Challenging Mural, #4

How about that for a title? Installment #4 is actually part 2 of day 2.

Whatevs. I want to show you how the paint goes on, in terms of what order things get painted. Yeah, yeah, I’m stretching it out in a concession to people’s short attention spans. Don’t want to fall into the TLDR* category.

After the pediment was finished, at least as finished as it can be until it is time to evaluate the entire mural, then I began the lower part of the background. (The upper part is the sky. Duh.)

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I started blocking things in and it was a relief to paint standing on the floor. In spite of not having much room to step back and see, it is easier than climbing up and down off a ladder. (Not complaining, just explaining.)

Got so happy to be able to reach that I started too low. See that little piece of tape off to the far left edge? I added that after I couldn’t figure out why things weren’t fitting. Counted wrong again!

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Okay, now the growies are up where they belong and the other parts are getting blocked in. “Blocked in” is Artspeak for loose rough blobs that approximate what they will become when more care is taken.

*Too Long Didn’t Read

Challenging Mural, Day Two

Perhaps I should refer to each installation of this indoor mural story as “chapters”. However, I might lose count doing it this way. (If you read the first installment, you can see that I don’t count all that accurately.)

Wow, the internet is so fast at Visalia Granite that I am able to actually listen to some podcasts while I paint. What fun! (I called the phone company from home to ask what speed I am paying for. It was 3 units of measurement. I tested the speed and learned that we are receiving about 1.1 units of measurement. I tested the speed at Visalia Granite and it is ELEVEN units of who-knows-what-measurement!! ELEVEN!!)

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On Day 2 I began by taping the columns so I could paint around them. I thought I’d work on the uppermost thing (a pediment, perhaps?) for an hour or so, and then start on the background.

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FOUR HOURS later, I was finally off the 2 ladders, temporarily finished with the pediment. “Temporarily”, because as other parts get painted in, I’ll find ways to improve what was first painted.

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In anticipation of painting an indoor mural, I ordered some appropriate premixed colors without regard to their lightfastness. When I paint outdoor murals, I only work from the most lightfast primary colors available and then mix my own colors as I paint.

I’ve only opened one of those jars of new paint yet because all I’m able to achieve the colors I want using ones I mixed from previous jobs.

It turns out that Roman ruins in the late afternoon sunshine are quite similar to Sequoia trees. How convenient.

In case you are wondering, I opened yellow ochre out of curiosity. Turns out to be a perfect match for one of my painting rags. (What a thrill to my little color junkie heart.)

Challenging Mural, Day One, Part 2

What a dumb title. . . but you do get the idea that I am continuing to show and tell you about the progress of the indoor mural I am painting at Visalia Granite, yes?

Well, oops. Measure twice, cut once. . . count twice, tape once. So obvious an error!

I retaped and began redrawing, just enough visual boundaries so that I wouldn’t waste time painting more sky than necessary.

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Kind of a messy process to draw with blue chalk. I finally got the bright idea to drop a plumb line for the center of the columns and then just build around them with sky, closer than necessary so the columns can be painted over the top.

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What am I going to do with that troublesome beam? Ignore it for now.

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I got pretty excited about the sky and had to go get a few people who work at Visalia Granite to come admire the first few clouds.

You can see the upper photo taped to the wall is the thing I am painting. The lower one is the reference for the clouds that the Art Patron (well, what else shall I call him? “The Customer” doesn’t have enough dignity for this job.) requested. OF COURSE the light is coming from the wrong direction in the cloud photo. Always something to challenge my abilities, to put a little edge onto what should be a simple task.
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Isn’t this cool?

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Oh wow, I CAN’T WAIT FOR TOMORROW!!

Challenging Mural, Day One

It was hard to sleep the night before I began because of excitement. I thought through all the beginning steps so that I wouldn’t stand in front of the blank wall and spin in circles.

  1. haul in my equipment and supplies
  2. lay out the tarps
  3. tape the edges
  4. draw the mural
  5. paint the sky

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This is how the wall looked when I arrived.

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It is 17′ wide, and I am painting to 10′ high.

Every job has its challenges, both big and small.

The small challenges:

  1. The masking tape wouldn’t tear cleanly.
  2. The ladder was too short.
  3. The tarp was too small.

Every job has its benefits:

  1. a controlled environment – wow, central heat!
  2. a ladder (a little short but okay-ish) and a tarp (a little small but I can bring another one)
  3. really nice people
  4.  Fast internet access!
  5. excellent consistent light

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Got it taped. Now, let’s start drawing.

Ahem. I taped it one line of blocks too high. It is supposed to be 15 blocks high and I taped at 16. No wonder the ladder was too short. Is my brain a large obstacle to accuracy or is it excitement that is the obstacle? Or perhaps working alone with Inspector Gadget, AKA Trail Guy?

 

See you tomorrow.

New Year, New Challenge

I met a guy who likes my art. He is in an art related business, studied architecture and has similar ideas to mine about what makes good art. He told me that he has decided I am an “art-itect”. I understood the term immediately.

A few weeks ago he asked me to bid on a mural for a wall inside his business. We talked awhile about what he wanted, and I came up with ideas for him. Scenery, trees, sort of a tunnel feel, autumn type colors, light in the distance. . .

Then, he popped up with this “art-itect” thing. I should have sensed trouble coming. Instead, I felt flattered, and understood, and appreciated.

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Oh my! This is what he wants painted on his wall!!

I’ll keep you posted.

 

Mineral King Mural Re-do

The book The Cabins of Wilsonia may be in route to Three Rivers. Then again, it may not. Trust has been broken, so I am hearing the messages from the printer and the binder in the same sort of sound as the adult voices on Charlie Brown. Remember those?

Meanwhile, I am occupied with various tasks, all productive. I’d sort of rather sit and knit, or help my friend organize her closet or take a long walk, but the art world marches on, with or without my participation.

A new studio tour is scheduled for March of 2015. By “new”, I mean that different organizers are handing the arrangements. It is called South Valley Artists’ Studio Tour and will include lots of artists from lots of towns. Studio Tour used to be only Three Rivers; now Three Rivers is but a part of it.

The weather is mild, so I have spend some time refreshing the mural on my studio door. Here is the before and the middle. I know it needs more details, but need to wait for clarity and direction. It takes awhile to study one’s own work and see how to improve.

Sunshine is a wonderful thing. Like many wonderful things, too much of a good thing may cease to be so good. Sunshine fades paint, particularly the color yellow. This means greens turn to blue, oranges turn to red, and any brown that has yellow in it (they all do) goes either reddish or purple.

Here is the mural several years ago, a year when the leaves were brilliant in the fall:

Here it is prior to the recent refreshing. It kind of looks the same, so it probably has needed a do-over for a few years.

Here it is with new colors. I left the distant peaks the same so they would look distant. It might be too distant of a look. The rocks might be floating. There might not be enough detail in the foreground. It probably needs more work. And, I realized that I’ve never signed it. Perhaps I haven’t ever felt finished with the thing!

P.S. OF COURSE this is a Mineral King scene. . . were you expecting something else?

 

Orange You Glad This Mural is Finished?

A drive-by shooting of the Rocky Hill label mural on the east wall of Rocky Hill Antiques, east of Exeter.

 

This is how the mural looks in the morning light. It faces east, so I was only able to work on it when the shade was 2 feet wide, around 2 in the afternoon.

And, in case you have forgotten, it has a hidden item! No prizes offered, just the satisfaction of finding it.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part Four

On Thursday, I left you with a cliff-hanger of a green orange. (Reminds me of the time my mom wanted to show orange trees to her 4 year old Kansas granddaughter. “Look Ashley, those are orange trees.” “No they aren’t, Grandma – they are green!”)

White paint is opaque. Put down white paint, and then paint the orange! Sometimes I just floor myself with my on-the-spot innovations.  Honestly,  I often have to ask Trail Guy, but I forgot my old flip phone with a broken hinge so I couldn’t call him.

That looks weird. Gotta confess that it crossed my mind to paint it as a baseball. (It was the day that the Giants won the National League to go to the World Series.) As fun as that would have been, it would have meant that I needed to return, and I wanted to be FINISHED with this project. After all, I started the mural at the beginning of June.

Yes! The orange is done.

It looks good! The owners were right to add an orange.

I couldn’t photograph the entire mural because the pickup was blocking.

I spoke to one of the owners about adding the word ANTIQUES to the side of the mural. Together we concluded that it falls under the heading of sign, and under the skills of a sign painter. I am not a sign painter; I am a mural painter. The mural is finished.

May it be so.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part Three

We are waiting for the heat to end so I can finish the Rocky Hill Antiques mural. September passes. October arrives. The heat continues. FINALLY, last week, it mellowed from the 90s to the 80s. Practically sweater weather around here!

Wow, the mural is dusty and has some spider webs. No worries, I’m a country girl. “Girl”. Old girl. Never mind. An overall wearing man who works at Rocky Hill Antiques offered to back his pickup to the mural so I could paint from the tailgate. Perfect! He said he’d worked off scaffolding and ladders enough to know that it’s not easy. He was right, and I REALLY appreciated his help.

First step: draw the orange.

Can you see the chalk? When I backed up, I could see that the orange was too squished, so I added a bit to the right side. The leaves were also too short. They didn’t look bad, but my instructions were to follow a certain orange, not just go hog wild. (Guess I could say “off the reservation” since the mural contains the “Indian Outlaw”.)

First, I mixed some greens. There is a good dark green in that plastic jar. I didn’t put any on the palette because it dries out too fast that way.

First leaf finished, second leaf begun. Notice the headache bar from the pickup? I didn’t hit my head once!

Two leaves done! Now, time to mix the orange paint.

I premixed the basic orange in the plastic jar, then added white, yellow, 2 reds and a brown to the palette. By the way, the “palette” is a lid to a paint bucket.

Houston, we have a problem. The paints are transparent, or maybe the word is translucent. Whatever it is, they are see-through. This means with the orange paint that is mostly yellow placed on top of that blue, it goes all green! This is supposed to be a ripe orange, not one that is waiting for cool nights to arrive.

What am I going to do??

Come back on Monday, and I’ll show you. Why not tomorrow? Because Fridays are for Mineral King on this blog.

Finishing the Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Part Two

I showed my favorite view of the potential revision/addition of the Rocky Hill Antiques mural to the owner. He still wanted the word “ANTIQUES” included. I tried to convince him that the word would change a mural into a sign, and there is plenty of signage at the business with no doubts at all as to what the business is about.

But, the owner requested the word ANTIQUES, so I showed him some alternatives. He liked this typestyle. I still thought the word didn’t belong in the orange.

How about if we move the type outside of the mural?

Finally, the owner said that would be okay, but he liked the larger orange.

 

Bigger orange, like this, minus the word in the orange, and added to the outer edge.

Phew. Now all I had to do was wait for the heat to abate.