How To Paint A Mural

This summer, a man named Carlos Gutierrez decided to organize a mural project in the park across from the school in Pescadero and invited the Baja 100 Artists to participate. His mission is to bring Pescadero more vitality and attention to this little Mexican town, 15 minutes away from the much more famous Todos Santos. I immediately said yes with out knowing what I would do or how I would do it. Then I panicked. What would I do? How would I do it?

Elias Calles Kinder Mural Project 2014

I do have some previous experience with murals. The first was when I organized the students of the kinder in my town of Elias Calles (less than 100 people) to create a kinder-garden themed mural. Kids as plants, flowers and trees. I did that with out having ever put paint to a wall, in Spanish. It took us a whole school year to do it. It all started in 2014, when Hurricane Odile blew the roof off the outdoor classroom. I had already been volunteering art classes with the kids, and I decided it was time to get the mural project that I had been dreaming of off the ground. It took a category 4 hurricane to stir up my courage. I decided to create a bilingual public storytelling event, Mariposa Night, in Todos Santos, where people would share their stories of the storm, and we would also raise money to fix the school. We didn’t raise enough money to fix the roof, but we did raise enough money to paint the inside and outside of the bodega, which would became their new classroom. And thus my first mural project was born. The next year, I discovered it had been painted over in white. (For more about my experiences with my kinder art project, click here. )

Last year, for Día de Muertos in Todos Santos, I was invited to particpate in a group mural project headed by Miguel Ochoa (the owner of Hotel Casa Tota across the street) and Michael Cope (painter, gallerist & chef) - to paint the wall of the Cultural Center with a series of Calaveras (skulls). The basic design was given to me—all I had to do was decide on the colors and the details. I worked all day, it was exhausting but exhilarating. I had no idea when I started if I could pull it off, but I did.

But this new mural project was more daunting. I was to come up with my own design in my own section of wall. The overall theme of the project is the town of Pescadero, a small modest fishing town, but instead of going for the ocean theme, I decided to do the garden idea again, featuring only indigenous Baja plants. Ever since I moved here, I have fallen in love with drawing plants. I started the mural two weeks ago, and I will be finishing this weekend. I have been making many mistakes along the way, because my methodology of working is really no methodology. I like to dive in, improvise and learn by all the mistakes I make along the way. My style may not be the most efficient, but I like doing things that way. It makes me feel free and open. So I’ve decided to share with you the top 10 things I learned from this project and share some images of my process.

Here are my top 16 lessons, many of which I learned the hard way:

1. Start as early in the morning as possible to beat the sun, the heat and the onlookers.

2. Bring a snack and plenty of drinking water so you don’t have to have leave your spot when you get hungry and thirsty.

3. Bring a sunhat and sunglasses and if possible, a large umbrella for shade.

4. Bring plenty of water & a rag to rinse out your brushes.

5. You can do a mural with basic house paint in the colors red, blue, yellow, black and white - it’s so fun to mix your own colors!

6. Make sure you bring cups for mixing paints that are large enough to dip your larger brushes into.

7. Paint dries darker, so make sure you mix a color slightly lighter.

8. Be aware if you’re wearing sunglasses with a tint! Make sure you check your colors with sunglasses off! In my case, I was wearing sunglasses with a yellow tint (my personal favorite) All my colors looked better to me with through my sunglasses.

9. A black sharpie looks fantastic if you like to create black outlines, like I do. It’s much easier to manage than a thin paintbrush. Make sure you bring a few, as they get damaged with a bumpy wall.

10. If you do use a black sharpie, make sure you draw after you paint, otherwise you will have to draw twice.

11. Paint your background first! Otherwise you will have to painstakingly have to paint around every little detail. (Can you tell I learned this the hard way?)

12. Bring a pencil too - to sketch out the mural

13. The natural bumps of a wall add nice character to your lines, rather than going for perfect and straight. Let go of perfectionism!

14. Make sure you pick a subject that you love and if you don’t know how to paint something, don’t be afraid to copy from photographs or even other drawings.

15. Use actual living plants (or people or things) for inspiration, if you can, and if not, bring photos or drawings.

16. If painting intimidates you, remember painting a mural can just be like drawing on a wall and then filling in your lines with paint.

17. Don’t worry if you make a mistake. You can easily paint over anything and do it again!

Happy painting!

Five Weeks of Group Drawing at Baja Beans Market

For the past five weeks, I have been selling art supplies, promoting my creativity classes and events, and inviting people to draw with me at the Baja Beans Farmer's Market in Pescadero. My booth is a magnet for children and artists of all kinds. There are some people in the world who just can't resist color. I know, because I am one of them. Art supplies are more seductive than candy, and much better for you too!

In each 5 hour session, we create one 16 x 20 inch drawing on Bristol smooth paper. The only rule is that you cannot draw over someone else's drawing, but you are welcome to add and connect the various drawings. The goal is to fill up as much space as possible. As you can see, some are more finished than others. Usually the people who come to draw with me are children. But if an adult stops to buy art supplies or to learn about my offerings, I invite (or cajole) them to make their marks. This is the first lesson I can offer anyone who wants to open up to more of their creativity. Start from where you are. Here is a space for you to draw. Here are some markers, now make your marks!

As for our products, for now we are focusing mostly on drawing and journaling supplies. This is to promote my art journaling class and the idea of drawing in general. My hope is that travelers passing through Baja will feel inspired by the natural beauty, and start sketching in their journal or write about their travel experiences.

For the future, I have plans to create some homemade products, as well as offer a Lucy from Peanuts inspired advice booth.

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DANCE LAB

I would like to share a little bit more about my class, Dance Lab. It is my newest Art For Life creation and I am very proud of it. It was born in confluence with the most beautiful yoga/movement/arts space in Todos Santos--Cuatro Vientos. This was a true experience of synergy--a lifetime of various experiences culminating in this class, with the perfect space.

I love leading the class, using a headset microphone for the first time--spouting out a spontaneous mix of poetry, guided meditation and movement suggestions. Teaching this class is one of the greatest joys in my life.

Dance Lab is a 75 minute meditation through stillness, movement, pilates and dance. Through all the levels and modes of Dance Lab—we develop our awareness of all the corners of our experience. Being experts and artists of our most authentic expression. Dance Lab is a chance for you to feel safe to move freely, developing your own body intuition and guidance. You will have the opportunity to rest, play, meditate, move, dance, create all in one class. You will leave feeling energized, and fresh—ready to celebrate the evening with friends, family or in sweet reflective repose.

Dance Lab was designed to create an opportunity for an intensive, personal work out of the body, mind and spirit. It was designed to gradually guide you into a deeper experience of yourself and your own creativity—increasing your range of expressiveness. As the music builds and the heat in your body builds, you integration mind, body and emotion, which ultimately leads you to the spiritual plane of unity within and without. As the sun sets, and the energy comes to a peak, you are returned to an upbeat, connected space of connection with both self and other, ready to welcome the evening with newfound energy, authenticity and joy.

Dance Lab is for those who want to develop their range of expressiveness through dance, or to have an authentic experience of movement and self connection and expression. It is also an incredible full body work out: designed to develop your concentration, mind/emotion/body awareness, loosen all the joints, work out and stretch the major muscle groups—with a special emphasis on the core through pilates exercises.

I have so far created 41 unique playlists since I launched this class on January 7th of this year. I have missed only one class due to illness.

Here is the playlist I created for today (I am proud to say it features music by two of my friends):

Ah, Breath Voices         Silvia Nakkach  
Compass           Habit Trail    Compass   
Unison         Björk    Vespertine  
Joga      Björk    Homogenic 
Consequence  The Notwist
Epliohunk      Ratatat               
Fidelity          Regina Spektor  
We Are the Wild        Holly Mae and the Painted Room    Turns of Phrase         
Nocturnes Op.15 No.2 Fis-Dur       Chopin   
Cherry      Ratatat   
Heads Up         Karen O the Kids   
Big Time Sensuality        Björk     Electronica    
Main Offender          The Hives        
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)        Beyoncé   
Hips Don't Lie         Shakira ft Wyclef Jean   
Quiet And Small         Looper   
Track 05        The Planet Sleeps 

Zumbathon

For the past five months, twice a week, I have been teaching a dance class of my own creation called Dance Lab. It's been one of the most positive & thrilling experiences of my life. And it's gotten me in really good shape. I created the class based on a variety of influences in my life--my extensive training in acting & improvisation, my dabbling in modern, ballet, tap, swing, salsa dance, my grad training in movement & dance therapy, my longtime practice of pilates, yoga & meditation as well as my deep love for making dance playlists and holding dance parties.

Before I created Dance Lab as a class, I did the same practice in my living room. And before that, I occasionally went to a Zumba class taught by an incredibly vibrant woman in her 60's named Jan. Jan is a powerhouse full of love of dance. I hadn't been to Zumba for a long time because I now have my own practice, but my friend Dominique invited me to join her on Friday for a Mexican Zumbathon at the Eijido Building (a community center) in Todos Santos. When we arrived to the giant space, there were 40 Mexican ladies in spandex leggings and neon tops waiting to dance. And then off in the corner was a group of 4 Gringas, including Jan, and her daughter (also a Zumba teacher) in the same type of outfits. In another corner were 3 Mexican men, wearing matching outfits--all in black. Dominique said she felt like the Sharks were about to fight (or have a dance-off with) the Jets. I laughed in recognition. Then we burst out into song "I want to live in America." But we were the outsiders, living in Mexico.

Finally the music started, and one of the Zumba instructors (pictured right with the Don't Walk Dance T-shirt on) began dancing in the front. She had so much dance pizazz, it was amazing to watch. And then every one followed her moves, everyone, that is, except me. Now here's the  point of my story: although I have always been a dancer of some sort, and am often the first one to get the dance party going, I have never been very good at absorbing dance routines. Trying to figure it out puts me in my head and out of my body. I suddenly can't tell my right foot from my left. It's frustrating. And it's no fun. This is why I created Dance Lab, it's a space where you don't have to learn steps, but instead you can create your own (taking inspiration from particular dance forms, but with out having the pressure of being correct.) Zumba is all about learning steps and moves. I want to love Zumba because I love to dance, and I love to dance with others. But instead, I feel like I am spending all my energy trying to follow the moves instead of dancing and expressing myself.

I was reminded of this once again at the Zumbathon. But this time I tried something different. If the moves were easy to follow, I would follow them. But the moment they got too complex for me to follow, I just did my own dance. And through doing my own dance, I felt my body come alive again. It was inspiring to watch the  six different teachers-- Gringas and Méxicanas & Méxicanos do their moves with such confidence and joy. What I loved most about the  experience is just the feeling of being around a lot of people dancing. The energy is infectious. And there I was, in the back row, sometimes dancing with the crowd, sometimes doing my thing. My very own one-lady Dance Lab.

Learning about instinct from Björk and Andy Warhol

                     Photo credit unknown

Last night, I watched two documentaries about two fascinating art heroes of mine. Andy Warhol and Björk. They reflect both sides of my artist self— shy, clever, design and dramatic, emotional, performance. Björk is my hero because she is a brilliant artist in everything she does. She is courageous, she is deep, she is alive. She respects her own art intuitively, and she teaches us how this is necessary. She makes use of her own arresting image to talk about her human experience, she does what expressive arts therapy does—she uses the material of her self, her culture, her identity, her experience of humanness, her childlike nature, her masculine & feminine energy to create new territories of culture. She combines, she tears down boundaries, she brings the dream world and the world of reality into an altered third plane that is all her own. To me this what great music does. This is what all great art does—creates something that didn’t quite exist before. It is a feeling of visiting a newly discovered planet, that is also relatable—built out of something recognizable. A planet we have never been to before, except maybe in our dreams.

      Polaroid Self Portrait by Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol did the same thing, in his way. He took a careful, critical, but most importantly, celebratory look at culture, at what culture was in the process of becoming, and created something brand new out of it. He got out ahead. He put up a gigantic mirror. He dared to show us our narcissism, and his own. He made use, too, of his own body, his own wounds, his own childlike nature, his femininity & masculinity, his belief in the beauty of humanity. These are also my goals as an artist, but it seems I am much slower to arrive. Perhaps this is because I am so multi-modal, my development in each form has to be slow. It’s also because I often get stuck in my own self-doubt as an artist. I, too, want to turn everything I do into art. I too, want to make use of my masculinity & femininity & childlike nature. I too, want to break down boundaries—I too want to celebrate humanity. I feel like I haven’t quite stepped fully into my artistic voice & body, but rather than waiting, I am starting to put my voice out there before I am fully ready. This blog is for that purpose—and it is what I believe may be revolutionary about it—to expose my process, the messy process of becoming myself. To highlight my process of transformation (which happens over and over again) in the hopes that I might help illuminate your path for yourself.

I don’t believe I have all the answers, I am just willing to share my questions and my quest. I have some answers, or rather, I am in development with some answers, and those I am also willing to share—particularly in my labs and in my counseling/coaching sessions. We already have so many voices on the internet who tell us that they have the answers, the secret to humanity. (Nearly everyday I listen to inspiring TED talks, or master storytellers.) My intention is to reveal the process of getting there. (As if the process ever ends. I don't believe it does.)  My intention is to expose my failures as exciting lessons. To reveal my emotions, so that it makes it safer for you to feel yours. My goal is to keep myself inspired, and in turn, keep you inspired. I want to inspire you to never give up on your dreams, to never give up on you becoming your whole self.

The word that emerged in both documentaries, but particularly from the one about Björk, was instinct. This word is not a word I use often, but now it has come happily, fully to my attention. There are a few nuanced definitions of the word, but Bjork used it in this sense: “a natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking.” (Oxford) She said that her goal in her art is to return us to our instincts. She uses her own instincts, which are highly developed because since she has been an artist since she was a young child. She has never stopped being an artist. I think this is why her art is so magical, so unreal—she trusts that her instincts will take her where she needs to go. This is the expressive arts ethos as well—we move into a deeper well of our experience in order to express the non-linear, less conscious part of our human experience. Andy Warhol used his very-well developed instincts too—his art reflects the instinctual human response to mass culture, to advanced capitalist culture. What it turns us into.

Lately, I have  a similar way of looking at the purpose of art, but the word I have been using is nature. My goal being: to help human culture be more connected to nature. The nature that is already within us. Both our humanity and our animality. I am now seeing that instincts are the function of our human experience that allows us to connect to our nature. What I am also seeing now, for myself, is that it’s not enough just to have instincts, its about trusting those instincts. It’s about not doubting ourselves.  The only way we can do this is to stop being self-conscious, which is to stop wondering what other people will think. To not let our projections of others' perceptions be a factor in how we move our raw material into the art space. How we shape our personal response to our unique experience. This is, by far, the greatest thing that holds me back as an artist, and I know that I am not alone. But how do we do this? How do we let go of our fear of judgment by others? How do we stop worrying about how our art will be received?

There is no simple solution, or rather, there are many solutions, and this is the question that guides how I set up my classroom laboratories: how do I create a context that helps people be free to open up to their vast creativity? One thing comes to mind: it’s about where we put our attention. If we put our attention on our experience, we are self-aware. When we put our attention on others' experience of us, we are self-conscious. If we stay focused on what we are doing, and what we are trying to express, then we won’t be thinking as much about how it will be received. Getting deeply into the work is what evaporates self-consciousness. It isn’t easy to do. I struggle with it every day. But I also work on solutions. Quitting Facebook was one of my solutions. So is writing this blog everyday. Meditating is another.

What are some of your solutions?