Gustav and Hannah, time to run....

Gustav is getting stronger, at this point on the local news they're saying worse than Katrina, and for once I believe them. Couple that with the development of Tropical Storm Hannah, also headed towards the Gulf, and that equals us getting the fuck out of here. We'll spend tonight packing as much as we can take with us, including the three cats, in my pickup, again. We'll stack the rest of our most treasured belongings (Jenny 2 sculpt anyone?) on top of our entertainment center, fridge, anywhere high up. I'll try to control this compressed feeling in my chest, so I dont give myself an early coronary, and we'll probably head out in the wee hours of the morning.

So this may be my last transmission for awhile. I pray that in a few days I'll be back here, wiping my brow *phew* and trudging along on Unearthed....

Peace out, see ya when I see ya....

Gustav, As of Today

Here're the projected paths for Gustav as of today, looks like now they've got it potentially jogging westward a bit, more towards Texas, which is actually almost worse because (generally) the eastern side of the storm is the strongest, and also brings tornados in its wake....I report to work in the morning but after tomorrow I think we'll be shut down, parts of the city are already starting mandatory evac...if we leave itll probably happen on Sunday....but we don't want to.......we sooooo do not want to leave....but I think we'll have to.....time will tell.....

And here's my Katrina video, posted on the anniversary of Katrina last year...

Katrina Retrospective from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

Gustav Celebrates Katrina's Anniversary

With the 3-year anniversary of Katrina on everyone's thoughts, Hurricane Gustav barrels through Jamaica today, with a projected path into the Gulf by Saturday and landfall on Tuesday, which means evacuation for us, most likely. I'm trying not to worry for today and tomorrow, things can change quickly with these storms. Tensions are definitely running high in the city though, as panic begins to set in...

Projected paths for Gustav

Unearthed - Cat Test

Here's a teeny test of my bitty kitty pup....also testing out the background image....I shot some live action footage of my Black Salvie to use for the cat's face, cropped and composited in....with smoother lighting and animation I think this'll be damn groovy.....now if I could just get Sal to hiss for me :)


Unearthed - Cat Test from Ubatuber on Vimeo.

Unearthed - Angels and Light

Hey y'all, today I tried a quickie lighting set-up, as seen up yonder, slightly too dark....I want the space between the two angels to be the only truly black space, thats the entrance to Herbies path, the spot he disappears into on camera....will require use of mini Christmas village lighting, which I've used to light everything Ive shot for Unearthed so far...also pictured, the (mostly) done, armed angel....I want to go over her with another layer of acrylic, the texture/color is a bit too uniform I think, needs some lighter lights in spots...the hands, I didnt want to spend time sculpting, so I gave her flat little flippers and painted the fingers/knuckles on...shouldnt be a problem for the shots I need...

Unearthed - The Broken Angel

Painted up the broken angel statue...

Transit Troll Proposal - I Made the Deadline!

I painted my buttocks off this past weekend and finished the Bridge Troll proposal! While I can't technically say I'm finished the paintings (there are rough spots and areas I'm not satisfied with), I did complete them enough to make the proposal. Now we play the waiting game...(I've submitted a lot of work over the last year and haven't heard so much as a peep from anyone, but I'm not giving up)....

Next up for me, I finish the weeping angels and prepare to film the cemetery set....I am also working on rendering a high quality version of "Widow", with a few slight re-edits, for a local film fest, deadline Aug 31...

Tree Beast and Trollio

Third panel NEARLY done, I want to try out eyes on the Beast though I think it'll be too much.....going to plug away at panel #1 today and finish up the main panel, the troll...

Troll Painting - Panel 3: The Tree Beast

Just added goopy medium mixed with taupe-ish color to give the tree some texture...I've got the Troll painting propped up next to the easel while I'm working but I'm having a little trouble keeping things completely consistent...overall its an interesting little experiment....I'm thinking my last couple of layers on each painting will be done all at once, with the 3 panels all squished together on the easel, which I'll have to rig with an extra long board for added girth...

The Transit Troll

I did not finish the bridge troll painting in time for the No Dead Artists show, but I have other plans for it. Another local "Call to Artists", this time the Arts Council and the Downtown Development District plan to plaster the work of 14 Nola artists on the transit shelters along the streetcar line. I'm submitting the troll for consideration, thing is, the shelters are looong, so I've got to beef up the painting with two more panels, one on the left and one on the right, continuing the landscape and maybe throwing in some other magical creatures as well....depends on how much of a crunch I'm in come Monday.....oh, did I not mention? Deadline: Monday at midnight....y'all keep your fingers crossed for me to get this puppy done, I need lots of happy thoughts and encouragement ;)




I've already started on the far right panel, a bit of the ole Tree Beast in there I think (though not scary....a happy Tree Beast!)...I miscalculated the horizon line, have to shift it up a bit, but you get the idea...

Unearthed - Arming the Angels

Over the weekend I molded my sculpt, applying four coats of rubber latex with a brush from Friday night to Sunday...I ended up going thick with the rubber, even though the description of the process I used as a guide (from "The Prop Builders Molding and Casting Handbook" by James) uses a thinner mold which can be peeled off of the sculpt like a sock....I worried about peeling because of the undercuts especially at the chin, and since we wont see the backs of the sculpts I didnt have to worry about a seam back there, so I went thicker with the mold and sliced it up the back to free the sculpt...then before pouring in the plaster, I wired the mold shut with twist ties and covered the seam with cool hot glue (didnt let it heat up all the way, worked well, peeled off easily after casting)...the wings were cut from a couple of cheapie garden sculptures, just to save time...they ended up taller then I'd like so I need to shave and sand down the bottoms to cut down on the height....more coming soon...

Unearthed - The Angel Beast

More sculpting progress, I'm not completely settled on this face yet, a bit too beasty maybe, though we wont even really see it in the film (their hands will be in front of their faces, like my print and Dr Who's weeping angels)...I plan on sculpey-ing the arms after casting this piece in plaster, I want to avoid a complicated mold, and I want their arms in different poses....with this piece on its own I should be able to do a simple enough rubber latex mold, peel it off, then fill with plaster...the wings will be harvested from a nest of baby sparrows I've been nurturing in my yard....good eatin' come harvestin' time too!...or maybe I'll shop around for something cheap and wingy to recycle, I think K-Mart has their summer patio stuff on clearance and I remember seeing some angels and fairies there...