two hundred eighty-four

Home stretch?!

I see large canvases in the museums and galleries and think, "wow.  Large canvas."  Maybe that's not profound to you.  To me, it's huge.  Five feet canvases.  20 feet canvases.  With pain on them.  With paint on them.  Many thoughts rush through my head.  What's it like to have a large studio to make large canvases?  Remember painting life size?  Larger than life size?  Remember stretching out & using a full extended arm to paint strokes and pacing back and forth -- dancing with a canvas in progress?

Back in September 2015 my chance to paint large presented itself.  The owners of a new local microbrewery approached me.  They know I paint art and asked me to submit a proposal for a mural on an 11 foot wall in their new tasting room.  With knowledge of their budget I provided Four Saints Brewing Company a project that would enable four artists to make art for the public to consider.  CEO, Joel McClosky and Head Brewer, Andrew Deming accepted my proposal.  The FSBC Art Wall Project was born.   

Many passes for one coat of gesso

A call was sent out for visual artists within a 70 mile radius of the brewery.  Those interested would submit a project idea for the 11 foot wall.  They would be paid to create a brand new work of art on the wall.  It would be on display for three months.  Each project would include some form of public involvement/witnessing of the creative process.  Each artist would also need to submit two commemorative merchandise designs for sale while they are on exhibit as featured artists.

We got five solid, diverse proposals for the project including yours truly.  FSBC decided to hire all five artists and away we go.  Each project brought with it unique opportunities to share creatively with Asheboro's community.  One artist painted portraits of "Asheboro Saints" on location on Sundays of July.  One artist team used reclaimed wood from the previous iterations of the brewery building.  Another artist took his first crack at a public art commission and donated the proceeds from the auction of his artwork to the local humane society.  Another artist's project was selected by an undergrad student to be featured in a college journalism class project.  And the merchandise ranged from custom stickers to limited edition t-shirts, mugs, and custom beer bottles.  This leads up to my project.

here comes the color

As the manager for the Art Wall Project and the closer for the first run, I had some time to mull over what I was going to do on the 11 foot wall.  I kinda had the idea -- and a whole year and a half to sit on it.  I decided to crop an existing painting, blow it up and paint it large.

Part of the project was fabricating the canvas on-site.  I had to.  There is no other space for me to create a 10ft x 4ft canvas.  Lucky for me FSBC has a custom wood regulation size ping pong table -- perfect for stretching a canvas.  Over two weeks I constructed, primed, and painted on my largest canvas ever.  At the close of each

sole sepia soul

work session the progress was mounted on the display wall.  When the taproom was open, patrons were able to observe the daily changes to the project -- from naked wood, to primed surface and eventually the finished painting.  A public work session was scheduled during one of the taproom's scheduled business days.  The painting portion of the project had begun by this time, and people witnessed quickly how one color can change the overall mood of the artwork.  Lots of folks commented.  People asked questions.  Beers were had.  Smiles were made among the future memories.  Helping hands give you wings.  More to come on this project.