Arts in the Family: 2011-11-13

Saturday, November 19, 2011

From Way Back When: Green Giant Commercial (1975)

Prop-erly Painted

Pictured above is one of the foam props carved and painted to look like limestone. Last week I repainted it to look more like actual limestone. It's hard to tell in this photo since it seems to have a bluish tint to it. It's pretty close to the desired color but I think it needs a some highlights here and there. On the table nest to the prop are actual limestone rocks for comparison.

From The Sketchbook- Werewolf

I drew this sketch with crayola markers and black ink.

Friday, November 18, 2011

November Sky

Cloudy skies are just as beautiful as a clear blue one.

Friday Roundup

Charles A. Arnold Elementary School which opened in 1953 and was named after a highly respected teacher (which goes without saying) whose career spanned fifty three years.

Here I am having a great time with a great bunch of third grade students at Arnold Elementary yesterday.

This week was both busy and relaxing with days (mostly Pammy) that were intensely busy or very quiet and relaxing. That's a good thing considering next week will be all Thanksgiving. Yeeha!! Pammy was baking away again like crazy at work and I was kept busy with Doc Ed shows and finishing my touch ups on the "limestone" prop for my Doc Ed shows.

Pammy and I also had time to attend the Thanksgiving festivities today at our kids' school before she had to rush off to work. Now the Thanksgiving holiday has officially begun here at Rancho Ramirez and we've got plans, big plans I tells ya', to have some fun family time before, during and after the big day until the kids return to school.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

From The Sketchbook- Mexican Soldiers Circa 1830's

Happy Life Day!

Thanks to Clown College grad Brian Weckerly, I now know that today is the 33rd anniversary of the broad cast of the Star Wars Holiday Special originally broadcast November 17, 1978 on CBS. The neat thing about this particular video is that it includes the commercials for the products that sponsored the show.

Below are some fun links with more info. Enjoy!

http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Star_Wars_Holiday_Special

http://www.lucasfan.com/swtv/index2.html

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Neither Snow, Nor Rain...

Yesterday Sarah and I drove through heavy rain to do a Doc Ed show for a Home school group at Eisenhower Park. We also had the kids so some Aquifer related art activities before and after the show. Despite the stormy weather Sarah and I were pleasantly surprised to see a good-sized group show up. It was a heavy rainstorm but unfortunately it didn't last long though were grateful for the rain we did get. Every bit counts especially in a drought. Tomorrow I'll be at Arnold Elementary presenting the Amazing Aquifer Adventure show for one hundred and four third graders.

From The Sketchbook- Clash of the Titans' Medusa

Circo Osorio Lives!

Back in 1999 Pammy and I did advance work for Circo Osorio/American Crown Circus as it toured through Nevada, Arizona and California. The show was performed not under a tent but side-walled as seen in the photos above and below. That is, they had sides but no top presenting their acts under the open sky.

This morning I was checking out the Balloon Man blog which covers a lot of circus related material and saw a couple of Youtube videos of Circo Osorio as it is today. We always wondered if the little show that could was still around and it's good to know that it certainly is. Not only is it still touring but it's now under a tent and the acts are pretty good too. It's also expanded it's route to include Texas among other states as well as Mexico and Canada. Very impressive! Check out the videos below and check out the Balloon Man blog here and the Circo Osorio homepage here .

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

One Man Sideshow

I never got around to showing footage of David Darwin, formerly Smith, who was a fellow performer at Seaworld's Hallo-Scream this past October during Jack's Seaside Sideshow. He is multi-talented and very entertaining with a very unique style for presenting his art. Check out his website here . Enjoy.

From The Sketchbook- Mutant Ghoulies from Night of the Comet

Monday, November 14, 2011

Doc Ed Shows This Week

Here's Brent Doty, an educator at the Edwards Aquifer Authority.

Doc Ed is having a busy November and enjoying every minute of it. This week I'll be at Eisenhower Park for a Home School Group Event and at Arnold Elementary to educate and entertain the kiddos on a wide variety of things regarding the Edwards Aquifer. Then Doc takes the week off to enjoy turkey, stuffing and lots of pecan pie! Yummers!!

The remainder of the Doc Ed 2011 Tour looks likes this:

November 28th Goodwin Frazier Elementary
November 30th Region 20 Teleconference
December 2nd Coronado Elementary School
December 9th Knowlton Elementary School
December 15th Northwest Crossing Elementary School

Check out the rest of the school year here.

Monday Again!

The week begins once again with our usual stroll in the park followed by a yummy breakfast at another of our favorite Mexican "mom and pop" cafes: The Acapulco Restaurant. Over the weekend though, Pammy and I both worked. I finished painting a "Doc Ed" prop ( giant foam rock) for the "Amazing Aquifer Adventure Show"and she worked at the restaurant baking and lending a hand wherever she could since it was a very busy weekend there.

Today I'll take some film to be developed because my little digital camera is on the fritz and wont take anything but a washed out, almost white photo. Yes, I know. It's a bummer. But the old school way is good too. I still enjoy taking the film in for processing at the local pharmacy and then shopping around for fun holiday stuff. The camera itself has been sitting around for a while and was purchased a couple of years ago. It had a few exposures left that I used to take photos of the rock prop and some nice autumn leaves. Other than that, I have no idea what's in there.

This is the last week before the kids will be off for the Thanksgiving holiday so we've got to get all the busy stuff out of the way as much as possible. Things like house cleaning become a challenge when the kids are at home. We've got to do some top secret Christmas shopping to do as well sans kids. The clock is ticking!