On Deck 7 skateboards now awaiting your bid

My skateboard for the Montana Skatepark Association is available for your bid: http://www.montanaskatepark.org/ondeck-boards/nora-thompson/

I posted progress reports as I painted the deck, and you can find the lot of them here.

Go. Bid. Help raise a little money for some free public skateparks.

Skateboard for On Deck 7: Progress 5 It's Aliiiiive!!!

I've finished the skateboard for On Deck VII, and here he is. I still have to attach the hanging hardware, package him up and send him off, but the creative part is complete.

I've decided to call it Bruce after the shark in the movie Jaws. I haven't decided whether the brusher's name is Bruce or the brushee, and I don't think I will.

Skateboard for On Deck 7: Progress 4

Another day's work on the skateboard for the Montana Skatepark Association's On Deck exhibit and charity auction. I've finished up the teeth and started on the bubbles. Almost finished now.

Skateboard for On Deck 7: Progress 3

I was a little stuck on what color (or colors) to make the toothbrush, so I started mixing colors I was already using and came up with this purple.

I'm not sure if I like it yet or not. It's a nice contrast to the yellow shirt, but something feels a little off for me. Not sure what. I do need it to be darkish so when I add the lighter bubbles later they'll show up against the dark background.

Skateboard for On Deck 7: Progress 2 AKA "The Great White Turd"

I've made a little more progress on my On Deck skateboard for the Montana Skatepark Association's charity auction.

I wasn't completely sure what colors I wanted to use for the toothbrusher's clothes except maybe that he should be wearing jeans. I grabbed some of the dark purplish blue I had used for inside the mouth and added a little white and Unbleached Titanium to lighten it up.

His shirt ended up yellow, and I'm thinking it's just because sometimes I tend to think in a primary color scheme.

The hardest part for me is always mixing a convincing flesh tone along with shades of it that don't make it look dirty. I started his skin, but then let it sit for a couple of days before I finished it. Just a little bit of nervousness about it, I think.

By the way, a few little pieces of trivia...

You may have known that the crew on the set of the movie Jaws referred to the three mechanical sharks they used as "Bruce," but did you know that Steven Spielberg named it after his attorney? Also (from IMDB):

"In addition to the well-known nickname of "Bruce", Steven Spielberg also called the shark "the great white turd" when he really got frustrated with the troublesome animatronic fish."

Bruce is also the name of the Great White in Finding Nemo.

Skateboard for On Deck 7: Progress 1

The Fed Ex man delivered my skateboard safe and sound-like at my door for the On Deck 7 charity auction happening in May. The deck is due back in Missoula by April 1, so I decided it might be a good idea to get this puppy rolling.

First I sanded off the finish, filled in the holes I wouldn't be using for hanging, and then I primed it. Once the gesso dried I transferred the sketch on over.

I painted inside the mouth first, and decided to use Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Crimson on this part. I'll also use these on other parts of the board, along with Yellow Oxide, Unbleached Titanium and Titanium White. I'm also using some Burnt Umber to mix with the Ultramarine to make black when I need to.

I honestly can't remember what was going on when I came up with the idea for this one, but I can say I've spent the last couple of weeks enduring yet another root canal. Not sure, but I may have dental work on my mind.

Skateboard sketch for On Deck 7

I had this idea to paint on a skateboard even before the Montana Skatepark Association said they wanted me to paint one of theirs. I finally got the sketch finished after weeks of just thinking about it.

The next step will be sanding off the finish on the deck, filling in the holes I don't need, priming the board and buying the hanging hardware. Not the most glamorous part of the job, but all necessary.

Montana Skatepark On Deck 7

2011 Deck

The Montana Skatepark Association has emailed to let me know I'll be painting them another skateboard for their seventh On Deck exhibit!

How it works:

Montana Skatepark gets blank skateboards that didn't quite pass the flawlessness inspection test and sends them off to artists to do with as they wish. After the artist is finished doing what they wish, the board gets sent back to Missoula and is exhibited and auctioned off, online and in person. Proceeds go toward building free skateparks in Montana.

I was able to participate last year, and I blogged the progress of my deck painting along the way. I already have an idea for this year's board, and I'll post the sketch for it as soon as it gets out of my head and onto some paper.

One Last Goodbye

Well, my skateboard's gone. He was a good little dude, but we always knew he'd have to leave someday.

So it's up to you guys now, and here's what you need to do:

1. Check out the Montana Skatepark Association's site to see what they're about.
2. Read about last year's On Deck charity auction and exhibit.
3. Watch for this year's skateboards to be uploaded to their site in April.
4. If you're anywhere near Missoula, Montana on May 6, take a look at their First Friday Art Walk.
5. While you're at Missoula's First Friday Art Walk, take a peek inside The Brink gallery where you'll find all the skateboards on display.
6. Find The Rots' board and take lots of photos.
7. Send those photos to me: nora@the-rots.com.
8. On May 21, bid for your favorite skateboard at the live auction.
9. Pat yourself on the back for supporting free, public skateparks and the arts.

That's it! Great job

Skateboard Reg may (may) be finished

May have finished my skateboard painting up today, except for the varnish. I'll take a look at him again tomorrow and see what he says.

Reg grew himself a goatee

Another productive day in the studio.

I got some work done on Reg's shirt and then added his goatee. Still need to do some tweaking on both and then work more on his shoes, but he's getting there.

Skateboard painting update

Another day in the studio working on my deck for the Montana Skatepark Association's On Deck VI charity auction and exhibit.

Today I started with a little underpainting on Reg's pants.

And then I painting both his pants and hair (which turned out to be the same rusty color).

Here's a close-up of his hair.

On this next part you'll have to use your imagination until I can get back in the studio. The shirt and shoes are only underpainted at this point, and they just happen to be that same rusty color from his pants and hair. I know right now he looks B-O-R-I-N-G (like, "What were you thinking?" kind of boring), but I promise he'll be a little more colorful next time I post.

You can click on any of the images to see them biggie-sized.

Reg got himself some skin

To-Do:
1. Run for three miles (36° outside-double bonus)
2. Eat brunch @ Ruthie's
3. Let Ruthie do the dishes
4. Work extra hard in the studio

5. Feel pretty good about myself

Another On Deck day

Worked a bit on my board for the Montana Skatepark Association's "On Deck" charity auction and exhibit.

First, I painted a rough outline of the image on the board (above) and did some paint mixing. He says his name is Reg by the way (and pleased to meet you, thanks). I used Alizarin Crimson for the sketch, if you're keeping score.

Next came the underpainting (Cadmium Red and Cadmium Yellow).

Then the background painting. Not sure yet how finished this part is, so I'll paint Reg first and then decide what else I need to do with the blue (Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Utrecht Unbleached Titanium, Payne's Gray and Titanium White).

Probably add some clouds in the mix later on.

Uh. Oh. I guess I'm not as original as I thought.

While I was online this morning, I did a little surfing around the gallery on the Montana Skatepark Association site from On Deck V (last year's), and I got an unexpected punch in the gut. One of the decks from last year was painted and doodled similarly to what I had planned on doing on mine.

Ouch.

This one isn't happening.

I sort of had to take a step back to square one, but not so much. I had an idea of what I wanted to do from the beginning, but then got sidetracked when I saw my sketchbook page with all the doodles. I get sidetracked easily. I could still use that very first idea as a backup, even though I hadn't done any sketches for it.

So I went back to the studio this afternoon, sanded the wood fill down from yesterday, and started coating the board with gesso. While the first coat was drying, I played with some new color mixtures for a background. When I first thought about this idea, I couldn't see it with any other background other than purple. Not sure why. I don't really use purple, but there you go.

The new mixtures are a combination of Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Payne's Gray (which is bluer and grayer than the swatch in the link shows), Utrecht Unbleached Titanium (different than Liquitex) and Titanium White.

I'll be painting the little guy on
the bottom left, with a replacement
foot from the sketch to the right.

While the second coat of gesso was drying I started playing with some sketches of that original idea. At first I was going to do the skeleton version (on the upper right), but I played around with the little guy on the bottom left, and now have decided to use him for my final painting.

Three coats of gesso, and
it's ready to paint.

One more coat of gesso, and I'm as far as I can go until it's dry.

On Deck skateboard progress report

I was invited to participate in On Deck VI, a charity auction for the Montana Skateboard Association.

The organization sends out rejected skateboards to artists around the country (and even Canada) to do with as we please. We'll have a month to finish our ideas and get the boards back to Montana where images of the boards will be uploaded and the auction process will begin. On May 6, and for two weeks after, the boards will be viewed (in person) at The Brink Gallery. And then on Saturday, May 21, they'll be auctioned off live, with the proceeds going toward building and maintaining free, public skateparks across Montana.

I'm honored and excited to say the least.

FedEx dropped off my board today, and I was psyched to get started. So I did.


(I'll be painting the back.)

The first thing I had to do was get this puppy sanded. Boring, sorry. It took about an hour to get the thin finish on the board removed.

The next thing was filling in some holes. Since the boards won't be used for skateboarding anymore, some of the holes won't be necessary. I'm using the existing holes on the opposite end for the hanging hardware, so those holes won't get filled in.

While the wood filler was drying, I tested out a combination of paint and markers to see what would look best. I'm settling on gesso first, then a base coat of Liquitex Unbleached Titanium and sponging a combination of Cerulean Blue, Unbleached Titanium and Titanium White. Once that dries, I'll use Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens to draw an all-over doodle design, something like this:

I'm not doing a sketch for this one; I'm just drawing whatever comes to mind and whatever wants to fit in the area I'm working on. That's the way I drew the doodle above, and it seemed to work out pretty well.