I am participating in the Art's a Ball Public Art Project to benefit the Frederick Arts Council and hopefully the piece will be selected as one of the 250 out of a possible 1,000 to be sold.


UPDATE: My "Fly Ball" is featured on the cover of the June 26, 2008 Frederick Gazette. Full Article

So ... what is it?

The Frederick Arts Council in collaboration with the Frederick Keys is sponsoring a public art project entitled “Art’s a Ball!”, which will feature 1,000 artist-decorated baseballs on display throughout the community. The baseballs will be put on public display at various locations in Frederick County from July 1 to August 15, 2008. “Art’s a Ball!” will culminate at the 2nd annual Art in the Park night, scheduled for August 29th at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick, Md. The baseballs will then be auctioned off or sold outright, with proceeds going to benefit the arts in Frederick County. Professional, amateur, student, and celebrity artists are being engaged in this community-wide initiative.

My concept
My concept for this piece is titled, "Fly Ball." The art and design specs called for a standard baseball to be incorporated into the creation. Each artist has the option of attaching accessories or adding to the ball to complete their artwork, however the submission has to remain as one piece.

Process

You can see the whole process in my Flickr Set: Art's a Ball.

Completed piece

Above is a detailed view of the finished tail section. A faux finish was done to give the aircraft components the appearance that they are made from cork, as if they sprung out from the ball's interior. I did this using a light brown undercoat, and a darker brown finish coat. I textured the darker brown using wadded up paper towel and dabbing the coat while it was wet. The decals are custom made and cut out by using an xacto knife.

Here we see the nose detail and get an better view of how the nose appears to be ripped from the interior of the ball. I painted the gritting teeth on the nose by hand to give the aircraft a humanistic character.

Here is a nice top view. The decals on the wings were custom made. Once I printed them out on white decal paper, I had to cut them out using an xacto knife before wetting and applying them.


So if your going to be in around Frederick, Maryland July 1 to August 15, 2008, come check it out. I'm sure there is going to be some interesting baseballs to enjoy. And don't forget to look for the ball that sprouted wings.

Labels: Art, Experimental Work, Personal