Spring Into Warner • Zentangle-y Mural

On Saturday (May 18th), our town celebrated the Arts with our annual Spring Into Warner event. My contribution, was to do an outdoor mural on the side of my studio building. I had panels built and primed for me by Dan Hamilton. We lucked out with the most perfect weather we could have asked for - sunny, blue skies, with just a touch of breeze to keep the bugs away. The town was full of artists, musicians, dancers....

I sketched out a very faint pencil sketch to serves as the "string" or guideline for this giant sized Zentangle. Since there were two panels, the first had the sketch for a few ladies - based on the image in my book, Yoga for Your Brain. And the second panel had the outlines of some buildings from a print I made.

My new friends, Ally and her mom, Laura, were the first to be snared in my tangled net. Rather, they were brave enough to get the party started. The huge white walls were a little intimidating - even to me! And I was really glad to have company when taking the plunge.


Laura started on a building.


Ally and I chose to create ladies.
We weren't alone for long! In general, the kids were braver than the adults, but it was easy to see that many of the parents were itching to draw on the wall too! In most cases, all I had to do was hold out a marker and say "Would you like to..." Whoosh! The marker was gone and the person was drawing!

There was definitely a "creepy and kooky" theme, at least on the ladies' side. My lady's hair turned into snakes and my "pet" has scaly hair and a lock on her cage-body. Then a flock of birds arrived in the late afternoon - very "Hitchcock". Little nests were everywhere - in hair, on shoulders, in buildings...

Meanwhile, back on the city side...


 ... new construction is going up everywhere!


Very elegant buildings with secret gardens - built by Brianna, Laura, Jodi and Ally.


Then a flock of Lilah Beans descended and brought some color - and balloons!


Abby, Lilah and Coral were the real-life Lilah Beans.
As the crowds dispersed and the vendors packed up, my son Alex appeared from the shadows.


 Alex left a bird-shaped cloud, a Rick's Paradox tower, more Lilah Beans causing mischief...



And Alex magically turned MY tourist Lilah Bean's camera into an "instant camera"! If you look closely, the "photos" he drew are actually views of the town from her point of view. Cool.


Ooh - and the twisty border on the right side (above) was drawn by Lilah. She copied it from what I had drawn on the far end by the ladies. Pretty good for a six year old!

It was VERY hard for people to stop drawing and head on home.
"Just a little bit here..."


"Oh, wait, I need to add an..."   :-)


But the murals are far from finished!
If you would like to add your bit of flair too, we will be working on them some more this coming Friday (May 24th) from 3-5pm and Friday, May 31st, also from 3-5pm.
If it rains, we won't be painting. Also, bring bug repellent.

On June 8th, from 11am onward, we'll be finishing up any "loose ends" and you are welcome to join us and take photos, throw money in the tip jar or just "ooh and aah". :-)