Our Transport Saga, continued!

Well, if you're on Northbay Burner mailing lists, you have heard bits of our plight. "Fortuna", due to a series of missed communications (we guess, noone knows for sure) has been stranded in our (wonderful) neighbor Catherine's back yard, without a ride to her destination at Burning Man '08.

Stay tuned...

at sunset last evening...

from the back...

Here, some shots as things start to take on more visibly finished form... It's this back (the blue) that Michael & Else finished over the previous night. Later, last night, things were completely dis-assembled for packing.

There now appears to be some question about how its all going to get there... Seems like our trailer-pulling truck may have headed off without us.

Back-up plan?

The Night Crew

These two worked yesterday... all through the night... and they're out there still (5pm).
Art Farm Medal of Valor recipients.

And then there was FABRIC

We were thinking that a little theatrical draping might help to frame Fortuna well... and lo & behold, 2 of our friends (Ruthie & Laurie) are fabric mavens-- AND long lost friends! They appeared to have a good time sewing up a beautiful storm yesterday...

where we'll be: 3:45 & 'B' street

This just in... (the group we're camping with is named Harmony, or Harmony in the Desert, FYI...)

"If you happen to be coming in at night, you'll see a huge beamer light coming off the top of our truss (smaller than some we have, but think luxor and visible from accross the playa), and colored lights just above the parachute... otherwise we shouldn't be too hard to find during the day if you remember 3:45 and B. We have a big green parachute (but there are a few others around also), 2 converted school busses, oh yeah, and look for all the lawn swings! (A number of our campmates have lawn swings as art cars... if you see anyone driving a swing out there - they are probably one of us!)"

Two Days Left!!

How time flies when yer havin' fun. Um, it also flies when you're about a week behind on a project that has only two more days left, but, whatever. It'll get there.Our newest Art Farmer, Else Olava, a very talented and dedicated (!) artist. Talk about good luck.Nadise Whiteside, a graphic artist in Occidental, heard about the project and stopped by to help. Thanks Nadise! And the ever awesome Michael Coy is seen in the background-but where's the ever awesome Tim McGinniss? He's there somewhere.Else continues her "Fortuna" siding painting.and I finally make some (slow) progress on our actual goddess. Take your time Tony, you've got a whole day left.

go team, go!

Not too many pictures got taken yesterday, but this was the scene near 9pm last night. Painting has begun in earnest.

...and did we mention that there'd be lights? Not just basic lights, *special* lights. Mark "Suits of Light' Ferrari (aka Dr. Danger) & Lois arrived last night with the lighting plan, and an infusion of other needed elements. Mmmm, In and Out burgers and Zachery's pizza and mmmm, beer!

--L

The Latest Drawing

(Lisa here) When I woke this morning, I found this drawing done by a sleepless Tony, showing current visions of the piece (o, so much to do in three more days!) This drawing is probably meant to aid in color choices. Tony's been looking to imagery of gypsy wagons, as potential color sources (below, some images culled from the 'net)





...and true to Tony's multi-cultural approach, he's also looking to Tibetan Temple decoration.

Fortuna's Face

...develops slowly... fortunately, this part (the transparent glazes that build up the volume of her face)-- goes pretty quickly. Below, the sketch Tony's working from.
--L

Yesterday's Progress

Lisa here, blogging for Tony (cuz man, that guy has his hands full!) We had a good sized crew here yesterday, making progress on the Shrine Structure (or maybe now it's been upgraded to 'Temple' status?) Photos show, including Tony, Drew & Michael, Drew's brother Pierce, doing a ton of priming for us!



And fear not, those gorgeous sunsets & full moons have not been lost on this crew.

Last Drawing Day!

It's Five in the morning on the last drawing day before I begin the portrait painting.


Went over to Bob and Rebecca's for a reunion Monday Night Dinner--both to celebrate Rebecca's 40th B/day, as well as the temporary return of Anna! Of course-as promised, I got most of those in attendance to do a drawing --so thanks one and all (Bob, Rebecca, Ted and John, Anna, Erik, Claire and Gary, Prentiss, Leonardo, ...did I miss anyone?)

Jaclyn and David and Drew came over again, as well as two friends of Jaclyn's, Stacey and Sarah. Thanks to you all! And of course, MC and Tim, continuing the progress on the shrine itself. Tim and Drew worked until dusk--I'll get a good shot of the shrine tomorrow...
And here's a progress shot of Lisa's top plywood skirting. This is gonna look great!
And the shot from the studio just a short while ago. Click to enlarge.

10 Days Left!

I wasn't too swift on camera duties yesterday for our last drawing party, but there was a good group of drawers (including Joe Leonard--one of our highest volume contributors, and David (once again); Thomas, Lori, and Olivia, and Richard (a former student of Lisa's); Drew helped out once again, and we got some nice drawings from Chris Hataway, who visited with son Zeke! And then their were our "surprise" guests-- East Bay friend Amy Stabler; and Jaclyn Finkle, an inspiringly talented young woman that I worked with at the ArtStart program earlier this summer.
Thank you everyone! With two drawing days left before the painting begins, it's looking really great. Now if I can just get a few from our old "Monday Night Dinner" group tonight. David, Lori and Thomas
Joe, David, Lori
Chris and Zeke
Jaclyn
Fortuna
detail
detaildetail

Fifteen Days Left!

Here's what she looked like last night at 4:00. But hey, where's the top of her head? Ummm...I'll get back to you on that.
Meanwhile, back at the Shrine...floor joists!
This is the plywood skirting that will hang down from under the eaves. Lisa starts sketching out a pattern that MC suggested. Nice!

The Shrine Begins To Take Shape

Truman and Drew above, Tim McGinnis and MC below

One more week left to contribute drawings! For info-scroll down a few posts.
A huge day forward for the shrine! MC and crew ( his son Truman, Tim McGinniss, and Truman's band-mate Drew) totally rocked it out back, and after a long day, the shrine is taking shape.
Concurrently, we had another drawing party and Lori, Thomas, Olivia, their friend Joe, and David, Sandra Maresca, and Drew's mom, Ruthie all contributed some fine drawings. And while I didn't manage to get any drawing time in, Lisa continued to supply some really nice pieces. THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!!
Also, Jason D'Aquino sent us some amazing images. We're still tweaking them a bit to get them to stand out, so I'll post a few soon.
the drill team
here's the view from our gracious neighbor Catherine's back yard looking toward the back of Lisa's and my studio. We figure when it's all done it'll stand a foot and a half taller than our 15 foot tall studio. Yikes!
Two Art Farmers--David Aguayo (who has been such a great help on this project) and Ruthie.
Lori and Sandra Maresca also hard at work at the drawing. No pictures this time of Thomas and Olivia, but they also added more of their magic.