Michael Frank Clark Art & Design

Dave

2011-05-29T17:36:00.001-04:00

A drawing from the Statue of David replica at the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum

Style Your Sole

2011-04-09T10:11:00.009-04:00

Friends of my wife and I recently invited us to participate in the One Day Without Shoes event at Flagler College on April 5th. One Day Without Shoes is a national event that raises awareness of the health risks faced by children in developing countries who have no shoes to wear. Without shoes, kids must walk miles everyday barefoot, exposing themselves to not only painful cuts and sores but to diseases spread through open wounds. Soil transmitted parasites are the leading cause of disease in most developing countries, but are also some of the most easily preventable diseases if shoes are worn.

Participants in the event walked barefoot from Flagler College to Goldfinch Boutique, where TOMS shoes were sold. TOMS Shoes was founded in 2006 with the idea that for every pair of shoes TOMS sells, one pair is given to a child in need. Those who purchased TOMS shoes on the day of the event had the option of getting their shoes decorated by local artists for a few dollars, which is sometimes referred to as a Style Your Sole party. There were two seamstresses and I was one of the three painters.

I tried to come up with some sample designs prior to the event, but I didn't need to break them out. Everyone had their own ideas about what they wanted on their footwear. One idea that was fun to paint was a shark on the front of one shoe chasing fish on the other shoe. Below is an example of another pair I painted. The customer just wanted something "colorful."

A pair of TOMS shoes I painted

Measuring Up

2011-03-26T22:39:00.002-04:00

As of this afternoon, I have completed all of the murals commissioned for the pediatrician's office. The last painting is a giraffe with a ruler on it which kids can stand against to measure themselves. For comparison, small signs are painted beside the giraffe's neck showing the height of other animals like a cheetah, a wildebeest and a flamingo.

Measuring giraffe

Poster Designs

2011-03-19T23:48:00.000-04:00

I recently became involved with another art group which is working with the St. Johns Cultural Council to try and get an artists' space added to the Cultural Arts Center in St. Augustine Beach. The Arts Center has a empty room on the north side of the building which would be perfect, except it has gone unused for many years and needs serious renovation. I'm hoping that if the project moves forward in a timely manner, my own art group will have an affordable space where we can meet and work together.

These are two posters I developed with Craig T. which are currently on display on the side of the building.

Business Cards

2011-03-05T22:37:00.002-05:00

These are the business cards I made up to hopefully drum up more commissions. For the corner graphic I used Photoshop to cut out some of the animals and foliage from a photo of the jungle mural.

Business card design

Puppies and Kittens

2011-02-26T00:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a shot of the mural for the last examination room intended for babies. The doctor requested a nursery scene with a number of baby animals like bunnies, kittens and puppies.

Light yellow exam room mural

Jungle

2011-02-19T22:36:00.000-05:00

The jungle mural has a mix of animals including a baby elephant, a gorilla, a snake, a monkey, a toucan, and a zebra. Here are some shots which show the process from an initial drawing, to painted base colors, to the finish piece.

From drawing to painting

Base colors in place

Finished jungle mural

Seascape

2011-02-12T01:25:00.000-05:00

Here is a photo of the first completed mural featuring dolphins, a coral reef and tropical fish. It took roughly 11 hours to paint from start to finish, much of that time going to mixing colors as needed.

Light blue exam room mural

Sketches for Murals

2011-02-05T23:45:00.001-05:00

These are preliminary sketches of murals which I will be painting in a pediatrician's office. I sketching a variety of animals individually to get started and then picked out a handful of favorites. Rather than redraw the animals together into three cohesive mural designs, I scanned all of the drawings and arranged them in Photoshop. It was incredibly helpful being able to quickly move and resize the individual animals without involving old fashioned scissors.

Sketch for light blue exam room

Sketch for light green exam room

Sketch for light yellow exam room

First Commission

2011-01-29T23:55:00.000-05:00

As if having a healthy baby girl weren't enough of a gift in and of itself, the mural I painted for Holly has landed me my first paid commission. It just so happens that the pediatrician we chose for Holly is moving into a new office space and would like to have some murals painted in the examination rooms and main hallway. I shared photos of Holly's mural with the doctor and got the job! I'm very excited to get started.

There are three exam rooms in the new office, each a different color. Rather than cover an entire wall with a mural as I did in Holly's room, we are going to place the images centered on the walls and use the existing wall color to set the scene. The light blue room will be a sea scape with dolphins, the light green room will be a jungle theme and the light yellow room will have a nursery setting with baby animals. In the hallway, she also asked me to paint a giraffe which kids can use to measure their height. They have one in their old office, but it's on laminated paper and has gotten a little worn over the years. I'm going to start by making some initial sketches for the doctor to review.

Mural Process

2011-01-22T00:34:00.000-05:00

For those who may be curious, here is a quick overview of the process I used to paint the mural in Holly's room.

To transfer my initial pencil drawing from a sketchbook page up onto the wall, I used a simple grid. By drawing a grid over the sketch and then up on the wall, you can focus on drawing just the visual information that is inside each square and reduce the distortion that might occur going from a small to large scale drawing. I made the wall drawing in vine charcoal because it is easy to erase with your fingers when you make a mistake or need to remove the grid lines. After the drawing was up on the wall, I painted the base colors on all of the areas, then painted light and shadows to make each object look a little more three dimensional. Next, I painted darker outlines around each of the animals to bring them out from the background, then finished by adding their facial features in black.

I mixed all of my paint colors in plastic cups using black, white, and the primaries: red, yellow and blue. To keep the paint from drying in the cups in between painting sessions, I just kept the cups covered in aluminum foil.

While the mural is now in a finished state with all areas of the wall painted, I might go back and add some additional details at some point. Needless to say, since Holly was born, I've been devoting less time to her room and more time to her.

Art Group

2011-01-15T22:32:00.000-05:00

Despite my new desire to become a professional artist, I have to confess that I haven't made much in the way of artwork since college. I just haven't felt the need. I have sketched in a sketchbook at times over the years, but it has been on again, off again. I've often wanted to be more consistent about it, but life always seems to get in the way. A new year would start and I'd make a resolution to draw more regularly, and then as the year progressed, responsibilities and other interests gradually eroded away my resolve until I would realize one day that I haven't been drawing.

That happens, and it also occurred to me that part of the difficulty is a lack of audience. While attending an art school, even introverts like me are part of an art community. You're a wolf running in a pack of other, albeit eccentric, wolves. You look forward to seeing what your friends are creating, and sharing what you're doing with them. While I've lived in and around St. Augustine close to ten years now, and St. Augustine has an obviously active art community, I've never connected with it. It has always seemed like a well established institution, so I've found it a bit intimidating and haven't ever approached it.

The general sense I've gotten from the local art institutions is that they are geared toward already accomplished artists. As far as I could tell, there wasn't an organization for would-be artists. So I decided to start one. I figured there had to be other creative folks out there who could use some help setting and meeting their personal goals like I would.

Back in November of last year, I posted an ad on Craiglist to find locals interested in starting an art group. I didn't know what to expect in terms of responses, but I got a few email inquiries within a week or two. Through correspondence with those first few members, we decided to meet once a month at a coffee shop downtown. We've had several meetings there so far and the group has been steadily growing from month to month. We have about 20 members now, and I'm glad to say everyone I've met has been genuinely kind and supportive. I like to think that we've established some good friendships which will last for years to come.

For more information about our art group, check out 4artmaking.com.

Holly's Mural

2011-01-08T23:33:00.000-05:00

In the months before my first child was born, I painted largest painting I have ever made. My wife and I were going to repaint the room that was going to be our baby's nursery anyway, so we decided to leave one wall open so I could paint a mural.

Kids love animals, so I figured an African theme would allow me to include a wide variety of animals. Although I originally envisioned a big flat African savannah, I wasn't able to fit all the animals I wanted in my early sketches, so I switched to a more hilly landscape. Drawing several layers of curving hills gave me enough room to include lions, elephants, giraffes, ostriches, monkeys, a rhino and a cheetah. Once I had the overall mural layout sketched, I fleshed out each of the animals individually on their own sketchbook pages. Knowing that my little girl was going to eventually be sleeping in the room with all of these animals looking back at her, it was important to me that all of the animals look very happy and friendly.

I also tried to give them added character by involving them in activities. It wasn't until I was nearly finished painting the mural that I realized all of the symbolic ideas I was trying to communicate to our future daughter. Now I see that the monkeys are playing in their tree because I want her to play and have fun when she is young. The cheetah is sleeping on a branch because I want her to sleep peacefully. The lion cubs and the baby elephant are playing with their parents because I want her to love her Mom and Dad.

What If

2011-01-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

I've decided that I am going to become an artist. It's not really out of the blue. I've been involved with art all of my life. I draw and paint reasonably well. Friends and family have always considered me a creative person. I was voted most artistic in my high school graduating class. I've had a good deal of art instruction over the years. In college I majored in illustration.

From an early age, art has been shaping the course of my life. But by my own assessment, I've never truly been an artist. Being an artist means more than those things. As I see it, someone who draws or paints on occasion for his own enjoyment is better described as a hobbyist. Likewise, someone who only makes artwork in response to school assignments is an art student.

Up until now, I've only ever been a hobbyist and an art student, I haven't been an artist. I've never an art exhibit outside of a school environment. I have won awards, but only in school art contests. While I support myself and my family by doing work that is somewhat creative, I've never sold or even tried to sell any drawings or paintings. I think that I could, though. I just need the determination and drive to make artwork on a regular basis, and the confidence to market it well. So at 34 years old, I've decided to become an artist.

I'm starting this blog today to have a place to track my progress and to share the ups and downs with anyone who might be interested. I don't think it will be easy, but I'd much rather give it a shot and fail miserably than to keep on wondering "what if." What if I could support myself by making artwork? What if I didn't have to work a full-time desk job? What if I could be the artist I always imagined I would be when I grew up?