New Piece of Art in Progress Honoring Celebrities

[KermieBaby47]

This project sounds so cool man. Feel like giving ya a big bear hug or something like that, I love all those great people. You must have a really great heart to honor Gilda like this.

Can't wait to see it.

 

[Convincing John]

Thanks!

Your location says Northern California Mountains, so you might get to see it in person! If you go to this link:

http://www.gildasclub.org/wheretofindus/

It'll show you all the Gilda's Club affiliates. Click on the blue star in California, and it'll give you a popup screen for that affiliate. Some affiliates have websites up, some don't. If you click on other stars on the map, some have links to their webpages. The red ones are open and running affiliates, while the blue ones are still in development.

Just to recap, (and inform new MCers who don't know about my artwork) here are the different affiliates I've made artwork for so far, and what kind of Gilda Radner-related art I have made for them:

Gilda's Club Quad Cities (Davenport, Iowa)--a life-size statue of Gilda Radner as she appeared on "The Muppet Show" from the "Tap Your Troubles Away" number.

Gilda's Club South Jersey (Atlantic City, NJ)--a 30x40 inch pen and ink drawing of Gilda Radner as Roseanne Roseannadanna.

Gilda's Club Westchester (White Plains, NY)--a 16 inch bust of Gilda Radner as Rhonda Weiss. (If you don't remember Rhonda, check out this link to one of her sketches on SNL): http://snltranscripts.jt.org/76/76mweiss.phtml

And now, I'm working on the Basketball one. I've also spoken with two other affiliates who'd like me to do something, but they said they'd be happy to wait.

As for posting pictures of the Basketball drawing...wow...um...I don't know exactly how I'd do that. It's pretty huge. I could scan snippets, and I could photograph the whole thing, but you wouldn't be able to see all the great details.

If you live near one of these affiliates and want to see the artwork first hand, you'll have to call or email them first to get permission. These pieces of art are displayed in the "clubhouses" as they call them, which are used all the time for all kinds of things. However, some of the events are private for Gilda's Club members. So, if you're in the area of one of these affiliates, just say you'd like to see the artwork and maybe they can arrange a time for you to see it. It really depends on each affiliate what they say.

The Gilda's Club Quad Cities does have a DVD now that talks about their affiliate. It's brand new, so it isn't listed on their website yet. In the DVD, you can see part of the statue in some of the shots they took. You'll also see the "clubhouse" (it's beautiful!) which is a converted bed and breakfast inn. I've been there, and when you go in, it has a very welcoming atmosphere to it...like an unedited copy of "A Muppet Family Christmas".

Convincing John

 

[Whatever]

it has a very welcoming atmosphere to it...like an unedited copy of "A Muppet Family Christmas".

Convincing John

heh heh. cool project!

 

[McFraggle]

This sounds like such a cool project.

 

[Convincing John]

And I'm almost done! It looks like it will be finished around Christmas time.

Convincing John

 

[McFraggle]

Sounds good Convincing John.

 

[Convincing John]

It's DONE!!!

Well, folks, the drawing of Gilda Radner playing basketball is finally finally FINALLY finished! (Whew!) It's being framed right now, and if all goes well, the Gilda's Club Desert Cities will have it in their possession in mid-February.

Just to let you all know, Mel Brooks is staying in the drawing. He appears with his pal, Carl Reiner, in the row just behind Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz!

I really do hope that (someday) the remaining Muppeteers get to see themselves in this drawing. Jim and Richard are (unfortunately) gone, but I've heard that their families (or Richard Hunt's family anyway) visit Muppet Central from time to time. It would absolutely rock if Oz, Nelson or Goelz saw themselves in this drawing. As a true-blue, lifelong, foam-blooded Muppet fan, I took great care and respect in portraying them all. By the way, for those folks curious, the Muppeteers look as how they did back when Gilda Radner was on TMS. Frank's got a little more hair on top, Jim's got that thicker beard and longer hair like he had on GMC, etc, etc...

Phil, I have some scanned photos of the completed Muppeteers mentioned (with Richard Hunt). If you want, I could email 'em to you. These guys look great!

If anyone's got any questions about this piece of art, ask away!

Convincing John

 

[Beauregard]

You finished, finished, finished it? Like, compleatly? When can we see a scan/phott/something?

Who did you say is buying it?

Wow, how long did this thing take you to draw?

 

[Convincing John]

You finished, finished, finished it? Like, compleatly? When can we see a scan/phott/something?

Yep, it's done! I'm going to try to get some photos on the web soon.

Who did you say is buying it?

Oh, no one's buying it. I'm donating it to a charity, the Gilda's Club Desert Cities in Cathedral City, CA. The drawing will be on permanent display there for everyone to enjoy. It's made especially for the Gilda's Club Desert Cities. In time, the affiliate will be auctioning off the drawing to help raise funds for their affiliate. The drawing stays put, however.

Wow, how long did this thing take you to draw?

Good question. It took from Jan. 19, 2004 to Jan. 11, 2005 to complete it. If my math is correct, it took 200 hours to complete (or 200 &1/2 hours, if you really want to get technical about it).

I'll try to get those photos up on the web as soon as I can. If you'd like to learn more about Gilda's Clubs, I posted some links to their websites earlier in this thread. To locate the Gilda's Clubs, here's a link to their affiliates map:

http://www.gildasclub.org/wheretofindus

Convincing John

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

I can't wait to see pictures!
Erin