"When I was five years old, I tested my crayons on a new surface -----
a hallway in my parents' home. My mother's response was a bit unexpected:
She placed a tape line from ceiling to floor and said, "Keep it on this side of the tape."
I've created hundreds of drawings since that crayon adventure on the hall wall.
Now I've come full circle; I am again making wall-size art (indoor or outdoor).
But instead of crayon, I use high-quality paint to create murals for a variety of clients.
"Each mural starts with a series of very loose sketches in pencil, pastel, or oil wash on paper.
"After the wall has been cleaned and primed, I transfer my composition to the wall using a grid method or a projector. And sometimes I dive right in and free-hand the entire composition, using my sketches as a general guide.
"When using oil-base mural paints, I keep the paint film thin, building up transparent layers, that create an illusion of depth and atmospheric distance in the final work.
"I limit the amount of white and rarely use black. Most of my murals are created using only six to seven colors and sometimes as few as four."
CLICK IMAGE ABOVE FOR LARGER VIEW OF THIS DETAIL FROM BAKER CITY ARMORY MURAL PANELS. To see entire project, click first link below:
"Before starting the church mural in Sussex (New Brunswick, Canada) I had the wall painted a pinkish hue. The wall is nearly 50 feet high at the peak and about 30 feet wide.
City workers (photo at right) helped move the scaffolding and remove layers as I worked my way down the wall. The mural, a local landscape, was completed in eight days."
