Promises Kept

It was hard to get a good angle on these newly painted salamanders, what with them being a little way up on the Mountainview Lodge mural.  The mantel and various decorations hide those I'd painted originally so Emil  requested visible critters when I gave an art workshop last Thursday.  I resolved to paint them in a beholdable spot when I dropped off my invoice for the workshops.

Not as good as the originals but they'll keep some of the residents happy.

Mini Mural: Fini!

Here's the finished product following 14 hours of sometimes brutal and gruelling painting.  Tuesday left me feeling wiped and completely physically drained; I was hovering in the 2 & 1/2 feet off the ground range for most of the day.  I didn't realize till later that I was engaging in an isometric activity and was really stiff.  All better by Wednesday though.
    I showed the husband my daily progress via a little camera.  He squinted at the screen then asked (in that oh so eloquent way he has) 'why it looked like crap?'  I was quite perplexed -the home owner and I were rather pleased with it.  His point though?  Painting the 'H' car a different colour than the next caused 'UDSON' to stand on its own, so today I fixed it and yes, it does indeed read much better.

     I added the bugs she'd requested and polished up the mural till I couldn't polish no more! I'm happy with the rather sedate palette I chose since it works nicely with the colours chosen for the bedroom and hallway.  I'd really wanted to see young Hudson's reaction to the finished mural because he got a peek yesterday and his mom told me 'he was over the moon!'.

Evolution of a Mural

I painted this little boy's room a year and a half ago but the family moved a few months later and so wanted the same basic composition but with his name on a steam train rather than on a line of laundry since the young master - at the advanced age of 2& 1/2 - has an enduring love of that era of train.  (Thomas, you know).

Original sketch; didn't bother too much with the trees since, well, I've done them already.

One hour in, sketched in the composition and begin blocking in lights 'n darks.

Four or five hour mark; mostly blocked in with colour.  The Mom wanted the train in shades of blue rather like Thomas but less bright and more tasteful.  Tomorrow I'll continue to de-wonkify the backend of the train, paint on the letters and take a stab at depicting the actual railway.  I find I prefer to tackle the more difficult, finicky bits first to get them out. of. the. way.  Time permitting, I will fine tune the landscape elements. 
Day three will, hopefully, bring it to stupendous fruition!

Big Blue Hall

Here's the Blue Jungle, all set up with lights 'n everything.  The Theatre manager made sure she took photos with her big expensive camera so I hope those show it at it's best.
Five hundred square feet, base coat to touch up: 20 hours.

Eerie Blue Fungus!

I wanted to create some lighting that looked like glowing blue fungus for the mural I'm painting; turned out quite well imho.
This consists of a battery operated laser light, a blue vase from the Dollar Store,  plastic milk jug handles, hot glue and old man's beard on the base.  Changed my mind and glued torn up drop sheet polyvinyl to the base.  Better light and more eerie.
You can call me the Macgyver of squeaky cheap craft!

Hangin' @ the SK8 Park

Assorted images from our ongoing Nechako mural.  The first is by a grade 11 girl and very confident artiste.  The sugar skull was painted by featured art grad Jordan and the frog in-progress is my contribution to make the bubbles make sense.  The mural will probably continue next year and depending on how many people want to add their work, just might have to wraparound to the north side of the building.  Every little bit is an improvement.

New Mural

Couldn't get in close because it was a small room. Completed this in 1/3 less hours than I had originally quoted so...a not too, too small mural for $210 for 7 hours. I surprised myself at how few hours it took me. Which is a nice surprise. Should be some spin off bidness from this project which would be what I was hoping for. Clients 100% happy.

First Birds

The very first birds started showing up on the Nechako Mural today! So that's 12 down and about 170 left to do. Looks like I can get through half a class in one block of time so it's going exactly to schedule. For now...

Look At My Feet!!!

I have big orange feet!!!

Oil pastel by grade 2/3. The bird must be from the Galapagos Islands since there are a few species in that area who seem to be transfixed by feet.

(shouldn't be their own feet though...hmmm...)

Finished....Really...For Good

This is the final effort at Multi Level Care. I asked Tony here to pose below it for me. What a sweet guy - told him he was my ray of sunshine because he spent a few hours enthusiastically watching me paint. Everyone but The Grumpy Fellow (dementia) seemed very, very happy with it, though several started to expect this project to just keep going...and going...and going all through the facillity. I should have told them that I'm stepping aside for the next artist.

Getting My Ducks in a Row -

- or rather, getting my geese in a line.

The folks down at Multi Level Care are really hankering for a flock of migrating geese on the wall adjacent to the mural, so I'm all prepped 'n set whenever they're able to set up ladder or scaffolding. Won't mention this to them till it's done but I probably won't charge for it, especially if I can wrangle a fellow art club member into assisting me. I was recently in the auxillary gift shop admiring/buying some of the beautifully crafted items and couldn't help but note the countless hours represented there. Pushed me from the category of independant contractor back into volunteer mode.

Fini!

Three quarter view of the wrap-aroundie-ness of my mural. I touched up all the screws and any bare edges today. Had my own scissor lift with chauffeur!
The reactions were 99% positive with the 2 most extreme being old German guys. One repeatedly proclaimed me 'a genius!' - ' she could be painting hotel lobbies!', while the other grumbled about it being 'a waste of money'. I still have a separate piece with an eagle on it but it wants to be a 'seagle' at the moment so there may be much wrestling and gnashing of teeth ahead.
I was corresponding with a watercolour instructor I know today and couldn't resist adding an attachment of my mural; he called it 'spectacular' and complimented not only the technique but the composition as well!!! I'm going to print that off and post it on my studio wall. I couldn't help but respond in a most gushy and unseemly fashion!

Ammendment: not fini
Still have to do some touch up...

Hey! The Sun IS Shining!

Here's the bottom half of the mural I've been working on for Multi Level Care. Each section is one sheet of plywood. Seems to be at the stage where I can lay it all out for the final going-over so that everything lines up.

The bears weren't my idea but I'm happy enough with them. It's not like I'm a wildlife painter.

Got some wicked tendonitis in my left forearm, most likely from holding a liter of paint for hours on end and now I can barely hold a styrofoam tray. *whimper*

Trees Good: Devil's Club Bad!

Section of the mural I'm currently working on for Multi Level Care. Mossing up the branches went so well yesterday! And then today, well I decided to tackle some devil's club in the foreground 2 sections over. Gaaahhhh! It'll probably add an extra 10 hours to the project but I'll nail it! - I will nail it to the wall!

I took some photos of the devilish weed yesterday but it was dark & rainy and my specimens were rather beaten and ratty. Back to studying fresher ones on the internet...

Finally: fruition

Approximately 18 months from concept to completion - here is Kildala Mural As A Done Deal

It looks kind of piddley here. But it's not.

One step remaining and that's to apply the nasty resin clear coat on just the right day and finally the unveiling *with dancing*. I tossed around the idea of choreographing a generic folk dance for the school, to a medley of traditional music. But that's a little ambitious...the Tetley Tea Dance perhaps?

The 'elite' crew

2 grade 7s (French Immersion...I love them!!) carefully apply their finishing touches to the main kites. I drew the designs on it myself in chalk and Erin and I have been painting and touching up various parts of it. I rigourously maintained a 'students only' policy for the boards representing the different classrooms but the 2 large kites were a different matter (partly to save time).

Grade 7 examples

this is a partial section of one of the 2' squares that the older grades worked on. That over there at left would be an English rose, then a Japanese carp and on bottom are 2 options from the Portuguese image menu.

newly hatched art

This is one of the boards for the Kildala Elementary mural with sections painted by K's and 1's. (1 foot square - each student was given 6" to paint their image). The grade ones in this class had been researching birds and so were eager to paint their chosen bird in their area. I remember 'an eagle' and 'a yellow warbler' and 'a robin'...their teacher told me how astonished she was with how her assignment had grabbed hold of everyone's imagination and that they'd been studying the living daylights out of their subject. The flowers were painted by the K's as their contribution to our Kildala garden.