The Forest Mural Comes Home

 Winter is upon us and it is impractical to drive up to Mount Roskill and chance the weather painting the mural on site. It's all designed and undercoated and on the advice of my son Eli I packed up the mural panels, most of them, and got out of Dodge and raced back to my cosy studio.

 In the studio at home in Waihi there is a pot belly stove and good lighting and the weather does not matter.
The mural panels are being screwed to the wall, two or three at a time, and finished off.

I have a fortnight to finish and deliver it, screw it back in place and apply the final touch ups.
It's a tight schedule and a worthy challenge for which I hope I shall not be found wanting. Fingers crossed...

 Painting the tree ferns was scary but one step at a time and they came to life, much to my relief
Tomorrow it's back to tree trunks and forest floor and all the debris and shady plants that live there and those things that every artist lives for: light and shade.

Waihi Rocket Park Mural is installed 3 Nov. 08

 
While John from the Hauraki District Council and I were up there on the cherry picker installing the 2 mural panels we cleaned off some crude tagging that some enterprising youngsters had sprayed on the rocket (yawn... ) I'd love to get hold of some of these creative infants and show them a few design skills so they could lift their game, and mana, and express themselves in a cooler and more inclusive way. ...dreams are free and as lovely as you want to make them...

Marley's Mural, the continuing story Part 8: one half of the mural is readied for exhibiting at the Waikino Spring Art Exhibition

Live music with Marley's mural as a backdrop

Installed in the Waikino hall just a few hours before the opening night

Nearly ready to go to the exhibition, the second mural panel is on the table awaiting it's turn...

Janice helps me finish the painting, we worked day and night for a couple of days to prepare the mural for exhibiting at a local Art Exhibition prior to the mural being installed in Marley's marvelous main street music shop...

Marley's Mural, the continuing story Part 7: a deadline looms!

 
Both mural panels are clipped up on the wall and Marley has agreed to let me exhibit the finished job at the Waikino Spring Art exhibition at Labour weekend (Oct 25) before installing them in his music store. What you see here is the front half of one and the back half of the other as they are both 7 metres long and the painting wall is about 9 metres
Exciting times 'cause I've a deadline on it now!

Rocket Park Mural progress

Mondays and Tuesdays is community service at the Waihi Marae and this is what the Rocket Park mural panels looked like when I walked in today, Monday

Marley's Mural, a Pictorial History part 6, basic design of the second canvas is sketched out at long last

So many interruptions have slowed progress on this mural but this is not a bad thing, it is just my life..
Now that I have selected the images for the mural and they are sketched in with paint on both seven metre canvases there is a whole new ball game as they say in the U.S.
Yeah, now I have to make it work, as a whole, and I want it to look like music; to have colour, tone, harmony and rhythm.
How I achieve this I don't know but that is the goal and Thursday to Sunday is my next opportunity to get stuck in and go for it, wish me luck eh?

Marley's Mural, a Pictorial History Part 5: the second canvas gets designed

Friday was a warm and bright, sunny Winter's day and I spent the morning making phone calls to sort out, and keep up with, stuff. Then I put on good clothes and walked up to town and got in some R & R, bit of shopping, couple a bevvies, home for tea and then out again for a few drinks with friends. Saturday was a big, vicious storm and the bamboo growing back of the studio smashed the edge of one of the studio roof's clear panels, the water leaking through this was blown inside by the fierce wind gusts but luckily blown clear over the canvas clipped up there and not blown far enough to hit the table and ruin all the drawings etc.
I love storms like that, they remind me of Wellington, where I grew up.
Saturday afternoon and night and Sunday afternoon and night I worked on the canvas in the cold draughty studio and now both canvases are ready for finishing - which will probably take two weeks.

Marley's Mural, a Pictorial History Part 4: Images and Design Ideas hit the canvas at last

Tuesday 22 July 08: A mural comprised of some of my drawings and photos of musicians and the sheet music to a Ricky Lee Jones song begins to come together on a 7 metre by 1200 primed canvas.
The other 7 metre by 1200 primed canvas will have more of the same and the sheet music to a Warren Zevon song.
The mural panel shown here will be high up on the left interior wall of Marley's Music store and the other will be high up on the right.
I had no definite idea of how this would come together when I started Tuesday morning but it began to take on a life of it's own and I got a wonderful natural high and could not sleep until four in the morning Wednesday.

Marley's Mural a Pictorial History part 2 and the no girls allowed policy and what happens when you institute one..

Events have transpired to slow down the momentum on Marley's Mural but I did manage to cut and prime the two 7 metre by 1200 canvases, the photo shows the priming in progress.

One of the events that transpired was the arrival at my house of my son Sam and two and a half year old grandson Mateo, we three have been very happy here in boytown for a month now and we are all fans of Thomas the tank engine and have extensive railway systems in the lounge and a strict no girls allowed policy.

Does this stop the girls? Absolutely not! In fact my female artist friends are popping in at every opportunity to drink my coffee and ignore me while they play with the two and a half year old chick magnet. I might as well go sit in the corner and read Kafka or something.
Across the road at Leah and Kevin's house lives Annabel, who, although only two and a half, has talked her mother into having Mateo come over there certain afternoons to babysit her. I am, frankly, amazed.
And that's not all - no sooner do we name our wee patch boytown and introduce a no girls allowed policy than I bump into a talented wise woman who cleverly allows me to sweep her off her feet...

Men! Lonely and feeling blue?
Have reverse psychology work for you!
Try our patented No girls allowed policy and see the results for yourself!!!