Signs

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.


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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.

Mural Accents

These are painted in a bathroom that started out very cold, with white walls and tile floors. Because it is located in the lower level of an old stone home, it is also a room that is considerably cooler than the rest of the house. The walls were painted using a layering effect, and these two "windows" were put in not only to give the the illusion of an additional light source, but to remove the basement feel the room had, and add a sense of warmth.