Visit Indy Commission

January 2019

Just as Cannon completed his cloud series with his impression of the Andromeda Galaxy, he was asked to create a composition that represented the energy that Visit Indy brings to our Circle City. This composition would be reproduced and gifted as a thank you to the visit Indy board members at their December board meeting. Cannon accepted the challenge.

We began searching for the inspiration for the composition. Cannon searched the internet for symbols of our state and city and began to imagine the colors that could represent these symbols.

 

 

Circle City acrylic on board  16"x16"

 

Monument Circle is consider the center of Indianapolis and it’s Soldiers and Sailors monument is made of Indiana limestone – the same limestone that was used to build the Empire State Building in New York City and the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

We decided that the composition should be circular and at the center should be the gray color of the Indiana limestone.

For Cannon, curved lines and circular movements are challenging. He has developed the skills to create curved oval lines and shapes but since he wanted this composition to be circular we had to develop a bit of technology to meet this goal.

A week or so of thinking about this led Ms Beth to the top shelf of her coat closet where family games were stored. The Deluxe Scrabble game with turn table offered a solution. The “lazy Susan” board easily turned in a full circle. The measurements were taken and a square wooden paint panel was found with inside dimensions that fit the Scrabble board perfectly. 

When Cannon first explored this “invention” we played a few rounds of the game. Cannon quickly picked up the game and soon needed no help in making words out of the tiles he was given.

Cannon’s first step in creating the Visit Indy Circle City commission was to cover the paint board with a background color. He chose ….blue the color of the background of the Indiana State Flag.  

 

 

We found the center of the board and then he used the rounded end of the small foam paint roller to make a limestone gray circle to represent Monument Circle.

He then used a varied of painting tools, rollers, brushes, to add other colors that represented the city and state: reds for the cardinal, green for the White River State Park and the many other parks and green spaces throughout the city, Colts blue and Pacer blue and orange, yellow to represent the light and energy of the city, there is even a touch of pink to represent the peony, our state flower.

Cannon directed the turn of the paint board and sometimes moved it himself with his brush. Sometimes he used his right hand and arm to turn the board.

The last step in this commission was to add the Visit Indy Logo to the lower right hand corner. Again we pondered the best way for Cannon to achieve this goal. We considered a cut out and then decided on using a silk screen to paint the logo directly on the paint board.

After some experimenting the logo was cut into the masking sheet, placed in the corner and Cannon used the squeegee to press the paint through the screen onto the board.

Heading to 2019

We had so much fun using the silk screen, Cannon agreed to some more experiments.
First Cannon helped dad screw hinge to the silk screen frame and to the board.

Cannon selected a color and applied the ink to the screen.  Then he used the squeegee to pull the ink over the screen, through it to the paper below.

 


 The final image - contrasting light and dark areas - a mixture of red, yellow, orange and white inks.create a variety of textures create and interesting impression of "Orange".

A Galaxay Far, Far Away...

Beyond Our Atmosphere

A Galaxy Far, Far Away, 08/26/2018, acrylic on canvas,  16"x20"

Cannon considered a couple of inspiration options and decided to keep looking up and out.  Mom found lots of images from the Hubble Telescope. Check out the Hubble Site.

http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/quick_facts.php

After looking at many of the images that Hubble has sent back to earth he settled on one as his inspiration – the Andromeda Galaxy, the first neighbor to our Milky Way galaxy.

Canon's first step was to cover his canvas and its wrap around with a coat of black acrylic paint. He used his medium sized roller,

In the photo below you can see the image of the Andromeda Galaxy on his tablet screen, in the upper right hand corner you can see the container with his many modified blue handled brushes.  Below is the black painted canvas spattered with white paint to represent the many distant stars surrounding the galaxy. 

The light from over our work table is reflected in on the canvas.

In our next session Cannon began to add the glowing energy at the center of the galaxy. He used the rounded end of the small sponge roller and moved his arm in a curving motion from right to left around the center.  He added more yellows, oranges and changed their values and making contrasts by adding white to some of the colors. He used a variety of his tools - brushes and rollers - to accomplish the swirling effect.

This is the final stage before adding the blue haze that surrounds the galaxy.  Cannon's final composition is at the top under the title of this blog entry.

Storm

Sky Part III – Storm

August 12, 2018

Storm Acrylic on canvas 16"x20"

This was a day of lots of laughter and silliness. Miss Beth was out of sync and the set up routine became a puzzle. The biggest puzzle was getting the easel set at the right height and angle, bringing everything to their right places for painting. Mom joined in as we loosened and tightened various bolts and wing nuts. Cannon took delight in our struggles.

Then Cannon was excited and focused on the opening of the Ninja smoothie maker mom was unpacking and getting ready for its first blast of smoothie making – more laughing in anticipation. 

 

At last we turned our attention to the canvas. 

We have had some good summer storms lately, lots of thunder and lightning in the distance and clouds heavy with rain moving across the sky. So it is time to bring out some of Cannon’s favorite colors – a touch of raw umber and ultramarine blue to warm and cool the grays and near black in the sky.

We started by adding the paint directly on the roller and began working in layers of color. Later Cannon indicated where other colors should be added and they were applied directly on the canvas 

 

When the canvas was covered with these first layers we took a break to try out the smoothie maker.  Cannon’s first flip of the switch sent us both into the air.  We jumped out of our seats with the sudden loud sound of the motor.  Cannon made two different smoothies and we each tried both of them.

Then it was back to the canvas to add final colors and textures to the very heavy menacing storm cloud composition.  

Contrails Revised

Contrails Revised
August 26, 2018

Cloud – Inside Looking Out acrylic on canvas  20"x 16"

Picasso and other artists knew when a composition is not working or feeling right and they painted over it and started anew. After working on the Contrails canvas several times we decided to take another view of clouds – from the inside looking out.

A little more research on clouds - 

“Although we can see clouds, if you were to try to touch one your hand would go straight through it. ... Although we can't really touch clouds you could walk through one. In fact that's what fog is: a cloud that's formed close to the ground instead of high in the sky.”

                                   samanthagouldson.com/can-you-touch-clouds-and-are-they-fluffy

Cannon has flown through clouds so it was not too difficult for him to imagine and paint a cloud from the inside.

He used his favorite painting tool – a small paint roller that has developed a textured surface of dried paint. The original contrails quickly blended into the dense cloud and the clear blue sky could be seen peeking through the cloud.  Cannon’s energetic movements are clear and give the cloud a sense of its ever changing nature.

This artist makes perfect clouds indoors check them out. Cannon and I enjoyed watching this video.

https://www.wired.com/2015/06/berdnaut-smilde-nimbus/