Blue skies, nothing but blue skies...

We took Zorro to the World's Safest Beach today!
After a morning of Saturday ranch chores and a leftover stir fry omelet, we made it to Wullbrandt Way just before Noon missing a delivery of Almond cake from Eric Nagelman. Before we were unloaded our fans were arriving, "Wuffie" was first. Woof! Woof!
Mixed Cerulean Blue and Titanium White for an overall base coat in the "post card" sky.  JC ran up the ladder and jumped into the sky with about 2 square feet of paint... The light blue was too deep... I added more white and he jumped back into the sky, left handed. Later a glaze of white will add atmosphere on the horizon. I have always called it Walt Disney Blue because it feels to me like it animates things. This same color is a good base for the reflected light (mirroring the sky)  in the salt marsh and along the water's edge blending into the wet sand at our feet. There will be a relationship between the neutral grey color of the wet stretch of sand where the shore birds scurry and the sidewalk along Wullbrandt Way.
Sitting there on the sidewalk, I was caught by surprise by Lowell Schyler who was one of my first best friends and lived a block down Walnut and was in my class from the beginning of school at Main School  across the street from my house and where my Dad Ernie Wullbrandt went to school also.
  Lots of "Beautiful" people came by and I will make no attempt  to list them all but I want to thank every one of them for their kind words of encouragement. Sitting on the sidewalk in the shade for a few hours painting wet sand in February has been....sobering. I began remembering this very spot from when I was a little kid. I would go with my Grandpa Clyde in the early evening from our house on Walnut Ave., out the back gate and through the Methodist (now Baptist) Church yard, down Sage to Cactus and through Dick Dailey Chevrolete car lot (now Wullbrandt Way), across Linden and over to Rexall Drugs where he would buy a bag of horhounds (a small sugar coated hard candy I grew to like). So the side walk I sat on today was very familiar territory. My personal safest beach from when I was a little kid growing up only a block away.
Yesterday I painted in the blue and green parts on the umbrella. Today, as the afternoon grew cooler, JC added the yellow, then the orange. It already reminds me of the whirling color wheel that appears on my apple computer screen just before it freezes.
Standing in the sun up against Robitailles Candy we warmed our hands and chatted with my cousin Jill (Wullbrandt) and her hubby Kent. Elizabeth from Chalk Gallery arrived in time to witness this blond woman in a sporty blue car whip off Linden (safely and legally) onto Wullbrandt Way to gift us with a mocha latte, then disappeared  on Cactus finishing our day with a flourish! (She sure looked familiar. I think I've seen her in the Coastal View more than once.)
Evidently a few more of you have been nudged onto this blogspot. Welcome aboard! Hope you enjoy the ride.

Living the Vida Local, the Wullbrandt Way. My Dad would have loved this! Thanks you guys.

Will close with a pic of my Dad and I tonight. Cool eh? I'm the one with the moustache btw.. LOL!

 Thursday and Friday.
Good morning loyal followers. Allow me to remind you that you can scroll down to older post and view time lapse shots that I continue to update when significant or visual progress is made on Wullbrandt Way. Thursday was spent drawing full scale. Again, many people came by for a look and a chat. Lots of people confess to be fellow artists in various degrees. Among the memorable ones was Diane who arrived on bicycle (as many do) and painted a watercolor of me painting the mural. Performance art!
Farmer's market brought more friends (Meredith, Emily and on and on) by for a look.  Thursday night I had dinner on the other side of the wall (Senor Frogs) and crashed at my Mom's a block away from the mural.
Friday morning was breakfast at Mom's and an early start on Wullbrandt Way. The first image to be painted was the lifeguard tower and I blocked in the MM surfboard. A parade of my loyal supporters offered coffee and treats (thanks Donna and Foster). As I begin painting the animals, it will feel increasingly like being on exhibit at the zoo. I miss not having my dog Zorro at my side and get my dog fix from "Wuffie", "Noel", "Boulder" and dozens of other new canine friends, most of whom love to lick.
I try to keep the Handicap parking space open and stop any flying paint when it is occupied. If the cones are there and the space is needed, I hope to notice and accommodate (just honk!).
 The new tenant on Wullbrandt Way kidnapped my Mom and I for lunch at PB&Jays. I had "The Carpinterian". Yummm..... Back to Wullbrandt Way... Great to see Mary Louise, Mrs. Walsh, Biff, Barbie, Alice, Silvia, Carl, Fong, Kenny, Betty, Elizabeth, Stefanie and on and on...I wont be accounting for all of the friends and visitors in future posts as there are too many and hate leaving people out which has already happened.
Before packing up, Barbara, my oldest friend and classmate ALL through school from kindergarten on, brought another old friend, Kathleen, to see the progress.  Kathleen is responsible for starting the seal watch at the seal sanctuary to which a major portion of WSB is dedicated. She approved of the story book rendering of her cause. Whew! Made it back up the mountain last night to the delight of our dogs and JC prepared a most delicious vegetable stir fry before I conked out. This morning I hope to get some more drawing done and if JC goes with me, I will have him block in some blue sky. This will be a welcome change to WSB considering the fog that is hanging around.
Remember to scroll down to older posts for updated progress photos.

Diane painting a postcard

Barbie

Donna

Mom and I

Please scroll down to "older posts" or go down to "World's Safest Beach" for complete blog and photo updates.

Sketch

Yesterday I sketched in one of the egrets, some salt marsh, the mountains, water's edge on main beach, horizon line and a harbor seal. Working with a carpenter's pencil on a long bamboo stick this went quickly. Most of my time was spent chatting with audience. I love monologues but a fun show with audience participation can't be beat! Reminds me of performing Magic.

Today I am working in the studio up here on Chismahoo blowing the individual images up on butcher paper for transfer. This process will allow me to capture some of the "story book" feeling of the rendering. Here is the original sketch that I am working from. Notice I eliminated one Pelican and replaced the Comoran with Dolphins in the final. Back to Senor Frogs tomorrow.
Thanks to you new followers! The feedback is a kick.
Artfully Yours, JW

Good evening

Good evening,
Will make this short.
Sketched out about 1/6th of the mural today but when I went to take the photo at the end of the day, a shiny gold Cadillac swooped into the parking space the moment I removed the orange cones. For those followers who have noticed the mural faces a "handicap" parking space you will know why I did not ask the driver to move for my shot. I circled back before leaving town only to discover the gold Cadillac had no "handicap" permit. (where is the code enforcer.... ummmm what's her name?) LOL
Photo promised the Wullbrandt Way, tomorrow!

Scroll through "older posts" or down to "World's Safest Beach" for photo series of progress from the beginning.

Whew! What a day!

Whew! What a day!
JC made breakfast (thanks for the fresh eggs Mac Brown).
Loaded art materials etc. in truck, hooked up the hay trailer (almost out of hay) and headed down Chismahoo and into town to get painting.
    Sooooooo many people stopped to talk again today. This being a holiday (President's Day) there were tons of folks in town. I think every one of them came by the mural for a chat!  As soon as JC and I got the lettering up people really started taking pictures. This pleased me not for my ego but as an indication that my design was working as planned: a "photo op".. This group of teenage girls with their Mom were treating their Grandmother to lunch for her birthday. I found myself at the center of their celebration interacting with the mural! Cameras clicking, what fun!
    Also seeming to work, at least when folks showed their children the rendering, is the friendly nature of the seals and birds. I want them to have a "story book" quality to them so kids will enjoy them.
Then of course Foster and Donna came by to show support as did my Mom and Barbara Young. Love you guys!
    One visitor was a graphic artist who seemed fascinated with the hand rendering aspect. We had an interesting conversation about the effects of the digital age on large format "art" most common in our environment like advertising and billboards etc.. How drawing large scale is now perceived as "unusual".
    So we got the "WSB" lettering on, grabbed a burrito at Oaxaca Fresh (Senor Frog is closed on Mondays) and back up Rincon Canyon to hook on to the hay trailer (now fully loaded, thanks Steve Todd). We slowly tugged 25 bales up Chismahoo as the sun was setting in that beautiful western vista we get to enjoy. Through the gates and up to the barn with the hay trailer. No bucking hay tonight, thank you.
Horses, cows, dogs and cats all glad to have us home and to be fed.
   I'm happy to sit down with a Corona and write this post to you dear followers.

Good intentions

Had every intention of heading down to paint yesterday but needed to drop off ATV for service and pick up our "back up" generator for the solar power  etc.. Living "off grid" has it's special tasks. Around sunset got some earth turned in the vegetable garden and fertilized.
Got up at 5 AM today, made coffee and projected the "World's Safest Beach" lettering onto butcher paper while it was still dark in the studio. Has taken some fiddling to get the line to fit into the 12' 4" space just right.  Not a sign painter here!
After feeding the 3 cats and 3 dogs, I took the dogs for their walk down Sulpher Creek and into the forest. Then poked around the vegetable garden before feeding the donkeys, horse, mule and cows all the time thinking about the mural and what would be realistic to get done on it today.
 The "drizzle" that was promised for last night did not materialize so I'm about to go out and repack the truck with my art supplies, grab a bowl of cereal and head down the mountain to Wullbrandt Way determined "World's Safest Beach" lettering gets painted today.  "Jean-Claude... you up and ready?"

START HERE World's Safest Beach START HERE