Ninja June 16th, 2009
Oy, I’ve been superbusy prepping for my first group show with Kaki King! Just to give you fair warning, this will be taking most of my time, and my posts will reflect this. Kaki requested process shots, and I don’t like to disappoint. I do hope that you’ll stick around for the ride. ^__^
What I want to do is to meet twelve amazing artists, give them each a blank guitar, and let them go wild, creating anything their heart desires. The theme of each piece would be the title of one of my songs, and my only artistic contribution would be to paint my fingers and play the fretboard (wherever it ends up) as I would during the song so as to create a visual representation of where my hands travel.
Everyone tells me that my playing is best witnessed visually—so this is one interpretation of that statement. At the end of this project we’re going to display all of the guitars in a gallery and throw a party with performances and perhaps the finalization of the last guitar.
– Kaki
When I first heard about the project, I was convinced that I would work around one of my favorite Kaki tunes, Happy as a Dead Pig in the Sunshine. Upon seeing the broken guitar, I opted for I never said I loved you off the record Until We Felt Red
.
I never said I love you, lipstick
I know I look like dork. Safety first, of course!
After striping the varnish, I sanded the face down to a smooth finish.
Then continued to sand with even finer sand paper (with the grain, naturally).
First coat of stain.
Tracing the body.
At one point, I was deluded into thinking that I could easily put this guitar back together. I had got uberstrong wood glue that wouldn’t swell and lots of clamps. Unfortunately, whenever I pinned one section down, another would pop and bow out. I even enlisted the help of my brother with no success. So there’s massive sloppy globs of glue all the sides of the body and back panel that I had to scrape off. I didn’t get it all off, but eh, I figure it adds character and texture.
Rough sketch.
Pencil sketch for the top of the guitar. I know it’s probably very obvious (or it will be once it’s painted)—I worked the portrait around the guitar’s hole (where her heart would be).
I am incredibly lucky to be working with my favorite Suicide Girl again—the lovely Miss Tanya Dakin. Thanks, Tanya!
Painting the back of the guitar with white gesso to give it some tooth. This back panel is not real wood, but some sort of laminate, which doesn’t accept paint too well.
I wanted the figure’s position in the back to mimic the pose in the front, both showing a 3/4 view of the face, hands clutching the body protectively, and expressing a bit of vulnerability/hurt.
I still need to fill up the front face’s cracks with some wood putty, sand it smooth, and add a few more coats of stain before I can begin painting it. Whew.
Thanks for reading!
Happy painting,
Ninja
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Tags: Acrylic, Brooklyn, Exhibitions, Graphite, Hair, I never said I love you, Kaki King, Kaki King Guitar Project, Littlefield, Painting, Process, Sketches, Tanya Dakin, The Exhibition, The Littlefield, Wood
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