space grass sea star
I don’t think I ever told you about this. I painted a big bumpy wall in Laguna Beach, California in an alley by the ocean. Here it is before I did anything and moment before they started installing lights on the outside.
A lot of people project their drawing onto the wall to make the image transfer easier. I don’t like to do it! Often my initial drawing needs to adapt to the physical space and I find it more valuable to make these adjustments on site with my arm and some chalk. It’s a big part of it for me: when a drawing done with the wrist turns into a drawing done with the shoulder. I drew it on there with some sidewalk chalk and then roughed in some lines with green paint. It didn’t take long and felt real good.
I should mention this is what you would call an “ACTIVE DRIVEWAY” so I was unable to set up scaffolding or use a scissor lift. I couldn’t have projected if I wanted to. It was definitely cramped quarters but luckily I borrowed/liberated a 18 foot ladder 9not shown) left behind by a painter to get to the tippy top of the wall, which was approximately 20×60 feet.
May as well start with some big shapes, right? Negative space/negative shapes are meaningful and economical in both a philosophical and financial sense! The wall is a free color!
Day 2 and the buds show up for fill in, ladders holding and bagel running. Thank you Caruso family for being all around wonderful people and very good filler-inners!
Honestly it went pretty quick. Off the coast of Laguna is a big kelp forest and a whale migration route. This is where the notion of a cosmic>sea connection comes in. space grass and sea stars. you ever see light reflected in the ocean water? looks like stars, man.
Bagel moon light my path!
This wall was: old, rough, bumpy, and rewarded close up looking. It held some secrets and had things to say.
It’s good to make big thing and then look at al the small things inside the big thing. I love this part of it. Paint on a wriggly thing and get to know it, I say.
This is a good photo to see the actual scale of this thing. We handled the ladders-only approach to painting pretty well. As long as young Jun was holding me steady it was fine. As I was painting this part a passerby told me that someone was murdered in this alley. Not the vibe we were going for but someone else told as later it was actually across the street. whew!
Whales in the space grass. what was I saying about negative space? this is it.
I tend to think of things as flat colors in layers. Is it the printmaker in me? Probably. Line and shape: whatever else do you want? Look at that bird beak just poking over there.
Here it is finished on an overcast day. It’s on the side of an office for Rivian. They commissioned me to design and paint this in accordance with Laguna Beach guidelines and approval processes. Space Grass Sea Stars here I am.
I went to this paint store to talk about protective coatings and while I did not buy anything from them this building absolutely rips.
Ask me about cleaning your brushes in your AirBnB bathtub and not incurring any extra cleaning charges.
Me right after I melted
The alley was also used by a pizza restaurant and I got friendly with the kitchen staff who were all very nice and funny. One day the chef made a tiny pizza for me. This is the best part of traveling and working on big projects. I will never forget this pizza and just look how cool I look.
All in all not a bad office for a few days. Thank you Carusos, thank you Laguna and thank you Rivian for having me. If you are visiting got take a peak but watch out because it is an active driveway!