Change of Pace | Art Space | John A. Barry And Bill Carmel | DanvilleSanRamon.com |

Local Blogs

Art Space

By John A. Barry And Bill Carmel

E-mail John A. Barry And Bill Carmel

About this blog: John Barry is the creator of trAction Painting, a process/performance genre in which he applies paint to large surfaces with bicycles, roller skates, and other wheeled conveyances. With Bill Carmel and other associates, he has bro...  (More)

View all posts from John A. Barry And Bill Carmel

Change of Pace

Uploaded: Aug 5, 2015
Roz Rogoff recently gave me and my colleague Bill Carmel a nice writeup in her blog: http://danvillesanramon.com/blogs/p/2015/08/04/tour-of-the-arts. In her piece, she mentioned my next trAction Painting event. This one will be on the other end of the age spectrum. In the last year, Bill and I, with several associates, have guided four painting events?all oriented toward education/creativity and all involving five-year-olds to teenagers. This time around, all the participants will be older adults, so the activity level is likely to be more subdued. I'll even have a walker for those who want to shy away from bikes, scooters, and skates.

Bill and I are aiming our efforts primarily at children as we refine and develop programs for them, but we believe that anyone can benefit from or enjoy exposure to trAction Painting. The adults in the upcoming event will be able to express themselves on a 5 x 10-foot canvas. I haven't yet selected the palette, but we won't start on a blank white sheet. Unless I'm going for a certain effect, I've largely abandoned white gesso as the substrate. For example, at the summer camp we just completed and the elementary school event before that, we tinted the gesso yellow. At the camp, we wanted primary colors as a base for a round of pastels on top of geometric figures. It was necessary to lay down only red and blue to get the tricolor base.

The primary?so to speak?reason for using tinted gesso is that some trAction paintings let the base show through. If I want to accentuate bike wheel patterns, for example, I don't want every square inch of canvas covered with tracks that eventually become less differentiated. At the same time, I generally don't want white to be the contrasting color element. It's boring.

The base was a kind of brick red in the deck painting Roz mentioned. The attached photo shows what it looks like after 14 Razor layers of paint, two of which are the house and trim colors. I was planning to stage the adult painting event on the deck, but the boards are old and some of the gaps between are rather yawning. Concrete garage floor will be much more hospitable to trAction neophytes. I still haven't decided on the primer color for this event, which happens midmonth. I'll document the festivities and be back with a report later.
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by San Ramon Observer, a resident of San Ramon,
on Aug 5, 2015 at 5:19 pm

San Ramon Observer is a registered user.

Thanks for the comment on my blog. I didn't know your event on the 16th is primarily for seniors, but I do plan to come and bring my own walker. It is one of those silver hoop kind with wheels in the front and slides in the back. That should make interesting lines and patterns.

I don't use the walker all the time, but I do use it if I have to walk more than a block or two. My mother has what is called a "rollator" which has 4 wheels and a bench seat. Those are probably better for trAction painting than my hoop style.

You might also try a supermarket cart. Those are very helpful for getting around big box stores like Target or Home Depot even if I don't need it for shopping.

You could set up something at the San Ramon Senior Center. They have a big paved entry and patio. As Cholo would say, "Hooray for seniors."

Roz


Posted by Barbara J, a resident of San Ramon,
on Aug 7, 2015 at 5:45 pm

Well Done John! Love the canvas that Roz has purchased - a real gem with incredible texture and vitality! Love the image of your deck as well! You make a canvas appear anywhere!


Posted by sasha, a resident of another community,
on Aug 17, 2015 at 12:50 am

well done,guys! awesome work, im really impressed by your work! chck Web Link


Follow this blogger.
Sign up to be notified of new posts by this blogger.

Email:

SUBMIT

Post a comment

Sorry, but further commenting on this topic has been closed.

Stay informed.

Get the day's top headlines from DanvilleSanRamon.com sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.

It’s ‘International Being You’ Day
By Chandrama Anderson | 17 comments | 1,991 views

Whereto for birthday celebrations
By Deborah Grossman | 0 comments | 1,015 views

Expanding access to Yosemite's wonders
By Monith Ilavarasan | 5 comments | 851 views

How muddled are the Pleasanton council's priorities
By Tim Hunt | 1 comment | 657 views

The New Ekphrasis: Exhibition 2023
By John A. Barry and Bill Carmel | 0 comments | 254 views

 

2023 guide to summer camps

Looking for something for the kids to do this summer, learn something new and have fun? The Summer Camp Guide features local camps for all ages and interests.

Find Camps Here