Closet Extremist

Ze Arteest has Return-ed

It's been better than two months ago that one of the people down at the Marina, let's call him "George" ('cuz that's his name), had mentioned that he wanted to rechristen his boat. She was previously known as "Wit's End", but he wanted something that more closely reflected his carefree lifestyle, and the fact that he's a bartender. He decided that the moniker "Bottoms Up" suited his vessell more appropriately, and began making inquiries around the dock to see if anyone knew someone who could put it on there for him. He mentioned it to the 'Rents, and (for some reason) they thought of me. When I was down there fishing one afternoon, they brought the subject up to me, and I requested a pencil and a sheet of paper. No more than five minutes passed, and I had a design ready for it. George thought it was cool, and asked me to do it for him. I siad "sure".

Well, a new job, and working out of town had put a serious hampering on my progress in making the design a reality. Last weekend, George mentioned it to me again, so I decided to get offa my lazy ass, and get started on it. I got some posterboard and a ruler, and proceeded to create a stencil for the design. I had to make a stencil, as he not only wanted it up on his flybridge, but also on each side of the cabin. I wanted to make sure that all three matched up as closely as possible, so that was the way to do it.

Yesterday, I completed the template, and I went on over to George's boat to see about applying it. He was there, but there were'nt any lights on inside, so I figured that he was asleep. I just took it upon myself to go ahead and trace the design onto the sides of the boat. He never came out, so I just left the one on the flybridge for today, and told Mom and Dad that I'd done it in case George had any questions.

This morning, he came out and noticed my handiwork. He (thankfully) stopped himself from calling the law due to the fact that someone had "vandalized" his boat. he said "I'll just wait until they finish, then I'll call the police." Did I mention that George is a Nut? Oh yeah, I told you he's a bartender.

Anyway, I decided to take a few "pitchers" of my progress today so I could share with the class. Ready? Here they come:

These two are of the stencil "in situ" on the flybridge.

Now with the stencil removed.

The first "mask" now in place.

The first coat of color, and the first time I've used my airbrush in awhile. Due to the color selection, I'm sure you can see where this is going.

Here we see it "Post Spankin'" and the masking tape removed. I'm likin' it so far.

The next section of color, now masked off.

Post airbrush. This shot makes the color look really yellow, but when you're looking at it with your own eyes, it's actually gold. Not unlike a certain liquid that I am rather fond of. Ahem.

After I got all that done, it was time to mask off the rest of the letters, and that took some time. I had to cover all the area to be painted completely with masaking tape, then take my razor knife, and cut out the sections where paint was to be applied. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any shots of the mask job, and just went right to painting. It kinda got dark on me, so I had to borrow Mom and Dad's camera, as it has a flash on it. Here's the end result:

I'm really proud of this work, and George is just tickled with how it turned out. So far, the local constabulary have not been involved, as I've still got to finish putting the black on the sides. Next weekend I'll complete this masterwork, so if you don't hear from me then, send bail money. I'm too cute to spend an extended time in jail.

Posted by Johnny - Oh at December 5, 2004 08:24 PM