Vamoose! Empower! Black Walnut!

A few months ago I signed up for the Canvas Project (offered by the same group that is sponsoring the Sketchbook Project).  Each of the 417 participants received 3 small 4x4" canvasses along with 3 words that had been randomly assigned.  The goal was to visually interpret those 3 words and return the canvasses by September 1. The canvasses will be on display at the Brooklyn Art Library on December 3 and will be published in the upcoming book, "Canvas Projects Encyclopedia Volume 2".

I was excited to find out my three words:

Empower
Vamoose
Black Walnut

I was not excited on August 28 to remember they were due on September 1.  I hadn't done a single thing to the blank canvasses except stash them in a box where they'd be safe from my other art studio hijinx.

Red alert!  Vite!  Andale, andale!  Chop, chop!  Tick, tock! There's no time like the present!  Godspeed, Cindy Pestka!

In a flurry of caffeine-fueled inspiration, here's what I came up with:

An unruly bird pulling along a banner:

A ruly bird in a power circle:

The chemical formulation for black walnut ink written with India Ink on black walnut ink stained tape:

The happy trio just before I stashed them in a box and ran to the Post Office:

The website says "due by August 31" but my letter also said "must be postmarked by September 1".  I am SERIOUSLY hoping that includes the day of September 1 because that's when they went out.

Unruly Birthday Bird

Actually, it's the CLOUD that's unruly, not the bird:

I find it ridiculously fun to paint on the little elastic strap from the birthday cone-hats.

Unruly Hero Birds!

I was so inspired by the unbridled creativity in the Unruly Bird Drawing class, I came home and painted these Unruly Hero Birds:

They are hi-larious, if I say so myself.  Birds with parachutes??!!  Skydiving birds??!!  Why not??!!

I've been seeing "Keep Calm and Carry On" here and there and wondered about its origins.  Apparently, it was one of a series of morale-boosting posters prepared by the British government during World War II.  The story goes that it was held for last-minute, last-ditch use only if England was overrun, and was therefore never used.  It accidentally surfaced about 10 years ago and is finally getting the attention it deserves.

The rest of the best

The remaining pictures from the "Drawing Unruly Birds" class. 

Wowza!  Each feather is unique...like snowflakes:

Aren't these just fabulous colors?  And those eyelashes...they're not unruly at all!

Birds on the far end of the wire:

An inventive young man using his own personal relief transfer method:

The "Circle of Life"...unruly bird style, complete with bird listening to an iPod:

Unruly cats!

I think this one spied his "perfect mate":

These 2 are having a sweet conversation about the correct placement of the egg:

I was disappointed I wasn't able to post all the participants' work...some of my photos were blurry.  So if anyone from the class doesn't see their work, feel free to scan it in and send it to me and I'll be happy to post it.

More class photos

My vote for the happiest unruly bird:

I love the tail feathers...and the watchful bird in the corner:

Clearly a "star" is born:

Paging Dr. Seuss...paging Dr. Seuss!  Stat!

I had no idea unruly birds were multilingual!

Can you see the mama bird with her 3 babies?

Stay tuned...more class photos tomorrow!

Unruliest birds of all!

This evening I "taught" the "Drawing Unruly Bird" class at the Kirland Library.  Usually there are almost all adults in my classes, but because it's summer vacation, there were tons of kids.  I didn't teach them a thing...they all came up with the most amazing, creative unruly birds possible on their own.  Here's a sampling of the artists at work:

I love the different tail feathers!

Flap!  Flap!  Indeed!

Birds in spaceships, mama bird walking a snake on a leash, daddy bird with a bowtie, bowler hat and a cane, baby bird with a little backpack and yellow sneakers...in a zillion years I couldn't have come up with something this imaginative!

Do you just love mama bird with her purses?

Elegant

A colorful sampler:

I love the bird with the feather in a headband...a hippie bird, perhaps?  Did you notice "Goldlilocks has chicken pox"?

And the littlest artist proudly displaying his work

  More photos tomorrow!

A big flock of Unruly Birds on the horizon!

Woohoo!  My very first painting exhibit is coming up.

In May I agreed to complete 30 paintings in 30 days. The result was a huge flock of wildly colorful and frankly silly UNRULY BIRDS.  Opening night is Friday, July 9 (6-9pm) at Avanti Art & Design (7317 Greenwood Ave.) as part of the July Greenwood/Phinney Artwalk. There will be beverages and snacks and lots of other artists' work, so please stop by.

A seriously unruly tower of unruly birds:

This ceramic statue was the inspiration for the squawking unruly birds.  Basically art imitating art imitating life...

A typical conversation amongst avian royalty:

A whole smorgasbord of unruliness:

Unruly Sitting Birds

Unruly Perched Birds

Unruly Encaustic Bird and Unruly Friend

Unruly Pink and Purple Birds

Unruly Birthday Birds

Is there no end to these Unruly Birds?

Seemingly endless Unruly Birds from my 30/30 collection: