Leave Your Mark

Ashley Danielle Robinson
Sep 28, 2016
2 min read

The HOPE Outdoor Gallery is located on Baylor Street's Castle Hill in Austin, Texas. According to their website...

The HOPE Outdoor Gallery is a:

"Community paint park [and] educational project [that] is managed by the non-profit HOPE Events and was officially launched in March 2011 with the help of contemporary artist Shepard Fairey. It is the only paint park of its kind in the USA and was developed to provide muralists, street artists, arts education classes and community groups the opportunity to display large scale art pieces driven by inspirational, positive & educational messaging."

As part of the September monthly Wanderer Rep landmark challenge, I decided to do something a little unorthodox and instead of simply taking a photo of my beautiful bracelets at one of Austin's many landmarks, I decided to actively participate. I planned out a design, cut out the stencils, bought the spray-paint and paint pens, received written permission, and went to town—literally.

Scouting out the perfect spot for my design was the tricky part. There are so many walls and levels with a million tags and murals, I decided on a spot that was mostly in the shade because well...Texas hasn't quite gotten the memo that it's fall yet.

Once I chose the perfect spot, I sprayed the first color into my stencil. This part is for the extended hand which is the logo for Imagine Changes Media. So why did I choose Imagine Changes other than being representative of my work? Because life is constantly changing, for better and for worse. By imagining positive changes in my life, it gives me hope. And of course, the saying is derived from the songs "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Changes" by David Bowie. I hope someone who sees this can understand the meaning of this message.

Okay, this is hard work

Next step is the orange shadowing on the hand:

I'm proud to say I didn't get a single speck of spray-paint on my 'Open Road' and 'Shaka' Wanderer Bracelets. That takes skill 😉

Now for the detail work. Cleaning up the edges with paint pens. Come on, look at that view 😍

Of course I had to leave my Wanderer Bracelet sticker behind.

It's by no means perfect, but I love it anyway. Besides, graffiti is messy by nature. It was a super fun and unique experience, so that's all that matters to me ❤️