erin:murals

to bring to an end

2008-05-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

and it's done! after a few more marathon days/nights of painting, the mural is finished. as i said before, jesse and i decided on no sky i have a few more pictures of the mural in progress, and a few completed pictures. i must say that even though it was an extremely exhausting (and painful) process, that it was very much worth it. the outcome is a very successful mural that really interacts well with the space and i'm really proud of it. ultimately the supplies used were:

1 quart of black latex interior house paint (eggshell)
1 gallon of white latex interior house paint (eggshell)
2 rollers
various paintbrushes
2 dropcloths
2 ladders (a 6 ft and a 16 ft)
roller extension

ruane, dana, and jess stopped by to check it out which was great, as it was nice to hear some input from an objective point of view. overall, i'm incredibly happy with the outcome and extremely pleased with the way it interacts with the space. it was an extremely helpful learning experience in both technique and practical knowledge, and i'm very happy to have created the mural.

in progress:

completed mural:

of great duration

2008-05-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

earlier, when i had mentioned a marathon of painting, i certainly meant it. after the completion of the thesis show, i planted myself at jesse's and completed most of the mural. it took a little over 22 hours of painting (straight through...woohoo!) to get thus far, but i'm incredibly happy with the outcome so far, and so is jesse. although it's sketched on the wall, jesse and i (and his sister talia, who he lives with) all decided against adding the sky and just leaving that part blank. the space is just too small and it makes it much too busy. now all that's left to be done are the side buildings, which will be completed very shortly. anyway, here are the pictures of progress:

a brief account or description

2008-04-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

in the past few days i went over to jesse's to sketch the mural on the wall. immediately upon beginning this task, i realized just how difficult it is to do accurately (especially because it's difficult to take a step back in the space), and how important accuracy is. so in an attempt to try and get proper horizon lines and angles, i set up jesse's projector in a very precarious ladder-involved-rig, and was able to project about 3/4 of it onto the wall. so i was able to accurately sketch out the top 3/4 of the mural, and i drew the bottom 1/4 by hand. overall it was a success, and i'm very glad that i was able to project even part of it to make sure it stayed accurate. and here is a picture from the priming of the space.

the study of the whole natural world

2008-04-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

i've been meaning to post these pictures for a while. i was able to go to the museum of natural history not too long ago, and aside from the incredible displays in the museum itself, there are absolutely wonderful murals connecting the museum to the subway. the museum has its own stop on the subway, and as soon as you get off of the train you are presented with beautiful mosaic murals of all types...all corresponding to the different animals in the museum. my favorite, however, were the ones coming down from the aquatic section into the subway. as you can see, you go down the staircase into an aquarium of mosaic tiles, all beautifully painted and in different depths and thicknesses. aside from just going to visit the museum, the mosaics themselves are enough to warrant a trip up to the museum of natural history.

of great or more than average height

2008-04-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

so i've made a few ventures over to jesse's house...the 16 foot ladder is there and the wall is freshly painted and ready to begin. the space is INCREDIBLY difficult to work in, but it's coming along! i have pictures (or i should say jesse has pictures...i'm still waiting for him to send them over) of me painting the space. dana was lovely enough to come over and help me paint as well. and here's the updated sketch of the stylization....i think i might not put in the sky when i put it on the wall, i'll have to see how the sketch looks. anyway, i plan on getting over there for a marathon day of painting this weekend!

the first part of an action

2008-04-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

so this blog post lacks pictures, but i'll post them as soon as i get them. today i went on an epic journey through the land of home depot, and after that headed over to jesse's to lay down a fresh coat of paint on the wall. there was a fear of having to repaint the entire area (basically an entire floor of the house), but it turns out that just touching up the main wall looks good enough. i didn't use a primer like i thought i would, i just used fresh white paint. dana was gracious enough to come over and help paint for a few hours, which was a big help. the lesson of the day is that a six foot ladder does not allow one to paint a thirteen foot wall very well, and that working in a 2.5' x 5.10' landing is NOT an easy space to maneuver in. i redid the sketch (see the original one below) and jesse, his sister, and i all decided that the stylized one is the winner. as soon as i get to a good scanner i'll have a picture of that up. and as soon as jesse sends me the pictures from today i'll post them too. i plan to go back on wednesday to attempt projection of the image and beginning the sketching phase.

on a sidenote, here's the main info from my proposal:

concept:
This commissioned mural will be painted in a stairwell of the client’s house. Upon request of the client, it will be an image of City Hall in Philadelphia with stylization at the discretion of the artist.
The imagery of City Hall is appropriate to the site, as the client’s house is located in Philadelphia. It is an extremely significant building both historically and architecturally; and the mural will be a significant aesthetic contribution to the space inside the house. City Hall is located at the intersection of Broad and Market streets, and will also mark the intersection of the stairs and levels of the house. It also brings the “outside in” and creates an interesting conflicted space inside the home.

timeline:
By April 7th: Prime the space for painting
By April 9th: Have sketch laid out on wall, ready for painting
By the week of May 5th: Complete the mural.

rough budget estimate:
1 Gallon of Valspar Interior Latex Flat - Black: $20.00
1 Gallon of Valspar Interior Latex Flat - White: $20.00
8’ Aluminum Step Ladder: $70.00
Drop Cloth, Paintbrushes, Rollers: $35.00
ROUGH TOTAL: $145.00

to move or jump rapidly upwards

2008-04-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

during spring break i made a trip up to montreal with a couple of friends simply to just frolic around the city for a few days. within the very short amount of time i was there, i came across a couple of murals that i thought were interesting. so here they are!

a picture made using a camera

2008-02-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

so jesse just emailed me the photographs that inspired him and hopefully will inspire me. i'll be doing a lot of sketching this weekend, and will reveal what comes of it shortly after.
jesse says:
"i think i'd like to make the mural a shot of philadelphia.
specifically, i think it'd be awesome to do a shot looking north on broad street looking at city hall.
i'm beginning to envision something a little offset, as if you were
looking from the left side of the street (like from in front of the
Academy of music or something). this way the tower would be slightly
to the left and the angle of the street would be slightly severe..."
jesse shows:

a particular position or point in space

2008-02-21T15:31:00.000-08:00

oh, philadelphia.
so the first trip to jesse's house to see the location where i'll be painting was a success...although i'm not sure how it could have been a failure. anyway, i took some pictures of the space, it's a dynamic staircase, and very tall. i'll most likely be concentrating on one wall, and have the mural extend into fragments on the adjacent walls and most likely the ceiling.

this is the main wall that will contain most of the mural. as you can see, it's very tall, and it will certainly be a challenge physically working in the space. the track lighting jesse installed is very movable and removable, which is great so that we can get to spaces when need be, and when it's all done it can be lit properly. since it was originally a commissioned mural, jesse and i both agreed that it would be fair if he paid for all of the supplies and my gas money to get to-and-fro. so all of the expenses will be covered by him. talking to him more about the subject of the mural, he decided he wants an urban theme to go with the context it's in...an (and i have to add absolutely beautiful) apartment in philadelphia. he described other murals/wall decals that he had seen that interested him, mostly because of their point of view. the city scape idea would certainly be challenging in the space, as it calls for a much more vertical composition than horizontal. so i think it will be better to stick to more of a "zoomed" point of view and add an interesting perspective of an urban philly scene. as for the style of the mural, i suggested to him that i paint it in the style of my 12'x5' painting i did a couple years back, which looks like this:

this painting was a landscape of a valley and the sky, so i know i could easily translate the geometric nature of cities successfully into that style as well. and to keep the vertical composition i would certainly incorporate the sky, and hopefully have it "bleed" onto the adjacent walls and ceiling. jesse expressed concern about having it not look "placed" onto the wall...that he wants it to look like it's meant to be there and that it incorporates the entire space around it. so there you have it, the space and the (tentative) style of the mural-to-be.

everyone loves dots

2008-02-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

and so it begins.

right around the beginning of this semester i was serendipitously asked by an old friend by the name of jesse to do a mural for him in his house. upon going to class and finding out that a mural on commission is indeed a legitimate assignment for the semester, i took him up on his offer and will soon begin the magical process of mural painting in his house in philadelphia.
i'll include the plans of the space jesse gave me at the bottom of this post...he's very much involved with architecture so the plans don't make much sense to me. i'll be visiting him very shortly and i'll be able to take pictures of the actual space.
as for the content of the mural, it's tentatively going to be a skyline of philly, however that will be more solidified after the first meeting as well.
and the last question: what makes this a mural? well i'd say in this case the intent has a lot to do with it. i was specifically asked to "paint a mural", so i suppose the fact that the audience and artist are going into it with the intention of a mural...makes it a mural in some sense. size-wise it should be a hefty accomplishment for one person, which will certainly make it mural sized to me, and although the audience and location is very private, i don't feel it takes away from the legitimacy of it being a "true mural". but we'll find out how everyone feels about it when it's done.