When I started this project I wanted to do something that was uniquely displayed, was permanent, was unexpected and outrageous for me, involved paint and was hidden. I specifically wanted to work with the elements of dry vs. wet to express the unique metaphor “it’s raining cats and dogs” in a whimsical way. I looked at other artists and designs in the field, and about the field, of graffiti street art to subtly influence my own project. I practiced and failed various aspects of my piece in hopes of obtaining the outcome I had envisioned in my head.  Now that my work is completed I deem this project as a success.

I accomplished everything that I wanted as well as broaden my scope of artistic hobbies and abilities. I actually used the elements of nature to work with art. I learned that spray paint is messy and needs to be done fast, that I don’t have a steady hand with an X-Acto knife, graffiti is not an ugly art form, and that graffiti is hard work. I feel that this project will influence my work as a graphic designer because it made me think creatively in short amount of time and to focus on various components to make a whole. This project will also push me to do things outside my comfort zone and not be afraid to try something new, which makes me a better artist and person.

The storm that was scheduled to hit San Diego early Wednesday was both a blessing and time crunch for this project. Due to the likelihood of rain in the upcoming forecast, I knew that if I didn’t paste my sign down on Tuesday, in the location I wanted, then I wouldn’t be able to complete this project. I knew that I wanted to have my project on campus and I also knew that I wanted it to be placed near the arts building but also in a somewhat hidden location. I have spent a few hours in the back court yard of SBSB and thought that the location was perfect. I specifically chose to set up my project on the walkway that comes off of the backside of the SBSB stairs and follows the curved path to the bridge. Having to move fast, at the first light that marks the path I slapped down my “it’s raining cats and dogs” stencil, tapped it tight and began to spray its entirety. I also brought along two paw print stencils to physical paste onto the concrete near the sign. I made sure to spray the sign and the paw prints evenly and was carful not to over spray them. After the first layer was dry, I sprayed the second coat, waited a few minutes, pulled up the stencils and left them to dry. Knowing that rain was to hit early the next day I hoped for success.

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While waiting for the sign to dry I also began picking up rocks to spray paw prints on and place into the environment the next morning. I tried to find very flat and smooth rocks ranging in various sizes. In total, I brought home roughly 40 pound of rocks. Once I got them home I tightly taped the large and small stencils to them and sprayed the first, then the second layer and then let them dry over night. In the morning, I quickly removed the stencils and attempted to put tape on the bottoms of the rocks so that when I placed them back in the bag I knew that they would go tape side down. I was unable to test all of the rocks before I left for the day and was going to have to hope for the best.

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After barrowing a rock that I found on campus, I taped a small paw print stencil on top of it. After reading the direction carefully I applied the first layer of spray-paint waited for it to dry, then sprayed the second layer and let it dry. I believe that I might have sprayed too much, too close but this didn’t become apparent until I saw the final product. When I got the rock wet, rather than having the stencil be defined to where you can see all of the paw prints it came out all blobby. I did notice that the edges just out side the tape looked great. This propelled me to do a second attempt but with less pressure.

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Although this test was not a success I did realize that If I did the designs on rocks I could allow the project to be movable and stay on campus. I think it would be neat to have a project that is actually on campus.

Rust-Oleum Never wet spray paint

Poster board

Masking tape

X-Acto knife

Gloves

Breathing safe mask

Knowing that my medium was most likely going to be spray paint, I started looking and different graffiti artists. During my search I found three inspirational, informative and helpful artists/ pieces. I particularly liked looking at one artist who goes by the name ROA, who does animal based street art.

Primarily based in Europe with a few pieces in the United States, ROA focuses his work on animals and paints them in a large scale on the back of abandoned factories or buildings and in the areas they once inhabited. With the use of only black and white paint, he also chooses to portray the animals in a rather creepy and morbid way sometimes painting decaying animals, while keeping it relatively simple.  Although the work is just a bit to dark for me I do like how he uses the space of the building he works on. For instance in one of his works that has an alligator in it, the building has a prominent fire escape right in the center. Rather than pretending the fire escape isn’t there, ROA uses the structure to shape the alligators tail in a unique and creative way. I really liked that he used his surroundings to enhance the piece.

While searching for inspirational ideas I came across an interesting advertisement for WWF. Back in 2010 the World Wildlife Fund created a campaign called “what will it take before we respect the planet,” where they had pictures of various endangered animals covered in graffiti.

The ads were created to spark an action of “clean up.” This ad projected a very interesting thought about how society views graffiti negatively and that it should be removed/ cleaned. In a previously submitted paper, I wrote last week about how I asked others what they thought about spray paint art and was met with resistance. My family’s thoughts on graffiti were that it is ugly and it’s ruining perfectly good buildings and fences. Members of my family would have looked at these ads and would have agreed with the message. Looking at them, today I do believe that the message is a bit strong and paints a negative light on an art form that can be beautiful and creative.

Also while searching for ideas I came across an interesting stencil based street art duo that goes by the name Broken Crow. Based out of Minneapolis, the duo does mostly whimsical animal art in bright colors. My absolute favorite piece of theirs that I actually had found on the popular website, Buzzfeed, works with some strategically placed cheetahs. I have to say that this piece has very two unique parts. The first is just how the art looks so simple when just looking at it. The second is the use of motion to change the view of the piece. While in motion the piece is moving across the wall, it’s living art. I find it amazing how much strategic planning and timing went into this to get it to its end result.

From looking at these examples I know that I want my piece to be simple like ROA’s work, but not as grim. I want to make a piece that helps the art form of graffiti, not hinder it. And I want to also put some strategic thought into my piece.