.  Laurel has done an excellent job getting donations for this project.  I'll start a "donors" section soon as we now have two donors to the IUSARTCAR project.  I'll be posting their corporate logos soon so those who are visiting our blog might stop by those establishments and get some stuff for their own art cars.

Anyone have access to E6000 adhesive, bring it over with you, the more the sticky-merrier.

Where are those mannequins?  How about those pens, pencils, and brushes?  How about those clock parts? Vacuum cleaner hoses? Or bring the clocks and we'll mine for the parts.  Any old type-writers out there? The back tail gate has ben claimed and there are serious plans for that space, this has apparently been an agreement with those who've been at Mellwood on a consistent basis.   Check with Laurel or Kaitlin for details.  Remember that this is a collaborative project, so if you do something that's not 'part of the plan', you may find it covered with rubber duckies the next time you stop by to work.

The weekend is forecast to be warm (70 degrees) and it may be our last opportunity, our last possibility to work comfortably. This past week has been pretty chilly.  You may want to coordinate a work-party that moves the project into a very productive direction.  You can communicate with each other by using an old email from me, eliminate me from the list if you'd like to make plans that don't include me, my feelings won't be hurt. Then I can just be surprised when I stop by at some point over the weekend.   Although to be honest,  it would be nice to see more consideration happening in the back interior, that activity was not considerate of the Steamerpunk idea that had been embraced or the assignments that had been distributed. REMEMBER, it's collaborative, you're looking for consensus, you're creating something as a community that says something about you as artists who are working collaboratively.  If you're working independently of everyone else, you're taking away someone else's creative opportunities.  Everyone has some 'grunt work' and everyone has some 'creative work'...like Obama, "spread the wealth."(chuckle)