#tbt Spring Break: Austin, Texas #MBsociallydriven

SPONSORED/ UNPAID 

SXSW, Austin's mega-festival of Interactive, Film, Music, and Comedy runs March 10-19.
How convenient that it coincides with some Spring Breaks! 
St. Patrick's Day is always during the festival, so you can imagine the zoo that is 6th Street (where there are lots of clubs and bars). They block off the street, open containers are allowed, and it's mayhem.

My first foray to SXSW was with Severo in 1997. Here we are with Beatle Bob.
Beatle Bob for the win in pattern clashing. I look sedate in comparison. 

I could prattle on and on about my love for Austin.
Instead, here are some links to posts I've already written: on SpyGirl, on The Glutton's Progress, on Dessert Safari.

Austin was on the list of official Socially Driven cities, so here's the 9 second mini movie (don't blink):

(The components, also mini).

Legacy text about the #MBsociallydriven campaign:
So, what's YOUR version of [insert city name]?
If you live in or plan on visiting NYC, LA, Chicago, Austin, Miami, or Denver, Mercedes-Benz is inviting you to share your city in a simple and artistic way on Instagram. It's easy—you create a quick (but beautiful) animated album of 5 of your best geotagged photos and upload it to Instagram. Then, you share your album on your feed with the hashtag #MBsociallydriven—and your photos might be featured on the Mercedes-Benz website! Get busy, the deadline is March 5.
[OOPS. MISSED THE DEADLINE -- the app still works, though. Access it here from your smartphone].
MB suggests these guidelines:
Because this is a Mercedes-Benz brand initiative, please avoid posting the following types of photos (as much as we love them): competing car brands, celebrities, outdoor murals and graffiti, images that primarily focus on tattoos, advertising, and profanity.

I still have the link open for YOUR neighborhood slideshow over on my Los Angeles post.

If you don't have a smart device, a GIF builder is a good way to create a DIY slideshow.

I recently used Imgflip, it was easy.

The link-up here is for this month's #tbt: SPRING BREAK

#tbt Spring Break: Miami with #MBsociallydriven

SPONSORED/ UNPAID

This is about the time I was detoured off US1 in downtown Miami and found myself in the Arts District by total serendipity! I guess my internal Art GPS was functioning.

What was I doing in Miami?
I was driving around the US -- literally! (Read about it here).
One could say that my March 27 - May 27 road trip was a VERY long Spring Break.

So, it's April 6, 2014, 8:30am, I'm approaching downtown Miami and US1 is blocked off. Oh no!
(My #ontheedgeUS mission was to circumnavigate the US on interstates and US highways as close to the perimeter as I could get).
There's a bike thing going on.
What to do?

After a few stops and starts, and lots of looking at the phone map, I figured out a route back to US1.
But then I started seeing wildly painted buildings:

Maybe I wouldn't get the Cuban breakfast that I'd been craving since I'd awoken, but surely there would be a decent coffee place. Artists REQUIRE coffee.

Success.
I found Panther Coffee.

I got Iced Coffee and a slice of Spinach Quiche:

Yum!
(linking up with Catherine's #saturdaysharelinkup)

I sat outside and soaked up the ambiance.

At the same table, there was a older man discussing "business" with a teen and her mom.
A family pulled up, and approached him, he asked them to wait, "I'll be with you in ten minutes".
All very strange.

Meanwhile, next to the bathroom, Panther had a wall where anyone could clip invites or business cards.
I added some of my cards:

Later, as I was leaving, the puzzling machinations of the mysterious man were made manifest.
I saw him with the teen, camera in hand.
Ah. Fashion shoot in the Arts District.

Legacy text about the #MBsociallydriven campaign:
So, what's YOUR version of [insert city name]?
If you live in or plan on visiting NYC, LA, Chicago, Austin, Miami, or Denver, Mercedes-Benz is inviting you to share your city in a simple and artistic way on Instagram. It's easy—you create a quick (but beautiful) animated album of 5 of your best geotagged photos and upload it to Instagram. Then, you share your album on your feed with the hashtag #MBsociallydriven—and your photos might be featured on the Mercedes-Benz website! Get busy, the deadline is March 5.
[OOPS. MISSED THE DEADLINE -- the app still works, though. Access it here from your smartphone YOU CAN CREATE A SLIDE SHOW FOR ANY US ZIPCODE!].
MB suggests these guidelines:
Because this is a Mercedes-Benz brand initiative, please avoid posting the following types of photos (as much as we love them): competing car brands, celebrities, outdoor murals and graffiti, images that primarily focus on tattoos, advertising, and profanity.
[OOPS Graffiti. Fail.]

I still have the link open for YOUR neighborhood slideshow over on my Los Angeles post.

If you don't have a smart device, a GIF builder is a good way to create a DIY slideshow.

I recently used Imgflip, it was easy.

The link-up here is for this month's #tbt: SPRING BREAK

Sketching the Oscars!

The Oscars! The LA Times calls it "The Cinema Super Bowl".
This year, there was a crazy plot twist at the end, and Moonlight got lots of love.

I sketched!

Let's start from the beginning, on Sunday, February 26, 1:45pm:

[Argh! I rearranged the living room clutter to look less cluttered. Glad you can hardly see it!]

Control Central:
 iPad on Twitter (intel on gowns)
TV remote for muting and pausing
old iPhone on Instagram
laptop for name checking, IMDB, and other research
sketching equipment (I trace a croquis figure)

My first sketch was at 2:07, of the KTLA Red Carpet host Jessica Holmes.

Sparkly!

My last was of Meryl Streep at 8:10:

In-between, I made 23-1/2 sketches (one is unfinished).

[Made with Imgflip]

I did my scanning on a nice big scanner at Otis:

Did rough cleanup Sunday of all the finished images (to make the gif slideshow above),
and painted up Viola to include in my #MBsociallydriven 5-image video.
[The video was a Big Fail! I misspelled "Oscar", for starters. The overlaying text is white, and three of my sketches have white backgrounds. I wasted a lot of time on that, grrrrrrrr].

Anyhow, Viola still is pretty:

About that last Oscar Award plot twist involving Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty --
my pal Wendie had the best Facebook comment on it:

A big CONGRATULATIONS to the Moonlight team for winning best picture.

For your consideration, here's my #MBsociallydriven My Oscars 2017 [Fail]

Did you have a favorite Oscar gown? Which one should I color in next?