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elcome to the Olsen's Frog Project, sponsored by the Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino of Dubuque, Iowa. In celebration of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium's fabulous Frogs Exhibit, the entire town of Dubuque is hopping. Area artists have been employed to decorate giant frogs that will be displayed throughout the city. The giant poly resin frog installations are sponsored by area businesses. In this particular case, Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino, one of Dubuque's greatest success stories. As it turns out, our frog will decorate the lobby of their newly expanded casino in a most ambitious renovation and remodeling project.

To see the Cottingham & Butler Frog Project and the companion frog to this project, click here.

As with the Cottingham & Butler frog project, Gary and Linda Olsen are keeping everyone informed of their progress through the posting of photos and a movie on the Internet. It's best if you have high speed Internet access to view the movie. But at the very least, you have photos on this page all of which are linked to printable versions.

And like the Cottingham and Butler frog project, Gary and Linda have started with a black frog upon which they painted their designs with acrylics. Several coats of a finish clear coat protects the surface upon completion.

Film of Frog Project

The Making of Toadally Lucky

You can follow step-by-step the process of creating this piece of public art. Runs approximately 12 minutes.

Images on this page are linked to larger more printable copies.

hose of you who followed the Cottingham and Butler frog project know that Gary and Linda Olsen turn any art project into a collaboration that involves many people, in this case neighbors, friends, and particularly children. "If you're painting a giant frog in your backyard or garage, you are going to attract the attention of the neighbors," explains Linda. "It's all good," adds Gary. "Because we need people to help move the frog while we are painting it. Sometimes we have to get it out of the rain or the hot sun more for our benefit than the frog's."

And it was inevitable that the kids would get more involved than just watching and helping wash brushes, find paint bottles or sort through plastic and glass gems used to decorate this particular frog. "We even had the kids add some touches like hand prints, jewels, whatever," explains Gary. "They loved helping," says Linda. "These two frogs we did for this project turned out to be one of the highlights of everyone's summer."

Inspiration for the design of the frogs was inspired by such things as African masks and Middle Eastern and Asian pottery designs. "We knew right away that we didn't want to turn the frog into something other than a frog," says Linda. "We saw the frog as this wonderful space on which to decorate as if it were bronze or porcelain. Gary and I collect interesting vases, plates and cups from Asia, India and Europe for their designs, and we didn't have to look far for inspiration."

 

 Dusting off the frog before drawing and painting can begin. Our neighbor boys help.
Linda is painting on the first coat of pearl white on the breast of the frog.

Gary is drawing his designs with a chalk pencil. The chalk runs right off with a damp cloth leaving no marks or residue.

"What greatly improved our production process for this frog when comparing the workflow to the Cottingham & Butler frog, is that we had the frog professionally prepared by an auto body shop who painted the frog with black automotive paint. So when the frog arrived, it was almost ready to decorate. The other frog took several extra days to prepare. We needed a solid black frog upon which we could draw our designs in chalk."
"Linda is a certified "One-Stroke" painting instructor, and she is extraordinarily fast at rendering designs and decorations. She can paint a beautiful rose in less than two minutes, a rosebud in thirty seconds. Here she uses a foam plastic disposable plate as her palette."
"Gary is also a very rapid painter. Once he has the design set in his mind, he moves very quickly often using the same wide brush for even the smallest details. This comes from his years as a sign painter when he was working his way through college. Gary had a small company that painted lettering on trucks, boats, banners and show cards for businesses."
One of the neighbor boys helped sort out plastic jewels that were used to adorn portions of this frog. The kids just love helping out.
Ooooooo.... Emeralds!
This is our neighbor Kevin laying down the glue spots upon which the jewels will be pressed.
The entire project took about three nights, and often we worked late into the night. Our garage was lit up like a studio with three quartz lights normall used for photo and video shoots.
Shannon Gaherty and her daughter, Morgan, paid a visit during the painting, and Morgan added her hand print to the project. Shannon works for the Dubuque Racing Association and the Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino.
Morgan upon placing her hand print on the frog's surface. The painting of the hand is always a fun deal.
The finished piece is displayed in the lobby of the Dubuque Greyhound Park & Casino. The facility has just undergone a complete renovation and remodelling with a huge new casino.

Director of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Jerry Enzler, poses with our frog during the ribbon cutting ceremonies held at the casino. It's Jerry's organization that sponsors the frog painting project. The Toadally Frogs exhibit will be running at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium all summer during 2005.

Meet Toadally Lucky. You are encouraged to touch him for luck. The frog is covered with good luck symbols from cultures around the world.

Gary's illustration of the Spirit of St. Louis (flown by "Lucky Lindy" as the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in the 1920s). The real plane is below.

© Gary Olsen 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 all rights reserved. All graphics and copy in this Web site are the intellectual property of Gary Olsen and/or his clients' property, used with permission, and cannot be used for any purpose without permission. Address correspondence to olsega@mchsi.com.