Since I posted last, I took on a huge mural project at my place of employment, which I will post on in more detail at a later date. I also became a Grampa for the first time and then survived the annual holiday madness. I started this post on mural themes a while back and then got swept away by life, so let's get to it.
This blogs is on Mural themes and how they seem to pick the artist at times? In the past 11 years or so, I have painted several solo murals and attended about 12 Letterhead Walldog events. As far as the murals I've painted myself, the themes are usually selected by they client. Of course there is always the project that is somewhat loosely defined and those tend to allow for some creative theme ideas.
As far as the Walldog events, they can be all over the place, as far as themes and art development goes. I have attended events where most of the art was done ahead of the event by the host and or the local planning committee. Other events send out a packet of research information for each mural and allow the corresponding Project Leader to develop his own original art concept.
What does baffles me sometimes on this topic, is how the host of a large mural event can pick the perfect mural theme for each Project Leader! This has happened at a few of the events that I have been a Project Leader on. So let's look at a few themes that have picked me over the years...
First off, I would like to present a couple of murals that I developed for clients of mine over the years. Just for fun I will post a picture of the first solo mural I did back in July of 2000.
On this particular mural I had seen a picture of a Maxfield Parrish painting in an issue of the Smithsonian Magazine. The painting was for the Ferry Seed Co. and Maxfield used his daughter Jean as the life model for this piece. My friends had recently purchased a small farm at the time and it included a very large white barn. Or in my case, a very large wooden canvas! The barn could be seen for a mile or so and It seemed the perfect subject matter for both the family and the location.
A few years after the barn mural, a dear friend called me in regards to painting a mural on her wooden kitchen floor. Her family was doing a major renovation to their old farmhouse and wanted to do something original on one of the old wood floors. The first thing that popped into my mind was a large fruit crate label painted over most of the kitchen floor. I gave her about 50 or 60 thumbnail images of a variety of old fruit crate art. She picked the Kentucky Cardinal label you see below because it matched the colors she had planned to use throughout the rest of the interior of the home.
This Project was also featured in a How to Paint Floor article in Sign Builder Illustrated Magazine.
Next up, I would like to share a few memorable Walldog mural projects that I have been involved with over the years. For an explanation of all things Walldog, please see the following website...
http://thewalldogs.com
The first Walldog project I would like to talk about was the Jacksonville Walldog Extravaganza which took place in late June of 2006 in Jacksonville, IL. I was chosen to be a Project Leader for the Eli Bridge Company mural. The Eli Bridge Company actually didn't build bridges but were celebrating 100 years in business building carnival rides. The Eli Bridge Co. produced the Big Eli ferris wheel and also the well known Scrambler carnival ride.
During this event, I had the privilege of getting a tour of the Eli Bridge Company headquarters a few blocks away from their mural site. It was like stepping back to the 30's just walking into the building. There was one room large enough to set up and test one of their smaller ferris wheels. There was also another area large enough to set up two complete Scrambler rides.
In the middle of Jacksonville there is a Big Eli ferris wheel that operates during the summer months. On my way out of town I stopped by the wheel and explained the mural project that I had just finished. The operator of the ride was impressed enough by my story to offer me a ride and gave me the longest ferris wheel ride I had ever had. What a great way to finish a great week of painting fun.
In August of 2006, my good friend Kurt Gaber hosted the Brush Bash 2 event in Chippewa Falls, WI. I was in the process of relocating to Vermont for a new job and had some extra time on my hands so I offered to help in any way I could.
The mural painting event was centered around creating a memorial for a tragic accident that occurred in October of 2005. A High school Marching Band Bus accident had injured thirty-nine passengers, and killed five others, including the beloved band director, Doug Greenhalgh. In the early morning hours of Sunday, October 16, 2005, the Chi-Hi Marching Cardinals were returning home to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin from a marching band competition in Whitewater, WI.
The center piece of the Memorial square that was dedicated for this event was to depict the history of Chippewa Falls. A visual timeline was to be painted finishing with a Marching band mural honoring those lost in the accident. I was chosen to paint the Marching Band Mural.
I had a great team of painters including my dear friend and incredible portrait artist, Tatiana Zank. Work on this mural was very emotional for my entire team of painters. As we worked, local residents affected one way or another by the accident were most often in tears behind us. It was a challenge to hold back our own tears as we completed this visual memorial....
You can see more of Tatiana's amazing work at... http://www.tatianazank.com/
I have a couple of other themes I would like to share, so I will include those in Part 2 of this post. Until Then, take care...
