Carrasco Studio

Birds and the Bees, Promotion and Saving Sick Children

Carrasco Promotion Panel   30"x 20"    ©Jennifer M. Carrasco   2/15/2005

I think it was Auden who said poetry won't save the world, but maybe art donations to causes might help alleviate some misery. 

        

So, after schlepping down to one of my favorite causes for the 400th time with a matted and framed watercolor to be auctioned off, I put together a system that will be donate-able and save ME the  misery and expense of framing, matting and schlepping.

        

I painted this fancy border, then I tacked on a photo of my latest big project in the middle, and included a  brochure and bio and cards with a certificate awarding the donor 2 hours of decorative painting. With the stipulation, of course, that it will apply to within the city limits and be claimed within 6 months. 

I didn't want to drive all the way to Enumclaw.

        
This donation of hours would cover some hummingbirds over the sink or a flight of butterflies above the tub, and it's a win/win for both me and the donor, since often they want more.  Ergo, more hours and $. Both of us are happy. 

Or the donor forgets to claim the service and the charity and I am happy.  And got some free publicity.

        

I do love painting on a dark ground.  It is so easy.....the images pop and the ground affects the modeling and color in lovely ways.  With this piece I was inspired by  a beautiful decorative French illustration in a 19th century reference book.  I took the concept and ran with it, and it was one of those projects that just flowed.  I did very little sketching....and kept adding animals and flourishes and visual jokes (the mouse and the little fruits watching Kermit  on TV, the butterfly carrying a love letter, etc., etc) and a portrait of myself on a cell phone in the upper left hand corner..."Call me, Call me!"

                            

I finished it in a day. A record. That sort of serendipity is rare.

The material is acrylic gouache painted on black gessoed foam core with some sparkly stuff applied around the edges. 

                                        

Magic Forest Finished! The Rising of the Moon, Fairies, Frogs, Et Al in My Studio

Done! Well, maybe, except for some touchups on the rabbits and the sharpening of the moth wings, etc.  

Here are some snapshots of the 8'x13' mural I have been working on for the past months.  Installation will be sometime in late September.  It has taken much more time than usual since I had to come around from my hip surgery.  I thought that would be easier, since I went back to work at full bore after all my other operations, but this took longer.  Can't be because I am older!  Anyhow, now I am up to speed and ready for the next project.

My client was given a home by her childhood friend. It is situated on one of Washington's most pristine rivers, and my client wanted this mural installed in the dining room as a remembrance of her friend.  She had cared for her friend in her last illness, and  they would sing "I'll be Looking at the Moon and I'll be Seeing You"when things became too sad. Ever since they were little girls in kindergarten, they had an imaginary Magic Forest they would play in,  and it was full of creatures and enchanted elves and fairies. The memory of this helped them both in her friend's final illness.

In my mural, the lead female fairy (Tatiana ?) is carrying a banner with the client's childhood nickname initials and a poem in Elvish, and she is leading a parade of fairies out through the dark groves of the enchanted wood to meet the guy fairy (Oberon?), so they can line up on the fallen log to watch and celebrate the rising of the moon.

 

 

The missing friend is represented by the triumphant Royal Bird, who returns from  Neverland with the banner of her initials and her message in Elvish.  Everything is very soft to give the feeling of long ago and far away......

.....and Puck exhorting the bullfrog to come out to croak at the moon...and the duckling peeking out from it's mother's breast....

 

I'll have professional photos taken at installation. Here are some photos to show how I got from there to here.

A drawing on tissue.....some changes and then a rendering.....

Then scaling up and blocking in.......

.....and finally, again......