In this case it is a commission for a 10'x26' mural. For a couple of years now I have been painting local wildlife portraits, birds mostly, and selling my little canvasses at C'ville Arts, an artists co-op I belong to in Charlottesville. http://www.charlottesvillearts.com I love painting the creatures, and I also love waiting and watching for them, both in my semi-rural yard and out in the woods. And I love being part of my co-op. It's a great group of artists and like-minded individuals that have also become friends. But I was beginning to feel a little...stale, and I think my work was starting to show it. I was sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, but I just needed a change, or a challenge.
The challenge came in the form of an e-mail from Mike Bruscia, Executive Director of The Green Adventure Project. http://greenadventureproject.org Mike had seen my wildlife paintings at C'ville Arts and wondered if I'd be interested in having a conversation with him about a mural project he had in mind for his new green-built education center at Triple C Camp, located just south of Charlottesville. http://www.tripleccamp.com
To make a long story short, we met, and after hearing his vision for the mural, learning that he wants to use it to teach and inspire, and visiting the lovely site, I knew for certain it was something I wanted to do. I took some measurements, gave it a lot of thought, and submitted a proposal, which was accepted by Mike and by H and Libby, owners of Triple C Camp. We were ready to start!
So where DO you start with such a big project? By defining it, of course. Here is a brief definition of the mural: It will be 10' high and 26' long. It will be a summer scene in Central Virginia, depicting local landscape and more than fifty different species of local plants and animals, both native and invasive. All species will display key identification characteristics. Easy, right?
NOT! Well, picking the species was easy. We mostly agreed right away on that. And painting them will be the fun part. But deciding where each one will fit into the mural, and getting the scale and perspective right on the whole thing is where the real challenge comes in. Though I did a few smaller murals back in my college days, this will be by far the largest and most complicated of anything I have ever attempted. This gives me the little edge of fear that usually causes me to increase focus and can lead to some really great learning, and hopefully, great results!
Why blog the process? The mural will probably take the better part of a year to complete. Since I will be devoting such a large chunk of time to it, I thought it would be fun to document it. It might help me focus on a problem area, or be interesting to anyone who happens to see the mural in progress. If one of the students who happens to be in the room while I'm working is curious, I can direct them to the blog. But basically, it's just something I want to do.
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| Here are photos of the wall and the original concept sketch. |
