99 Dragons in Oakland Chinatown

This week I hooked up with a street artist named Doctor Dragon to paint dragon murals around Oakland's Chinatown. The goal was to paint 99 golden dragons during the week he was here. We didn't make it to the full 99 but the projects continues. I'm now in charge of a group of students to finish and maintain the murals.

We start each dragon using a template and freehand the body of the dragon.

The dragon's head template. 

The dragon with a gold base before the black line art.

Doctor Dragon working on a mural when I first met him. 

Some of the students working on a dragon mural. 

More dragons. 

And even more dragons.

RexPoly

Exploring a faceted, low-poly inspired technique in this wooden piece. Cut and carved from chunks of old 2x4s. Painted with acrylic paints.

Wood sketches

Practicing face sculpting with some of my new tools: a set of Flexcut palm cutters and a spindle sander.

Wallies Update

Re-sculpted the face, sanded and rounded fingers on the hands and added cuffs to the arms and legs.

Wallies WIP

Some new pics of the "Wallies" wood piece I'm currently working on—slow as usual. Started shaping the head and cut pieces for the hands and fingers. Love the wood grain. Will have to figure out how to preserve that in the final piece!

 

Queen of the Scrap Pile

After cutting some wood for another project, I was left with a pile of wood scraps, and she rose from it.

Octopus print

This is the last of the print-making projects for the semester. The original is a linoleum block cut. Image is 8"x10" black ink on Reeves BFK paper.

Blocking out a new project: Wallies

Working in a new direction based on the sketch below. Just started blocking out this piece using 2x4 scraps with my bandsaw. Love bandsaws!!!

Rabbot, Metallic version

Trying out a metallic paint scheme for the second Rabbot. Not sure if it's quite right, but will live with it for a while.

Skull Deer

A wooden block piece I'm working on... It started as a more typical deer, but I decided it needed some more punch and thus the big skull. The color was brighter at first, but I'm working on a darker overall coloration.

White Rabbot

Almost completed white Rabbot!

Octomickey Repaint

Some new photos of an old piece. I wasn't happy with the flesh colored face of Mickey, so I repainted the face a grey color. It's better, but it may need to be modified again.

Manfish

Fresh off the press...my Manfish linoleum block prints! Did a test run yesterday. Started with some Speedball water-based ink that dried too quickly due to the warm weather, in spite of the use of a retarder to slow the drying. Switching to an oil-based ink yielded better results.

It wasn't always a manfish. Here's the original drawing when it was more fish-fish.

Steamie is ready for action!

Steamie got a coat of olive drab and some rust! A few modifications and touch-ups to go.

Rabbots B&W

Starting to paint the Rabbots! Will it be a white one and a grey one? White and Pink?