I completed a mural today! YES! Above is me celebrating with the finished piece, but I'll start at the beginning.
Way back in May I participated in Bartlett Yard's Muralfest-- artists from all over the city were invited to transform garage doors to the former bus repair yard into giant works of art! It was pretty incredible to watch and be a part of. Bartlett Yard is now hosting events on weekends throughout the summer with this giant outdoor art gallery as its backdrop. Check their website or facebook page for upcoming events!
When I first started thinking about what to put in my mural, I thought about what sorts of imagery I have ben gravitating towards lately and I thought, "Foxes! Subways! Done!" So I made some sketches of foxes and subways interacting in different ways and my sketches looked pretty cool. I went out a bought a bunch of spray paint thinking, "I am pretty good at painting so surely I will be able to teach myself spray painting!"
Then I showed up to Muralfest with a backpack full of spray paint cans and a 6 foot ladder (fun fact: they let me take my ladder on the bus!) and then I got to my door and realized... I forgot my sketchbook. I had no references for my fox and subway mural, so I just winged it! Also, turns out spray painting is really hard. Next time you see graffiti, think about what incredible skill it takes to wield a can of spray paint. So as I went, super helpful people would come over and offer me tips about how to spray paint better and I feel pretty good about the improvement in my technique. Here's what I came up with:
I was really unhappy with this mural. The sky looked cool but the fox and subway were just sub par. Also, no one could tell it was supposed to be a fox. I started to feel like just painting over the whole thing and going in a totally new direction. Lots of other artists were like, "No! Stick with it! You're doing great!" and while I appreciate their words of encouragement, I think there is value in knowing when something isn't working and then being willing totally revolutionize it.
...And revolutionize I did! I headed out to Bartlett Yard this morning with my backpack full of spray paint once again but this time I came prepared with a stencil that I have been working on for a few days. I love stencils! Since I chose to work in spray paint, which is a relatively new medium for me, I wanted to incorporate something I already had some skill in, so I made a big stencil of a ship. I am really proud of it. Ships of course are also subjects I have been working with quite a bit lately. I love them! They're so dramatic!
I changed the sky around and added my ship and some reflections in the water and it is finally done! Yeah!!!
Here is a detail of the ship, sailing out of some cool aurora borealis world:
And me again, with my mural.
I also stenciled the cardboard backing to my pad of newsprint, just for fun! I still have the stencil and some spray paint colors. I could totally make more.
