Color Pick

I can't believe how the votes here and on facebook were overwhelmingly the thirties camper. 

I made a palette of 30's greens from color picking in Photoshop various thirties items from jewelry, fashion, housewares, and vehicles. 

I like them all in a way - which do you prefer? 

Camper Art Gallery Designs

So I have the camper primed! If you are following along and want to paint the outside of a camper to make a mobile art gallery of your own, I'll let you know the process as it goes. I looked into what paint to use and after deciding not to use car paint (because it is expensive), and not to use rustoleum (because I was told its color fades fast) - I decided to use what a lot of websites said to: exterior house paint! I know I was surprised too. Since the aluminum had the factory finish on it all I had to do to prep was lightly sand and wash it. That is if you forget all the stickers to remove and caulking to fix. :-) 

The primer I used was Glidden Gripper for latex paint. It gave me some problems when it was sunny because it dried super fast, leaving some goopy stuff that I will need to sand off with a fine sandpaper. I wanted to spray the primer but it was too thick to squirt out the sprayer and it said not to thin it down. 

So the next step is sanding, like I said, and then paint job! I have two designs I like below that I sketched in thumbnail. I have already bought a vintage looking red and white striped canopy that will go IN FRONT of the camper over the door and the whole of that side. I am showing it on the side in my sketches so it doesn't block the design. 

The first design is a space age design that would go with the name my daughter came up with for the camper: Hover Craft. My camper is propped up really high so it can be dragged up a mountainside, so I was trying to come up with a name that went with that. The blue will probably be different but you get the idea. I also have a little tail fin thing at the top that a lot of campers have that would have to be made and attached.

This design I think goes with my kitsch art and has a fun feel. 

 My other design is thirties inspired. It has almost a jadeite green, but a little darker. I would have to beef up the red accents to go with the red and white awning (that again will be in front of the camper, not the side). It kind of reminds me of girl scouts and bright red and shiny camping gear.

The 30's design is clean and simple and much more traditional.

So let me know what you think!

Camper Update

I just got back from another summer trip. This time it was back home to Chicago to visit my Mom and sister with the kids. We do it twice a year and get to visit amazing places with family. This year we added a trip to the top of Willis Tower, the American Girl store, and as always to go see the Bean sculpture at Millenium Park. I love that sculpture - I don't think I could ever tire of it.

So now I am back to work and getting worried about school and the fall art shows coming on fast. I am committed to have my camper gallery up and running before Columbus Day weekend for our Fall Foliage Art Studio Tour. 

It doesn't look like I've done much but at one point this baby was a military camper and in its many lives it gained many stickers! Before painting I had to remove them all, and sand. There is also some messy frosting like caulk that I am just trying to give a clean edge to so it doesn't look funny when being painted. My firend Lisa Is sooo good at this kind of stuff so I have her coming this week with her paint sprayer to kick the project in gear! First we are painting it with a primer for aluminum and then we need to paint it all white and then finally the color I choose for the camper. I want it white and something else... but still need to pick it.

In my original post I said I wanted to paint it turquoise but I talked one friend (so far) into doing a camper art gallery with me and hers came beautiful on the outside in a light turquoise. Can we say jealous much! She had the foresight to make a kickstarter fundraiser to help pay for it - I wish I had thought of that! Here's her website where you can see her beauty. Although the outside of hers looks great she still needs to empty the inside and get it gallery ready. I love her idea of having a hanging system on the outside as well as the inside. http://www.kristinawentzell.com/

Okay so here is what colors I am trying to decide on... I already bought a red and white striped awning so it has to match that.



This is what I riginally wanted to do. I c ould just got a shade darker than Kristina's.



They actually look quite cool in red - especially if I add a zig-zag!



Or what about green?

I need your help and opinions! Make sure to look at Krisitina's to see why I am wavering on the turquoise!

Here's my original camper post where I talk about where I came up with the idea! http://www.nicolecaulfieldfineart.blogspot.com/2012/07/camper.html

Edit: It is now raining and it says rain for at least the next 5 days! ugh! Also there is one major snafu on the color. I have been given the good advice of keeping the color light because it will fade! Especially red so that is definitely out! ft!

Camper

I was looking through images on Pinterest and came across this woman's Airstream Art Studio. She had her husband refurbish an old Airstream into a workable art studio. I searched more on the internet and also found this great dress shop in Portland Oregon, yes, out of a camper trailer.

I have to say I got a little obsessed, started a board on Pinterest for camper trailers, and talked about it with everyone. To my amazement when I was at work and again telling everyone about this great trailer idea., one of my coworkers said she had a camper that she might be able to sell! She offered it to me for dirt cheap so I could not say no (really honey).

It obviously is not an Airstream and since it is not that large I think an art studio is out... so I have a new idea of what to do with it inspired by the dress shop camper. My idea is to do it up like a vintage 50's, 60's camper (this one is from the 80's but is not too different) in a nice turquoise and white striped design and use it as a little art gallery. I know crazy right? But think about taking it to maybe a farmer's market with a little canopy on the front and selling my little 8x8 prints? Perfect right?

Even better if I can inspire some other artists and craftsmen to do the same, we could rent a lot to keep them on  and sell from the campers in the warmer months, or drive them to other areas and have our own art shows. If you want in - get a camper and let me know. 

For now I am busy making more 8x8's and getting this thing cutified. I am scraping the undercarriage and using some rustoleum over the rust on the bottom  right now. Booo. & am trying to figure out how to paint it. I am really liking something in turquoise with red or yellow accents like these I found online. I have some paint chips next to my door above that you can see I am testing before getting out a sprayer!

   

The inside of my trailer has already been gutted (dead mice removed) and thin wood paneling put up. I want to fix some of the paneling that is coming popping out, paint it out again, make some curtains and maybe put up some picture rails to hold artwork. The kids right now are using it for sleepovers while I am working on the outside. I even slept out in it one night with my daughter.  We just popped a couple of mattresses in there now but I am looking into some foldout futon chairs/small couches. You can see the ones I pinned on Pinterest.

   

No update... just a pic of me working on it... I'll have an update next week.

& I wanted to show you the piece I had commissioned from Paula Pertile... all framed up! You saw it last year... but it has taken me a year to finally have it framed. I wish I could find the post I made about it last year so you can see it better, but blogger search function is not working!

I went alllll out with the frame with the help of Creative Encounters in Keene. They do such a good job interpreting what you want and then making that vision look good.

I commissioned Paula to make a drawing of a fantasy art studio - like it was in a Harry Potter book. Paula went all out too and made such an amazing illustration. I have it hung right above where I work at my studio so I can see it while working. :-)