A Speed Painting Tribute… different

As Speed Painters we have the privilege of performing for some of the most fun and exciting crowds – and most of our performances are just that: fun and exciting!  Incredible singers belting it out while we paint, crowd clapping, cheering, singing along… incredible and, yes, fun!

But this blog is about a request and a performance that was different.

This request came to us steeped in… well, tragedy.
The voice on the other end of the phone was humble and heartfelt, can we convey a message to a convention audience… sentiment really, one that could help a large group of people heal and pay their respects? The story, although straight out of a newspaper headline (literally as it turned out) had a shattering impact on the company and it’s employees – two of their people, a pair of young women, were killed while on the job by an eighteen wheeler running a red light.
During their annual event they wanted to honor these two women, pay tribute to them, and – we realized later – give everyone a chance to say goodbye.

Could we paint their portraits, but do it to honor the solemnity of the occasion? “Not too slow though, they wouldn’t have liked that, but not over the top… there’s over 1,500 people going to be there… we need your help.”

Over the next few days certain decisions became obvious. First the music: no live singers, no “motivating” music, just a simple, beautiful ballad . Second, we would paint both portraits at once, one at each end of the stage, each painter staying solo with their 6′ x 6′ canvas. Lastly, we would keep it contained at 6 minutes.

On site Michael and I ended up waiting backstage over 4 hours. That’s a lot of butterflies. Michael joked about how he was sick before speed painting Michael Eisner (“He was the CEO of DISNEY at the time and there he was sitting a couple feet in front of the stage.”) but this was nervous in a different way… humbling. And suddenly they’re waving us on and it’s bright and quiet and I’m walking up to the familiar blank canvas. The smell of our paints. Image of a young woman in my head.
I realized only a dozen people knew what we were painting, what would the rest think? And then I was gone.

While we were painting we didn’t dance or jump, didn’t do any sort of theatrics, we simply painted.  Just us, our brushes and our “subject matter”. For a few moments we held them – just as we strived to for the hours of studio rehearsal – a feature at a time, pouring our hearts into every stroke. With 1,500 people there, somehow, it was the most intimate performance we have ever done.

The music ended and their was silence. We turned. Funny how the noise of a crowd can sound different in different situations, it hit us as a rolling building thunder – part clapping, part cheering, part crying, not for us of course – partly for their company that took the risk in creating such a moment but mainly for the memory of their lost friends.
It was truly a beautiful, and humbling experience.

I hope they would agree.

Author Jeff Smith

Michael Ostaski and Jeff Smith are Speed Painters with the act The 3 Painters

Painting with Light?! Speed Painting that is – in Blacklight..

Last week, we mentioned Jimi Hendrix’s face lighting up on a dark stage – did you catch that? We were hoping to pique your interest, to make you say, “How on earth would Jimi Hendrix’s face light up and not the rest of the stage?” Well, it’s been a trade secret for a decade. But brace yourselves, because I’m about to reveal the secret to you, here, and now: Fairy dust

Had you going there, huh? Actually, it’s painted with special paint that glows iridescently under blacklight (and yes this is when you should have flashbacks to those velvet blacklight posters of the 60’s).
That’s right, after seeing a celebrity icon speed  painted – 7 feet tall – in the time it takes for a normal person to gather their brushes and paints, one would think that would be enough, but not for Speed Painter Michael Ostaski, or The 3 Painters: they get the urge to bring fast painting to the next level, a rotating screen, loud and powerful music, and a canvas that electrifies to neon life under the glow of ultraviolet light; all come together in yet another amazingly unique speed painting experience.

Check out some of the ways they’ve been making it happen with blacklight!

Incredible Blacklight Painting by Speed Painter Michael Ostaski

and The 3 Painters

The Paint Brothers – Speed Painting Duo

Get ready to be inspired!

It’s time to announce the Paint Brothers – an organic and dynamic speed painting duo that will rock your world.

If you look back at some of the blogs on this site, you’ll see something in common with the entries: They bring news of originality and innovation in the speed painting world. You’d see a Mockingjay, painted in less than 6 minutes of real time, go up in flames. You’d see Jimi Hendrix’s face, again painted right before your eyes, light up in neon colors on the dark stage (which is probably how he saw himself most of the time). And you’d see a glue painting come together in seconds as Donna Summers’ face is revealed in an ocean of golden glitter.

Enter the Paint Brothers – bringing the innovation of cooperative fast painting. Some siblings finish each other’s sentences, but how many bros can say that they finish each other’s paintings?  In this new act brought you to by Celebrity Enterprises, the boys sometimes do just that.  Michael and Jeffrey go way back, and they interact with each other and each other’s work.

We think it’s time you checked out the most recent inventive spin on speed painting – The Paint Bothers!

New performance concept… Speed Painting with Glitter!

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen. What I’m about to tell you is nothing short of a modern artistic innovation.

Glitter. It’s not just for arts and crafts any more.

Let me take a moment to explain. If you’re reading this blog, you know that it’s really the place to come for the latest updates and innovations in the fast painting world. For instance, when Michael Ostaski became the first speed painter to paint with flames, you saw the news right here. Now, it’s time to bring you the next big thing – speed glitter painting.

Behind the scenes, it’s actually quite interesting. There’s a ton of planning involved – buying the right glitter to use is the first, essential step to creating a spectacular sparkling portrait. If the glitter is too big, it doesn’t form the picture correctly. If you don’t get the right color, you are simply asking for trouble (one must think before creating John Lennon in mustard yellow sparkles!).

What else might surprise you is the amount of sheer skill that’s involved. When speed painting with regular, visible paint, you always have what you just painted as a frame of reference. When painting with clear glue, the artist must trust his painter’s hands and fly blind (or, more appropriately, paint blind).  Without the talent, you could be thinking that you’re painting a portrait of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but when you glitterize it, you’ve actually painted something resembling a play-doh sculpture that got stepped on by accident.

What makes the glitter painting so outstanding is the wow factor it inevitably provides. Imagine a picture taking shape immediately and completely all at once!  It’s the perfect way to end a show in front of thousands or a Saturday night. But don’t take my word for it; take a look at the video!

by Jonahflamingo

Honoring Heroes

We recently had the privilege of performing The 3 Painters speed painting show for an amazing group of people.  Over the course of the event we paid tribute to several different groups of veterans, including many from WWII.

As part of our performance we painted a tribute to one of these groups, the Tuskegee Airmen.  I can honestly say it was a thrill to speed paint a live tribute to these incredible men.

I was hoping to get a chance to meet one of them, and so I brought with me a smaller version of the live painting I had done for the performance.  After our performance, I asked a gentleman who had been helping the Tuskegee Airmen throughout the evening if I might get one of them to sign it for me.

He told me the airmen had been amazed, and honored by the performance and would gladly sign it. I was then introduced to every Tuskegee airman at the event and each of them signed it for me! Being a history buff, I was on cloud nine.

The Honoring of American Heroes. Speed Painting Signed by the   Tuskegee Airmen

Now, for those of you who don’t know who the Tuskegee Airmen are, or why I might be so excited about this, let me explain.

The Tuskegee airmen were the first African-American fighter pilots in the US military.  They were a segregated unit, as we’re most at that time, and they trained at the army airbase at Tuskegee Alabama (hence the nickname).  Many in the military fought this, claiming black men were incapable of anything as complicated as flying a fighter plane.

There were hearings in congress where many elected officials attacked them at every opportunity.  But the Tuskegee men kept going.  They fought the military, they fought congress, they fought the prejudices of virtually everyone they met both here an abroad.  Eventually they were assigned to combat and flew escort to bomber planes.  They were one of the most successful squads of the war.

Think about this for a moment.  They were fighting the military, and their own government, not for any special treatment, but for the right to go out and fight and possibly die, FOR that same government and military.

If WWII represents the greatest generation, the the Tuskegee airmen are one of the finest examples of what made that generation great.

They are true American heroes.

And I got their autographs!

Moment of Creation

We just returned from a very successful engagement in Chattanooga.  Over the course of four days we painted seven paintings, ranging from custom speed paintings of the company’s beloved founder and other of their top men, to Jimi Hendrix (painted upside down) and John Lennon, and ending with the corporate mascot.  They loved it.

I love watching the audience reactions as the paintings develop.  They have before them an artist with nothing more than paint and paper, black and empty, standing stark on the stage. And in mere minutes all is transformed into a work of art.  It doesn’t matter how “sophisticated” their taste in art is.  Some may yearn for Monet or Rodin, some may cherish album cover art, some are happy with dogs playing poker.  It doesn’t matter what their taste is, their faces glow as the watch the painting develop before their eyes.

I realized some time ago, that it isn’t only the painting that enthralls, but the process as well.  They aren’t merely looking at the world through the artist’s eyes, as we do when we gaze at some famous work, they are actually seeing it happen.

They are there for the moment of creation.  They bear witness to a world seldom seen by any but the artist themselves.  It is that moment  that captivates as much or more than the final piece.  It holds their attention as peer into a world of infinite possibilities.  They not only get to see the world through the eyes of the artist, they get to experience that first moment when it comes to life.

This is why the speed painting  live art shows are among my favorites.  You get to bring the audience with you into fleeting world where action makes thought reality.  It is a unique opportunity to open a door and invite the audience in so that, together, you can all experience that singular moment if creation.

Michael Ostaski and Jeffrey Smith

Painting with Flames

Imagine, if you will, a wooded arena. The sun is casting its last dim rays on a modern cornucopia and fog is billowed into the area, controlled by the touch of a button. A girl, young but wise beyond her years slyly watches as the symbol of rebellion, the Mockingjay, rises in minutes.

Pretty cool, huh? That’s the basic layout of Michael Ostaski’s most recent video shoot, a Hunger-Games-themed extravaganza. Shot in New Mexico, the landscape resembles that of a Hunger Games arena – wooded, with small sources of water and weather that changes from hot to cold and back again in the blink of an eye. The set was brilliant, and bloomed and evolved as it was being built – the fog pipe that was in the final cut wasn’t always there, but through a flash of brilliance it was a spectacular layer of ambiance that added volumes to the atmosphere (figuratively AND literally!).

As great as the video looks, that’s not to say we didn’t experience a few setbacks in the filming. After the first take, our fire extinguisher ran out of extinguishing stuff, resulting in an exciting, communal fire dance until we could get the hose to the painting. Also, after the sun disappeared, it began to get quite cold (sort of like a real arena).

Through it all, we managed to come out on top with this beauty – check it out – and may the odds be ever in your favor.

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Speed Painting Olympically

First of all, BIG congratulations to the USA Women’s field hockey team, both for qualifying for the Olympics, but also for a great finish against Argentina in a four-game series that was even televised on NBC Sports Network.

Speed painter Michael Ostaski (along-side popular corporate act The Pink Flamingos) was invited to perform at an event that the team held, a celebratory gathering of friends, family of the athletes, coaches, sponsors, past, current and future olympians, etc., and what a gathering it was!

London 2012!!

To begin the entertainment, Michael painted a larger than life patriotic portrait, with superb singer Ashley King providing the grand, vocal finale, and then the Pink Flamingos took over.

A little later, Michael wowed with another painting, this time of the London 2012 Olympics logo. After he finished this 2^nd masterpiece, the Olympic march began to play and the band members lined up along the tables of the athletes- coach Lee Bodimeade introduced each Olympian one by one to the crowd and called them to the stage, and confetti followed each one as they ascended.

It rained confetti and splendor.

Once all of the athletes were on stage, the emcee brought back Michael for one final time, painting a field hockey player, and then spectacularly revealing the names of the 16 qualifying athletes while they watched from their spots on stage.

“We made the Olympic Team!”

Once Michael finished his third and last painting, the Olympians lifted a giant American flag and held it along the stage’s edge – and Ashley sang the National Anthem all by himself, no instruments, no track, just his stirring voice and a couple thousand listening ears.

Even a fiercely loyal Canadian couldn’t help but feel like a Patriot.

The National Anthem a la King

After he finished, the athletes tore off the stage and began to party, as The Pink Flamingos took center stage for a highly interactive dance.

This was a great opportunity for Michael (whom calling a “sports fan” would be the understatement of the century, by the way) to blend two seemingly unrelated mediums together – two mediums he loves. He did it once back in 2008 for Beijing, did it again this year for London, and he’s ready for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics – ready when you are, Olympians!

Painting and Adventuring, the Madrid, Spain Way

Madrid…

The hardest thing about flying to Madrid was the timing of our flight. We left Chicago at about 4:30 pm, flew for 8 hours and landed in Madrid at 7:30 am the next morning. We had missed an entire night. Going a night without sleep is no big deal when you are in college, but tends to wear on you a bit as you get older.

We stayed in the Ritz Madrid. This is an incredible hotel, built a hundred years ago by the king of Spain with intention of making it a centerpiece of Madrid.

This was done in an effort to make Madrid a city to rival any in Europe. The hotel is truly a masterpiece. Marble floors give way to inlaid wood while walls run seamlessly from curved statued alcoves to gilded mirrors.

But really small.

The elevators held three adults, or two and a couple of bags. The rooms had enough room to get around the bed but no more and a small desk at the end. The dressers were antique wood and the bathroom, of course, featured a bidet. Europeans are very civilized in this way.

We didn’t explore very far the first day, mostly we tried to rest since we had a 5 am call the next morning. We couldn’t set up the night before because there was a wedding in the ballroom that night.
5 o’clock I got down to the ballroom to discover that the last of the wedding party was just leaving. These people take their parties very seriously. They also like late nights. In fact, many restaurants did not even open for supper until after 8:30, and some as late as 10. That’s when they opened mind you. The ballroom was incredibly tight, as they packed people into it.

But the performance went great. Everyone loved it and there was already talk about having us back.

Now we had a couple of days to explore Madrid. Madrid has that classic old European architecture. Mostly narrow roads, none of which ran straight, with old buildings painted earthy hues of rose, yellow, orange and tan. The sun found its way through the buildings to make one side of the street sparkle and the other settle into a comfortable glow of reflected light. Like most European cities, Madrid is beautiful. In fact there are numerous artists in the various plazas painting scenes from the city. I have one such painting now hanging in my office.
And so we ventured out into the city. We were armed with a few euros and just enough Spanglish to get ourselves into trouble. Fortunately, we did not.
Our first order of business was to find food. We found a couple of restaurants that looked promising but they didn’t open until much later. Then we found it.
As far as we could tell this was the most popular chain of eateries in Madrid. It was simple, inexpensive and pretty tasty. It was called Museo del Jamon.

In English that would be, the Ham Museum. No, I am not making that up.

You could have whatever you wanted, as long as it was ham. Don’t get me wrong, the ham was very tasty. They served it very thinly sliced, and only a slice or two, on a small baguette. This cost about a euro, or just over a dollar.

Something else we had discovered on our journey around the city was that nearly all of the restaurants had exactly the same menu. And from what I could tell the same photographer (bad photographer) took the pictures that they posted in their windows. It seemed they went out of their way to make the food look bad. They didn’t really have to go far though. Basically you could get some form of ham and bread, pickled or fried fish and octopus. That was pretty much it.
After a few meals of this, in desperation I got a hamburger at one small bar. I should have stuck with the ham.
There was no bun and while I am sure the meat was, well meat, I could not have identified the animal it came from.

Madrid is a beautiful city but it did take a little getting used to. For instance, I am not sure I understood the Spanish sense of humor. In the Plaza Mayor there are a lot of various street performers and there were many that I simply did not understand.
There was Fat Spider Man, Scary Deer/Ram, Dead guy with an Axe, Head on a Box and a few others. These are the names we gave them, I have no idea what they called themselves.
Take Scary Deer for instance. This was someone wearing a deer’s (or maybe a ram) head, apparently kneeling down, and the rest of their body was covered with a mylar “rain curtain”. The mouth moved and when it did it made a loud clapping sort of sound. It did this any time anyone got too close. This had the general effect of scaring people away. People would try to get their kids to stand next to it to take a picture and this thing would start clacking and shacking. The kids would jump and scream and try to run away, while the parents would be trying just as hard to drag them back over to get their picture taken.
I am sure this cut back considerably on the tips the performer was able to get. I pictured them looking at a nearly empty jar at the end of the day and thinking to themselves, tomorrow I will just have to make the head clap louder!

We found a bar on the plaza that didn’t charge much for wine or beer and whenever you ordered they also gave you a small plate of something. One time is nuts, another time it was pickled sardines. The bartender never smiled but he remembered what we were drinking whenever we walked in.

Eventually we relaxed into the scene that was Madrid. We sat in the Plaza Mayor with our wine, ate our ham and bread and laughed at the tourists that got too close to the Scary Deer. And as the sun would begin to go down the buildings would start to glow and the old artist’s eyes would come alive. Later that night we knew we would wander out and have supper, sometime around 10, and the ham would be just fine.

We somehow, at some time, found the rhythm of Madrid.

Jeff Smith is a speed painter and technician for the Speed-Painting Thrill act, “The 3 Painters”, and onsite coordinator for “Michael Ostaski’s Art Explosion!”.  For questions regarding these acts and speed painting questions in general, Jeff can be reached here. Any other questions?

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Baskets, and Touchdowns, and Paintings…Oh MY! Speed Painting at Sports Events

Michael Ostaski LOVES painting for sports fans – they’re one of the most passionate and vocal audiences that any performer could hope for: they cheer, they yell, they jump out of their seats and get into it! Just like Michael.

And athletics’ fans are eager for artistry, the leap to the basket, the blur at the finish line, the sailing drop of sweat, and Michael, one of the most versatile fast painters, strives to capture the drama in a wild 7 minute surge of paint on canvas. Basket after touchdown after home run after photo finishes… major sports fans, from the NBA to NASCAR to the Olympics, love it; it’s a rush, and they hunger for it.

But let’s not forget about the “P” word: pressure. Sporting events are all about it. For performing artists its one of the highest-pressure situations they will ever face. Take, for instance the performance that Michael did for the Chicago Bulls (actually, performances for most basketball games are very similar to this) – when performing for a basketball halftime, you have one of the shortest performance slots in the biz – 6 minutes to be exact. That’s six minutes to tarp the court, bring out the canvas and paint supplies, paint the painting, take off all the supplies and canvas, and then refold the tarp remove it as well (keep in mind that on average, Michael takes between 6 and 7 minutes to paint a portrait; this does not include setup or breakdown times). Oh, did we mention that if we were to get even a drop of paint on the court, it would be a foul for the home team and delay the game, most likely resulting in a fan riot? Ok, probably not, but we’ve never been willing risk it! Stressful? To say the least. But worth it? Absolutely!

We don’t just love performing, we love the opportunity to travel, inspire, and meet some cool people -like the Brain Urlacher (of Chicago Bears fame), Reggie Miller (one of only 5 to have his jersey number retired by the Indiana Pacers), and Yao Ming (Houston’s Chinese super-tall super-star) sort of cool people. And we’ve painted at all sorts of sports, too – golf, football, you name it. We’ve even done paintings for the Olympics!

The point is, sports and fast painting actually have a lot in common; high-energy, excitement, and a great rally for people to come together. What could be better than being a part of, and then watching, a good-natured and spirited sport, whatever it may be?

By jonahflamingo – Jonah also posts at http://thepinksband.wordpress.com/