Artist's Statement:
When I was invited to participate in the Star of Texas project, I was very excited. When I was encouraged to focus my theme on the Dallas Cowboys, I was downright giddy. Growing up in North Arlington, I have been a life long Cowboys fan. My personal sports highlight was going to the 1993 NFC Championship game watching Hall of Famers like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith & Michael Irvin defeat one of my least favorite teams of all time...The 90's San Francisco 49ers with Steve Young, Jerry Rice & Ricky Waters. No other live sporting event has topped that experience since, and I doubt it ever will.
Since the main theme was "Arlington, The American Dream City" I was able to incorporate the main character from my children's book "So Much To Be Seen!"about a boy dreaming of flying on his magic pillow to see things he may encounter in the present and future. So it was an easy link to have the same boy & his pillow dreaming of flying to Arlington and playing for the Dallas Cowboys.
Process:
I decided to draw with pencil & ink all the art on bristol board at a 50% of the final size. I then scanned in the art and had full size vinyl stencils made of every section. Every line of the vinyl stencil is not cut out, but merely scored and has to be removed (weeded) with a blade. Then the stencil is burnished down and lifted up with a large sheet of tape then applied and burnished down on the surface of the star. The tape then is carefully pulled up from the star leaving the vinyl stencil behind and is ready to be painted over. After painting and blow drying the art, the stencil is then pulled off carefully with a blade leaving behind the finished art. The art is then cleaned up removing any stray marks, and finally the backgrounds are taped off and filled in. A very painstaking process, but I was very happy with the results.
Star Notes:
The only colors used are colors on the Cowboys uniform (silver, blue, black & white). The silver & blue are the exact colors mixed from the official paint of the Cowboys (Glidden).
On one side of the star (silver side) on each point is a former Cowboys Hall of Fame player. Each player played on one of the five Super Bowl winning teams from the 70's and 90's (Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith & Michael Irvin).
On the "dreaming side" of the star (blue side) one of the points has the boy being signed to a football contract by a hand holding a pen with "JJ" cufflinks.
The sides of the star tell the story of the boy dreaming of his pillow coming to life and taking him out the window to begin his journey.
