Life Size Lebron and Kobe Cutout Murals

We have some friends who have boys who love NBA basketball. Interestingly they root for opposing teams - at the time I did this, one of their sons loved the Lakers and Kobe and the other loved Cleveland and LeBron. Shortly after I did this painting LeBron made the move to Miami. Well, little touch of nostalgia. I could always come in and repaint the uniform. They hung these in their sons rooms and painted the room the colors of the teams they love.

Wildcats Mural above the Court

 

 

This was the first large mural I ever did for a gymnasium at a High School. I was relieved that they had access to a lift, that makes the work that much easier and quicker to accomplish. When I go to a school I always ask to either have a scaffolding or lift ready to go before I arrive. Preferably a safe scaffolding and safe lift. If I have to rent either it makes the cost go up considerably.

 

Cut-out Mural for Terry Redlin School

 

 

When completed this mural was hung in the schools cafeteria area. It required three 4x8 sheets of plywood and some custodians who knew how to hang it with care.

Pheasants Mural

 

 

Here is what I remember about doing this mural. They had basketball practice going strong while I was painting and the coach was jokingly upset at times because the players would often glance over at me hanging from a ladder and find more enjoyment in watching it develop than run the drills. Got a little nervous when a ball came careening my way and slammed into the ladder while I was on the top. All good, I hung in there. A mural of this size usually takes 2 to 3 days to complete.

Live Mural at Central Baptist

I find great joy in painting live for a worship experience. On this one I actually fell off a riser by mistake, it was dark and I took a misstep with paint in hand. Luckily it fell on me and not the painting or riser. I usually ask for an honorarium for opportunities like this and of course the church keeps the painting to hang in the building somewhere.

Tigers Mural at Journey Elementary

Raiders Mural

The principal of the school decided to pose with his son following the completion of the mural. Like other murals I often paint them while a gym class or practice is going on. They had gym class all day while I did this mural and many students seemed to rather talk to me and ask questions about my art rather than running laps.

Couple More Murals at Lowell Elementary

 

 



Lifts are awesome to have

Lifts are great on your back and arms. Mot too mention great fun to navigate on. Many folks are not fans of the heights - I have grown to enjoy the views one gets on top of gyms. I can tell you that they don't dust very often in the rafters.

Character Counts Cut-out Murals

 

Entrances to Kids Areas in Churches

Lowell Bulldog

 

Murals for a Girl's Room

For my daughters room...

Panthers Mural in North Sioux City

Touching up the details

Strange Request

We had some friends who moved down to Florida a number of years ago and their High School son asked if I could sketch out Superman on his favorite pair of jeans before they departed. Strange, but okay. I used permanent markers of course and encouraged him never to wash them for fear of fading. I have no idea if there is a market out there for drawing stuff like this on clothing - but it was fun to do. I have thought about tackling shoes.

Finishing touches

Coming to the close a finished piece is always an awesome feeling. This was a mural for a backdrop of a stage area of an elementary school. It was one of the first I ever did and they wanted it to be both diverse and cartoony. 

How it begins

This is the first stage of putting a mural onto a wall - you blow up your sketch by means of a projector and begin the process of drawing it onto the wall. This can take a long time as you want to make sure it is laid on the area precisely. Another aspect about doing this is to make sure someone doesn't bump the projector or jostle the floor so that the image moves even a little bit. Once I had this happen simply by people walking on the hard court floor, to try and realign it was a nightmare. I now ask that the gym be completely empty when I do this - I have a fear of some student shooting a b-ball and knocking the projector to the ground from a missed shot. Projectors are pricey.

A Good Memory

This was the first paid mural I ever did for a school. Before this I had done a couple of free murals for some schools, basically for the fun of it and to see how they would turn out. This one was pretty simple to do - I remember taking an extremely long time on the lettering to make sure that it was done with perfection. I painstakingly hand lettered this one out. I talked with the Principal recently and he said that the lower lettering took a bit of a pounding with all the kids leaning up against it with feet resting right where it says Elementary. I think they touched it up some.

Art from above

This was a project I did to coincide with a church's four week message series from the book of Matthew. It focused on Jesus'earthly ministry on the Seashore, Hillside, City and Wilderness. We placed it in the entryway area so that folks would have to walk underneath each week before they went into the worship Center. The greatest challenge was not the paintings but rather hanging it so it would seem to be floating in space. The images were both pliable and actually when combined together -  heavy. We figured it out.

A Unique Challenge

This one was a challenge, it is hard to see from the photo but the wall on which this was painted had a unique sheen to it, almost plastic-like. I had never seen anything quite like it. It didn't absorb paint well and it was very rough and poxy making the paint dribble all over the place. But, with time, patience and a small amount of artistic aggravation it turned out okay. This is the entrance to the weight room located on the second floor next to the main gym area. In the next two blogs you see the other areas of the school I tackled. I always enjoy doing several paintings around the same theme for a school campus.

Watchdog busting through

Before & After

Everybody loves a good before and after photo. So if you are trying to imagine what a drab wall can become, here is a good example. I did this mural on the side of a high school stadium wall. Clearly you can guess their mascot image - which I also did in their gym and above their weight room (see above). In fact, this image can now be clearly seen from the school parking lot and adds a lot of color to that side of their campus. When folks drive up for the Friday night game it is large enough for all to see.



Lifts, Ladders & Scaffolding

 

 

In order to complete a mural, use of scaffolding, a lift and ladders is always a helpful tool. Probably as valuable as a brush! When I do mural work for a school I ask them to supply either the lift or the scaffolding. Most districts have access to one of the two. It saves lots of money over renting a scaffolding for a few days. When my kids were younger they loved to climb around on them, Mom didn't always like that.