It's been a good weekend for art-related shenanigans. And one of the better birthday celebrations I've had in a while. (No, I'm not telling you how old I am. That would be telling.)
BRAINS!
The first incident involved zombies. My friend Smash and I were out shopping, and on our way back to her Jeep, we ran across a van that had several bumper stickers that made us giggle. Besides the zombie flavoured family member decals on the back windshield as is the modern trend, they had such bumper stickers as "You're my friend, but if we're running from zombies, I'm totally tripping you." We giggled, and moved on. When we got to the Jeep the idea formed that we should leave a note to let them know how much we appreciated their geekery.
I took out some paper (never without the sketchbook) and proceeded to draw little zombies versions of myself and Ash as zombies with the phrase "Sorry we missed you, eat you later!" over the cartoons. We tucked it into the windshield of the van, then wrote "BRAINS!" in the dust on the back windshield. Here's hoping that whoever owned the van had a good chuckle when they returned.
Special Requests (*Full story below):
I
also had an advanced request from my father regarding his birthday in
just over a month. It seems he liked his garage wall mural so much he
wants a continuation of it. Therefore, I'll be doing a Skyrim mural in
the next slot. This is the FIRST time he's ever made a request for
something. Normally it's "don't get me anything", or the "Oh... it's very nice" response when I do. I think this means I FINALLY WIN at his birthday.
Something Touching:
I also apparently
just made a grown man "shake with emotion". My mother asked me to do a portrait of one of the doctors that goes with her to Honduras to do free medical clinics. He's apparently a terrific person, and she wanted me to make it extra special, so on top of his portrait I added a map of Honduras and a medical cross in the background. It looks pretty cool (photos to come) and I was pretty proud of it.
Mom received the portrait yesterday, and went by Fabian's office today to present it to him. I know this, because I received a phone call from him shortly after. He told me how wonderful it was, how talented I am, and how he was shaking with emotion. Apparently he was touched beyond what he had thought possible. It was an unexpected phone call for me (considering I've never met the man) but lovely to know that he appreciated the "extra special".
My mother called me 15 minutes later to tell me she had given him my phone number so he could thank me directly. My response? "Yeah, he beat you to it. He already called..."
*For a bit of context (and a fun art story):
My dad has never painted the garage. The inside has been the same damaged dry-wall colour since my parents got the house just after I was born, with the occasional addition of spray paint. When I was 6 or 7, Dad repainted the house interior, and allowed my younger brother and I to "help" by finger-painting the garage wall. Years later, the bulbous cat and hand smears are still there. I did some spray art a little earlier in my career as an artist, which he seemed to like, so I decided to try something a little unconventional, and possibly risk the wrath of His Cleanliness. My mother convinced him to leave the house while I was visiting last year, (and he was totally suspicious, because my mother is a terrible liar) and while he was out I proceeded to mask out a hexagonal area on the old garage wall, and spray a mural on the wall. Since my father enjoyed the Fallout video games, I did a mural with that theme. Took me 20 minutes to spray and paint, and another 20 to run to Canadian Tire to replace the black canister that was failing in its air-pressure duties. Upon finishing the last bit, I cleaned up as best I could then raced indoors.
Dad arrived home, and looked around the house as if expecting a surprise party. I sat innocently on the couch, watching TV and drawing. He calmed down, but noted that there was a faint smell of paint thinner. I pretended not to smell it (since I was permeated with the scent as well) and he began the search that would lead him to the garage. (Since he hadn't gone to put the car in the garage as I had expected, the smell worked just as well for a lure.) He went to the garage and examined the paints and cans of thinner he had for house-painting... missing the mural entirely. He came back in and commented that he thought one of the canisters had leaked, but couldn't find the source of the smell.
At that point I gave up and went out to the garage with him to show him what I had done. Considering his fastidious ways, I half-expected him to be upset that I had spray-painted within the walls of the house, despite being in the garage. The first words out of his mouth were "Wow! Why didn't you do this inside?"
Fallout Mural, Spray paint & palette knife, 2011
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