This is the sign from the
Delphos Museum in Kansas. The original sign was approximately 9 years old and had been painted by an artist from the New York area that lived in
Delphos at that time. I volunteered to revamp it for them charging only for supplies. I used the original sign board to keep cost down, and stayed with similar images, (car, train, hills, etc...). It's dimensions were 4'x8' so I used a projector for the sake of accuracy and because it's such a time saver. I prefer to spend my time in the details and not drawing and redrawing the general outline.
Here is was I started with.
The picture below shows the sign in a kind of "clean slate" moment. I kept the background more simple in order to allow all the focus to go toward the words and images
that would be added next.
And now, the finished product.
I did a lot of research for the images I used as references for this sign. Because I prefer a greater level of detail that what was shown in the original sign I focused more on a quality photo to work from that fit my needs as far as angles and visibility of detail than I did on matching the exact era of car shown in the original.
I left the people out of the car intentionally. I felt that it would allow the viewer to interact with the image using their imagination, "Where is the driver?" "How did the car get there?" "Maybe they went for a picnic." It's more fun sometimes to allow a person to wonder about the absence of something than it is to show them everything they expect to see.
************************
This is the second train I've painted for a small town mural, the first I did about 7 or 8 years ago and was actually the first official mural I'd ever painted. It was on a much larger scale, and a very rough surface. It was nice to revisit a familiar image with more experience under my belt and on a surface that allowed for more detail.
