Sing For Hope Piano Time Warp #3: COLOR!

This is the second post today.  What can I say - I'm a feast or famine type-o-gal. So about half an hour ago I left you hanging with the piano primed ina ghostly all white state.  Finally the really fun part - adding color!  That first brush stroke is always the hardest.  Where to begin?  Right smack dab in the center of course!

Then I needed some connectors - part wave, part vine, part tree branches/roots (you'll see as it evolves)

I was thinking of the arms as waves.  There were a lot of nature elements to this - a real feeling of the timelessness and cycles of growing things and the ebb and tide of water - endless ocean.  I was listening to a lot of Florence and the Machine.

So the back alone took about a week but it was totally worth it :)

Now the next challenge - pulling everything around the sides. I started here:

I knew it needed more work but wasn't sure what came next so I started on the fornt to give my subconscious sometime to work it out and/or to see if I just needed another part to be done for it to fall into place.

Remember how I mentioned tree feelings? This is what started happening on the front:

I added some color to the top too at this point.  Starting to feel the time crunch so was trying to work multiple bits at once.

This post is getting epically long.  Then again it was a pretty epic process so I guess that fits.  I'm going to leave you with a pic of the mostly finished top and expanded front:

Next post - the final side and finished product pics!

Sing for Hope Time Warp #2

Ok, ok, I know, bad blogger. Here we are into week two of my piano on the street and I still haven't finished my time warp! Which is bad because I have so many new things to show you about this week on the street and the amazing people I've met at my piano. So this post is mostly going to be pics of the piano evolving so we can get up to present day ASAP. So we left off with Amanda's face on the right side of the piano and a need for more body parts ;) Here's the evolution from that point on in pictures:

Then I did a bunch of priming - FYI priming sucks. That stuff sticks to everything and stinks like you wouldn't believe. Also, it's a real pain to get out of brushes. However it is necessary and made the piano nice and spooky white. Take a look:

Then, after doing a late night casting session with Sonia (THANK YOU SONIA) it was time to deal with the top of the piano. Enter the dreamers:

Then more priming and gessoing (I used the super thick Liquitex gesso on all the plaster pieces - that stuff is awesome).

And then it was finally time for paint! Next post = COLOR :)

Sing For Hope Piano - Time Warp Part 1

Hello All! So about two months ago I started telling you about my Piano adventure with Sing for Hope.  I then got so busy making the piano I had no time to write about it!  However, I did document the piano's evolution in pictures.  As we lead up to the public unveiling of all 88 pianos I thought I'd bring you all up to speed by going back in time and tracking the piano's evolution.  So, where did I leave off...oh yes - the back of the piano.  As of my last post, all that was on was the central face and my heart/hands and I was about to have a plastering party!

Easter Sunday I had a plastering party (the invites might have read something like come and get plastered while you get plastered).  Many thanks to all who came out and let me cover them in vaseline and plaster gauze :) Here's a pic - sorry I don't have more.  If any of you who were there want to send me the ones I know you have on your phones - please do so!

After my plastering party it was back to the piano studio! Here is how the rest of the piano evolved over the next week.

First there was one arm (Al's arm to be precise):

Then there were 2 (that's either Tina or Virginia - tragically I have forgotten - swiss cheese for brains sometimes):

Then came third (that one is Sonia):

Here's another angle because it looks cool:

Then I added a 4th arm and a bunch of faces - Obviously I neglected to document in the middle - probably due to plaster covered hands and my nightly race against the clock:

Just FYI we are up to Wednesday, April 3rd.  I said I'd get you to the end of the week right? Right.  So I did this Thursday night:

And then I needed more body parts so I took Friday night off.  Stay tuned for what happened the following week!

Sing For Hope Piano - It Begins!

As some of you may know, I submitted a proposal to be one of the artists for Sing For Hope's annual Sing for Hope Piano Project and I was accepted!!!  I am essentially creating a bas-relief on the piano using plaster and papier-mache casts of a whole bunch of people from all over NYC.  Aiming for a 3D variation of my Black & White and Color work on a  PIANO :)  So exciting!

Last week was my first week in the piano studio working on my piano.  Here is a pic of me & my piano at he beginning aka the BEFORE PICTURE:

I mentioned I'm casting a lot of people right?  This includes some fabulous young people from Still Waters in a Storm. Check out some pics from our casting session:

​Fun right?!?!

So I went straight from that casting session to the piano studio.  So then the piano looked like this:

And then like this:

Then this:

Then it was late  and I had to leave.  But I went back the next night and did this:

Then I thought I should work on the back a bit:

Then I realized I needed more/different body part casts.  So I'm throwing a plastering part this weekend.  Stay tuned for updates :)

Enjoy your weekend!