Well, I found out last week that my Leadbelly mural in Deep Ellum is no more. The fine folks at Elm Street Bar spruced up their place, and apparently that meant painting the side of the building that had my mural. It’s a little bittersweet knowing he’s gone, but the mural was up [...]]]>

Leadbelly

Well, I found out last week that my Leadbelly mural in Deep Ellum is no more. The fine folks at Elm Street Bar spruced up their place, and apparently that meant painting the side of the building that had my mural. It’s a little bittersweet knowing he’s gone, but the mural was up on that wall three years longer than I was promised so I have nothing to complain about. As a matter of fact, I am so grateful that I got the chance to paint him (a big thanks to Frank Campagna who was instrumental in giving me the opportunity!) & I’m grateful that it stayed up on the wall as long as it did. I sure will miss seeing my Leadbelly mural when I’m down in Deep Ellum, but I do have plenty memories from the week I spent painting him in back in 2007 (& plenty of pictures).

The fish are pretty much done. Just a bit of touch up left. A little pushing and pulling of values and they will be ready. Then it’s touch up and glazing on the rest of the painting; plus adding a couple more things to even everything out. I am so close to being finished.

And These Three Remain ...

I am SO ready to release these paintings for general consumption, but alas, I have a bit more to do and the show doesn’t open till Saturday!

New Blood Old Money - Kettle Art - Deep Ellum

I hope to see you at the official unveiling of these pieces @ Kettle Art in Deep Ellum this Saturday, Aug 20th, @ 7:00pm. There will be much fun to be had. I promise.

There have been many reasons for not posting. Life has a way of grabbing hold of you & taking you away from important little things like this blog. Here’s a [...]]]> Wow. It has been such a long time since I have posted anything here on my blog. It’s hard to believe it’s been two years.

There have been many reasons for not posting. Life has a way of grabbing hold of you & taking you away from important little things like this blog. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the things that have happened in my life the last couple of years.

Since last I posted, I have changed jobs a couple of times. My contract was not renewed at Mary Kay at the end of 2009 due to outsourcing, so I took a position at Thomson Reuters. That position was outsourced to someone in India the first quarter of 2011. So, I have been contracting out at Capitial One since. Things have settled down it seems & I hope to remain at Capital One for a while now. I really like it there. It’s a good group of people with whom I find myself working.

To add to the stress of having to change jobs quite often lately, my family also built a new home in 2010. The sale of our last house went off without a hitch. We actually sold it to the first couple that looked at it. So we were very blessed. However, they ended up wanting to close the same weekend that my wife was to undergo a pretty major surgery. Again, more stress. Luckily, with the help of numerous friends from church, we were moved out in time & I was able to bring my wife home from the hospital to our “spacious” two bedroom apartment. That’s right, we spent the summer of 2010 in an apartment while our house was being built. We survived, but we were more than ready to get out of that apartment. There is something about not having space to yourself that drives you crazy!

Anyway, we moved into our new house in September of 2010. Things started to settle down, but in November of 2010 I was informed that my services at Thomson Reuters were no longer needed (along with quite a few other people) since they had decided to outsource a great deal of their work. Nothing like moving into a new house & finding out you were going to lose you job.

I was settling into the fact that I was going to have to find another job, when I received a phone call at work in February from my Mom. My brother had suffered an aortic aneuryism & was waiting to have surgery. I would like to say that it went off without a hitch as well, but it didn’t. The doctors in Phoenix repaired his heart, but shortly after surgery he suffered a stroke due to blood clots breaking loose. He was flown to the University of New Mexico to undergo brain surgery in an attempt to save his life. He survived that surgery. However, his troubles were far from over. He suffered several setbacks that following week including having his chest incision come open. Since his body was too weak to survive another surgery, he was really out of options. My brother passed away on February 26th, 2011. I really miss him.

As you can see, a lot has happened since my last post. I have continued to create when the opportunity has presented itself, but for the most part, the opportunities have been few and far between. My life has undergone numerous changes. Luckily, my desire to create hasn’t changed. I have had several big ideas come to mind during this time period & I hope to start working on them in the near future. I also hope to write about them here on the blog & take you on a step by step journey as I work on each series.

You can track what I have been doing creatively for the past two years by following these links:

Crawford Artworks - News 2009,  Crawford Artworks - News 2010,  Crawford Artworks – News 2011

For time being, here is a pic of some works in progress. They are for a show at Kettle Art Gallery in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas. It opens in late August of 2011. I will be posting more pics after this weekend as I need to have the paintings finished by then.

And These Three Remain - Faith, Hope & Love (WIP)

While others were celebrating the fourth of July with cookouts & fireworks, I was in Deep Ellum starting work on my new mural. Even though it was a long brutal day in the sun, it was very enjoyable from creative standpoint.

When I arrived at the mural [...]]]>

Deep Ellum Mural Project Mural Design

While others were celebrating the fourth of July with cookouts & fireworks, I was in Deep Ellum starting work on my new mural. Even though it was a long brutal day in the sun, it was very enjoyable from creative standpoint.

When I arrived at the mural site at 8:00am, I quickly got to work. I prepared my roller, poured paint into the rolling pan and started painting. It was shorty thereafter that I realized a roller was not going to work on this wall. It is an old wall. The mortar is extremely recessed from the brickface, and the bricks themselves have lots of ridges & texture. It simply made rolling impossible.

I also made the realization that the gallon of primer I got to cover roughly 350 square feet was not going to be enough on this roughly 300 square foot wall for pretty much the same reason the roller wasn’t working. All the recesses & ridges made the actual surface area a lot larger than roughly 300 square feet.

I am also of the opinion that the brick just drank up the paint. Instead of using just a gallon of primer, I ended up using 2.5 gallons! The surface simply drank the paint up like a sponge! Ugh!

Since I ended up needing to make another run to Home Depot for additional primer, I felt that it was probably a good time to have lunch as well. So like I have done with every other mural project I have undertaken in Deep Ellum, I headed over to Cafe Brazil. This day I enjoyed their El Gordo Crepes, which are crepes filled with Melted Cheddar, Homemade Chorizo, Onions, Bacon, Tomatoes and Sliced Jalapenos, topped with their Spicy Cream Sauce. They were delicious. I highly recommend them!

With a full stomach and two additional gallons of primer, I headed back to the mural site and started the painting process again. This time, I ended up painting the remaining surface by hand by scrubbing the brush back and forth over the bricks to make sure all the nooks and crannies were filled. At points I was simply pounding the brush into the surface of the wall! Very time consuming & tiring.

I had originally planned on having the priming & initial layer of painting done in a few hours, but since I ended up doing it all by hand I was only able to complete the priming of the wall. It took me all day to get it done. I started the day early at about 8:00am, and I finished the day at 9:00pm!

To make a long story short, this project is just like any other project you might undertake. It is costing more than planned & taking longer than planned. So, everything is proceeding normally.

Although it seems I am complaining (& let’s face it, I am), I really enjoyed being out in the unbearble heat all day long creating. I am SO looking forward to see how this project comes together over the coming weeks. It should be good.

Here are some images of the painting process:

Deep Ellum Mural Project Day One

Deep Ellum Mural Project Day One

Deep Ellum Mural Project Day One

Deep Ellum Mural Project Day One

Deep Ellum Mural Project Day One

On Saturday June 27, 2009 Kettle Art proudly presents ‘Yet to be Scene’ a group show featuring artists selected to create the new Good Latimer corridor mural series throughout the month of July. Artists include Luke Harnden, Cathey Miller, Sergio Garcia, [...]]]> Next Art Opening at Kettle Art ‘Yet to be Scene’ – 6.27.09
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On Saturday June 27, 2009 Kettle Art proudly presents ‘Yet to be Scene’ a group show featuring artists selected to create the new Good Latimer corridor mural series throughout the month of July. Artists include Luke Harnden, Cathey Miller, Sergio Garcia, Mark Nelson, Brian Crawford, Amber Campagna, Issac Brown, Issac Davies, Tyson Summers, Judith Lea Perkins and Frank Campagna. Works to be shown are not necessarily what this talented group plan to execute but will offer insight to their capabilities. The Good Latimer Murals are part of the Deep Ellum Community Association’s Mural Project, with support and sponsorship of the Demeter Project, the Deep Ellum Foundation, the George Reeves Company, and Allied Printing.