Repainting Mineral King, Day Two

This is what greeted me at 8:30 a.m. on Day Two of repainting the Mineral King mural in Exeter.

The truck’s cab is at Mosquito Lakes; the bed is at Mineral Lakes. That’s one big truck.

See the little green car in the background? This truck could eat my car for breakfast. 

I stood on this stool to reach the upper trees. It was a little dicey, but I was very very careful. A woman driving a Tulare County Dial-A-Ride van came through and admonished me kindly, “Don’t get hurt!” I thought about it later – she drives all over the county giving rides to strangers and yet is concerned for my safety?

Larry came by and said, “I knew you would move up in the world”. I told him that it was a normal thing for people to get high when they are faced with difficult situations.

It is so very hot on this wall – continual and relentless heat and sunshine. Good thing it isn’t really hot out yet, because in the high 60s it feels like 100 degrees standing there. Each time I stepped back, I thought something like, “Holy cow, I have seriously underbid this job; what was I thinking? Was I thinking at all? How am I going to do this??”

During one of these sessions, I leaned against my other mural’s cold, cold wall and thought about things. Then I decided the closer slopes needed to be recoated with something less blue. I also decided to use a large brush and just slam a base coat of green on the forested area to be detailed later.

Alrighty, then. Now we’re getting somewhere.

At the end of Day Two (no, I am not going to use the tired cliche here), this is what we have. Perhaps on Day Three I will beep beep back up the truck and then stand on the ground to finish detailing that hill in the foreground.

I forgot how very noisy it is in a city. My mural seems to be located at Delivery Central – Challenge Butter, Farmer Bros. Coffee, some ice machine company, uniform delivery, Pepsi delivery – diesel engines all. Then there is the amplified telephone ring from the fire station, the noon whistle which almost knocks me off my ladder, and people’s conversations in the nearby parking lot. (Does everyone still overuse the word “like”? – sounds that way to me, just painting and eavesdropping and wondering. . .)

 

 

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 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.

Rocky Hill Antiques Mural, Chapter 4

A few weeks ago, Pastor Alex preached about complaining. It is a sin. Really? Really. The opposite of complaining is gratitude.

So, instead of telling you how difficult it is to paint this mural on Rocky Hill Antiques, I will give you a short list of things I am thankful for as I work in what are possibly the most difficult and uncomfortable circumstances yet for mural painting.

1. earplugs!

2. shade

3. accurate projection

4. Funny songs by Kathryn, who has a song for everything. When we were projecting she was singing “I’m An Indian Outlaw”, and then she moved on to “Stairway to Heaven”.

5. Ice water

6. Being able to spike a brush from 10 feet up a ladder into a bucket of water on the ground below.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

When my drawing students work on a person or an animal, I usually suggest that they tackle the face first.

paint colors chosen for painting the Rocky Hill Antiques mural

I usually work just from the primary colors. The yellow is the only one here that fits that description, because these are from previous mixing sessions. The tan has the mysterious name of #1 on its lid. The brown is actually burnt umber, from when I did sepia tone insets into previous murals.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

Who knew that this reproduction of a painting from a bronze sculpture had so many colors? Wow, this looks rough. It is rough.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

When the people working at Rocky Hill Antiques left for the day, I put the ladder away and worked on the ground. It was a relief to be able to step back and see my work and to be able to reach all my supplies.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

This is how we left our Indian Outlaw when I moved to ground level.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

It is photographing darker and not as yellow as real life. When the blue paint arrives, I will mix a lighter batch and redo all the blue. Maybe.

Rocky Hill Mural, Chapter 3

Wow, nothing like a little commute down the hill to remind me why it is REALLY GOOD to work at home. Roadwork delay, long line of traffic with slowpokes (40-ish) until the passing lanes (up to 60+), finally see clear to pass at another passing lane, and the slowpoke pulls into the left (passing) lane to block anyone from going around!

When I arrived at Rocky Hill Antiques, there wasn’t quite enough shade yet. I knew it would take about 1/2 hour to set up, so I really did arrive at the right time.

The tape was flapping in the wind. I wonder why it wouldn’t stick. . . isn’t blue masking tape was supposed to be the best?

Rocky Hill Antiques mural beginnings

It was hot, dusty, noisy, windy, and I was wondering why I thought it is fun to paint murals.

After fighting the tape a bit, I pulled out an old very sticky roll of normal masking tape. It was so sticky that it was hard to pull off without tearing. I remembered that the superiority of the blue tape is that it doesn’t remove the surface on the wall. I looked at the crummy old paint on the crummy old bricks and the crummy cracking mortar, and decided old masking tape was just what the situation calls for. I retaped off a little area and decided i’d just do a little paint mixing.

That’s when I remembered why I think it is fun to paint murals. The main color in this old Rocky Hill Farming packing box label is BLUE. I love blue! I mixed it up and got the right color, I thought. Then I decided it needed to be ever so slightly lighter, because this acrylic paint dries DARKER. Can you believe that? It really does dry darker!

Rocky Hill Antiques mural beginnings

It really looks dark here. I painted until I ran out of blue, then went into Rocky Hill Antiques to ask if they have the internet so I could look up the number of the paint company. No internet! I’ll order it tomorrow – it comes from NovaColor in Culver City, which is LA, so it won’t take long to arrive.

Then I started messing around with the colored base of the statue. That will be fun – lots of interesting colors to mix in that thing. I think it is supposed to be a painting of a bronze statue.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural beginnings

Rocky Hill Antiques mural beginnings

Rocky Hill Mural, Chapter 2

We projected and traced on a Sunday night.

On Monday during the daylight, I went back to see our work, and to determine when the wall is in enough shade for me to paint.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural traced on wall

 

That is barely visible!! No worries, it shows better in person. See the cracks climbing in the bricks? Kathryn, one of the friends who helped me trace, has a song for every subject. She said, “Look – there’s a Stairway To Heaven.”

Rocky Hill Antiques with small amount of shade

This is all the shade there is at 1 p.m. I left to work on something else and give the sun more time to move. When I’ve painted in full sun, I get hot and dizzy. Dizzy is bad on a ladder. The sun makes the paint on my palette and on my brushes dry faster than I can get them on the wall. It’s miserable, both for me and for the mural.

Rocky Hill Antiques in more shade

Okay, 2 p.m. has enough shade. Rocky Hill Antiques is open from 10-5 every single day of the week. This mural will entail a lot of driving if I can only fit in 3 hours of painting a day. So be it.

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

I bought one of those chalked up string things and snapped a line, which I then taped. The blue of the chalk is beautiful! And I love the blue tape on the yellow wall. (Written like a true color junkie. . .)

Rocky Hill Antiques mural in progress

Wow. 1-1/2 hours to do this? And the tape isn’t sticking very well. I hope it is there when I return in 2 days! If not, I hope the chalk line is still visible.

Extra facts:

1. Should have been lifting weights in preparation for this mural – that extension ladder is heavy and unwieldy.

2. Someone named Kimberly stopped by and said, “I hope they get that done soon.” I said, ” ‘They’ is me.” She went all excited and pleased-to-meet-you and oh-wow on me. I said, “Kimberly, I’m no one. Just stop by any time to say hi and see how it is going.”

3. Why do people think that artists are Some One? She was certainly driving a better car than mine! (Maybe it wasn’t paid for. . .)

4. There was a SNAIL attached to the top of the wall. Why???

5. It was windy and a mini tornado went swirling right along the wall.

6. It is very very trafficky along Spruce. This mural will be a noisy situation.

7. Rocky Hill Antiques is a busy store.

8. My elementary school principal was there because he sells antiques. He asked where my talent was back at Ivanhoe Elementary. I told him that Tom Stroben taught me to draw in 6th grade. That pleased him and it pleases me that I don’t think he is scary any more. (Mr. Marusich looks like Mr. Fredrickson in the movie Up.)

Projecting a New Mural

Sunday evening I went down to Exeter with my neighbor and friend, Steve who is one of the owners of Rocky Hill Antiques.

This is a great big wonderful antique store, open 7 days a week, in an old packing house with 40 vendors. Very good place to shop. (This mural could get to be an expensive venture if I don’t focus on painting and stay out of the store!)

This will not be an official Exeter Mural since it is outside of the designated mural district, so we skipped several steps such as painting the maquette, plastering the wall, getting all the appropriate approvals.

My friends Jacquelyn, Kathryn and Louise showed up to learn, help and provide moral support.

First, Steve and I established the borders of the mural, centered on this wall. The Captain Obvious sign about Parking is going to disappear, even though it is not in the way.

Louise is figuring out how to get the projection to be vertical. There is a ton of distortion if the overhead projector isn’t centered on the wall. The plan was to do the left side first, and then the right side, because my transparency was bigger than the projector screen.

JKL were tremendously helpful. I felt a little bit like Tom Sawyer, getting everyone else to do my work. However, I did have to keep replacing worn out magic markers.

The lettering has me a teensy bit worried. I don’t know how professional sign painters get everything so perfectly lined up!

The bugs were going crazy on the projector screen, but we didn’t trace them. It is tricky to not be in your own way while tracing, but we were flexible. I only faked tracing on the back of Louise’s leg – kept the cap on my marker. 😎

Third and Final Day

Isn’t that amazing??? I am amazed, stunned, and sort of relieved because it is so hot on that wall in the mornings.

This morning when I arrived at the wall, this was facing me:

Looked like a long day of crawling around on the ground. Bye-bye, little Lift friend. No more getting high for me on this job!

Mural painting involves relationships. Thank you, Betsy, for the step-ladder. Thank you, Larry & Dora for the loan of the ladder. Thank you Sylvia for that fantastic Dr Pepper, my first in 2 years, tasted like heaven. This little heart rock is for you:

It’s not perfect, but they never are in nature. Always fun to discover – hope you have fun finding it on this wall!

And thank you to Paula for the visit while I waited for the shade to cover the wall. (Found your home page – it will be a very thorough website when it is completed and just as lovely as your store!)

And thank you to Rocky Hill Ice Cream for being there while I waited for shade.

And this is for Rachelle:

I know, I know, just show us the finished painting!

The end.

Second Day

First, some observations about mural painting. This is a long one – might want to grab a snack first.

  1. Technology is very helpful. Today I studied some photos on my laptop, enlarged them vastly to really see what the lines in the juniper were actually doing. Cappella Coffee House is next door to the mural and has wi-fi, which enabled me to email some photos to another artist who needed to borrow them. And, my cell phone sort of works so I can take calls while painting (not as dangerous as taking calls while driving.) Plus, of course, my digital camera records all sorts of things to share with you all. Wow, all this from a self-proclaimed techno-avoider. . . !
  2. There will be discomfort while painting a mural. It could be heat, cold, bugs or wind.
  3. There will be deadlines – lift rental, hot weather on the way,  or an upcoming event. The pressure can either motivate an artist or freak her out.
  4. There will be hassles – the lift might not work or the scaffolding might not roll or the cell phone company might be having a bad day.
  5. There will be lots and lots of interaction with people – the mural team will offer encouragement and help, other artists will stop by to see how things are progressing, tour groups will come by, individuals will greet the artist as they pass to and from their cars and places of business, there will be occasional folks just touring the murals who have lots of questions. These are great marketing and public relations opportunities for Exeter, the mural project and my art business!
  6. I will spill paint on the ground, the lift and my clothing. Can’t be helped. Paint wants to be distributed – it is its nature.

Today it seemed like a good idea to take the lift to the very tippy-top of its capabilities. That’s 19′ in the air. It was fun! Now look at the rooftops, Rocky Hill and the rest:

Look at my shadow DOWN on the roof of the building I am painting!

And here is what got completed today after I finished goofing off with the equipment:

See how well it carries over from the other mural?

2-3 days left, that’s all! To be continued. . .

Hidden Objects

Men + Mules + Water + Power has multiple hidden objects. Here is the list:

  1. pick-axe
  2. fish
  3. 2 heart-shaped rocks
  4. 1904
  5. a real rock
  6. a real mule-shoe
  7. 6 varieties of wildflowers – Sierra Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, phlox, Hoope’s Sneezeweed, Golden-beard Penstemmon, Wild Blue Flax.

Here is a little piece of the mural for you to study and identify a few of the objects:hidden.jpg