Category: Murals

Day four of painting in church was a short day. It was time to finish, and I vacillated between “Oh no, how will I get this done?” and “Piece of cake!”

The boulders got shrunk a final time, and 2 more were added as the finisher to the right side. I added some dirt on the right, put some more light on the giant Sequoia, added a corn lily (AKA “skunk cabbage”) and wished I could detail the thing to the point of recognizable wildflowers, maybe a bear in the distance, a few distant boulders, on and on and on.

Get real, Toots.

It was time to sign, which is a mental The End for me. My brush was all splayed and I couldn’t control the line of my writing. . . it was fat and double and sometimes triple.

I painted out the beginning signature and made a plan: sit in church for a month or two of Sundays and take notes, ask people questions, and listen to all suggestions. Take more notes.

Then, return for the finalization and bring a good brush for signing.

The End.

 

Holy cow. 10 hours on Day #3, and still not finished! This thing is growing. (Thing? this painting in church!)

When people stop by, I ask them for their honest opinions. Because we are all co-religionists (a weird word my Dad used to say just to get a laugh), we are fairly straight-forward with one another. Or maybe that is because there is a level of trust that goes with sharing faith, and it brings honesty.

ANYWAY, as I was saying, I ask people for their opinions and I receive help!

One Steve pointed out the white board that is in front of the baptistry was a distraction (a baptistry is a bathtub thing for dunking people, kind of a focal point in a Baptist church in spite of having a river across the street. . . weird, but no one asked my opinion). I hadn’t noticed it at all. . . too busy painting.

Steve #1 was entirely correct. So, I painted the board.

Another Steve called with an idea for the right side of the mural. It was a puzzle to me, so, like yesterday, I prayed. I got an idea, and then Steve #2 called me because he had the same idea. Of course he did! 😎

The idea: a downed log lying in the meadow.

My friend Emily stopped by. I did sort of a Tom Sawyer thing and got her to help me paint. She is working on her master’s degree kinesiology, but was willing to stoop, literally, because it was floor level, to manual labor.

She helped me resize the boulders, which were visually diminishing the Sequoia tree. They looked good, but I guess they were just practice boulders.

Left side, see green board? Smaller boulders and more grass.

Right side – downed tree, trees on the ridge and behind the meadow, detail at the back of the meadow, lots of grass, the beginnings of the trees that will border the right edge.

One more day. I’m giving this thing one more day. Whoa – 4 days of painting in church! When I started, I expected it to be 2 days, because the request was just for a couple of Sequoia trees. We thought it through and realized that would look staged and like a couple of decals, so it need a little background. But, one thing led to another and another and another. . . one more day only! Do you hear me, Mural??

 

This is how my church looks on a holiday Monday morning.

Does it look to you as if there is room for a mural? It didn’t look that way to me, but I did some sketches for That Amazing Shirley as we developed her idea. We even made changes on Monday morning! Changes? Nah, improvements!

A very helpful man named Don brought in the extension ladder and set it up. Trail Guy made a couple of adjustments, found the can of wall-color paint (there WILL be a need for an “eraser”), and set up the spotlight.

I drew a chalk outline so I could tell the sizes needed when I was up in the air. The top is about 13′ from that part of the stage.

Don was very helpful. He didn’t want me to be there alone on the ladder, so he hung out and told me about his very interesting life. It helped to have a second set of eyes so we could discuss various details about the tree – too anything? leaning?  wide/narrow in the trunk or  spacey/full in the green parts and branches?

Weird weird color at the end of the day with a flash. This is after one day’s work. I may have seriously underestimated the time necessary. It had better be done by Sunday or I will have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do. (Remember Ricky Ricardo – ” ‘splain it to me, Lucy”?)

Mr. Art Patron returned from his vacation to find an indoor mural on his wall at Visalia Granite. He was very pleased, and asked for a few minor adjustments. They were improvements, and I am glad he noticed and asked.

Oh, that troublesome beam. Not knowing how to deal with it, I simply painted the sides a solid color. It shows from the the conference room, and Mr. Art Patron had a good idea.

It wasn’t easy. The only thing about this mural that was easy was maybe, just maybe the sky (in spite of not having a photo). It was also easy to paint in a controlled environment. Mr. Art Patron tells me it wasn’t a true challenge for me because he says I’m an art-chitect and excel at architecture. I feel confident with pencils, a drafting table, T-square, triangle and a big fat magnifying light, but on the wall, I’m a newbie at this type of subject.

Anyway, here is how the mural now appears from the conference room.

Now it looks like a HUGE column instead of a metal beam with brown paint on the side. (“Brown”?? How about “Dark Chocolate” or more accurately, “Burnt Umber”?)

There was also the troublesome piece of metal that secures the beam to the floor.

See it there? Easy solution, but I didn’t think of it when all I could see was the finish line.

 

Just match the floor!

My little camera didn’t do the trick, but Mr. Art Patron’s iPhone had this fantastic panoramic feature, and he was like a human panning machine/tripod thing, and held steady as he panned.

When Mr. Art Patron handed me this subject, I almost choked. I gasped a bit, made a few shocked noises, and wondered if he was overestimating my abilities.

Now, I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT!! (Are artists allowed to like their own work??)

Two days of painting left. Yippee Skippee! I’ll have this finished when Mr. Art Patron returns from his vacation, and he will be happy. I hope he’s happy – that’s the point of all this work.

Lake Kaweah, between Three Rivers and Lemon Cove, California

After a nice drive down the hill, I arrived at Visalia Granite with hope in my heart and a high degree of enthusiasm and optimism. After looking it over, I wondered if I could complete it in one day. . . think, think, think.

Enough thinking. Start painting! Focus, focus, paint, paint, paint.

DONE!!

 

As seen from Mr. Art Patron’s office. Isn’t that flooring perfect with the mural colors?

Let’s get closer.

That pesky pillar looks best when viewed straight on, in particular when viewed from Mr. Art Patron’s chair. 😎

Here is the completed right 6 feet.

That pesky pillar as seen from the side. Not only does it stick out, it slants.

Here is the completed left eleven feet. Nice without that blue masking tape, eh?

If you visit Visalia Granite and Marble Works, this is the view of the mural that you will have from the conference room. Pretty neat, eh? That Art Patron has good taste – I’d recommend his business to anyone needing a headstone or monument.

Welcome home, Ron! I LOVED painting this for you.