So my friend the muralist moved in for a month... (wicked dial-up warning)

[intheflow]

My friend E.E. Yates broke her leg about a little over a month ago. She's a muralist who was supposed to be leaving to start a mural in Cedar Rapids, Iowa a few days after Christmas, but she broke her leg and couldn't go until it had healed up some. Since she was supposed to be leaving, she didn't have housing. So she moved in with me for a month.

But you know, E.E. couldn't just sit around. And not working on the mural for almost a month and a half puts her waaaay behind schedule. Luckily she had already planned on painting the mural using a cloth technique--that is, the mural is painted onto sheets of acrylic cloth which are then installed on the wall (glued with a shellac-like finish.) So my house was turned into an impromptu studio. Naturally, I took photos.

It started by her removing her painting that hangs on my wall. Believe it or not, I rescued this from the trash--she was going to throw it away! Needless to say, I snatched it up immediately. Anyway, this is what my living room usually looks like:


She has a template of her mural, a very rich photoshopped image with lots of kids, butterflies, trees and a waterfall. To make it mural size, though, she gets b&w transparencies made of the 20-30 panels she has to paint. She borrowed an overhead projector from an art teacher friend, and voila! She's able to trace an outline. This is one panel among many she traced. (Note her storklike stance--not standing on the broken leg. :))




The finished trace:


She will paint most of the mural, but the children pictured in this mural will help paint some of it; it's going up in their Cedar Rapids elementary school. She gives them paint-by-number instructions.


She also decided to mix her paints as long as she was laid up. So she took over my kitchen for a day.




I was able to put my painting back up, but not move my couch back.


After the paints were mixed, she started painting. Here you can see she paints using a black and white photo for a guide. How does she know wht colors to use from a black and white photo? I was amazed.




A little further along...






The finished product:


She decided to "fix" the painting she gave me.


E.E. with her paintings:


She's in San Francisco now, housesitting for another muralist for a month. She hopes to finish her work on the panels and finally make it to Cedar Rapids by March.

[Maestro]

1. A very talented young lady.

I wish her well.

[NV Whino]

2. What medium is she using?

Acrilic? Egg tempra? I'm in the Napa Valley. Tell her if she needs... whatever, to give me a call. PM me if you need to get in touch.

[intheflow]

5. She uses water-based acrylics.

And I'll pass along your offer of assistance to her. Thanks! :hi:

[TahitiNut]

3. She's WELCOME to come and stay here for as long as she wants!

... or for as long as the walls hold out. That kind of talent fascinates me.

[intheflow]

6. Plus, she's cute.

:silly:

[jhain]

4. What talent!

I am so glad you documented this process and shared it with us!

She is an amazing woman! Just think of the gift she is giving these kids!


I hope her leg is better.........

[intheflow]

7. She works a lot with kids.

She did a mural for a church in Africa that the villiage children modeled for and helped to paint. All of her murals depicting children are created using photographs of local kids.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. She does beautiful work

and these are fun shots. I'm glad to see you, ITF. I've missed you here. Do you think you'll still be able to make it back up here this summer? We enjoyed your visit so much last June, but it was much, much too short. :)

[intheflow]

9. I know it was too short!

Don't know if we'll get back up there. I'll pm you to let you know how life's going for me these days.

[F.Gordon]

10. Great missive. Great photos. Great artist

Very nice.

Just noticed that you joined the 'Mod Squad'. During the primaries....
:wtf:

Isn't she the one who did the Water Tower or sumtin' here in Colorado? I forgot the name of the town.

Hope all is well. Don't see any of your photos on the walls. What's up with that? Course'... can't see all your walls.

Thanks for taking a moment from your DU babysitting duties to stop by the "group".
:hi:

[intheflow]

11. You're so right!

Being a mod during primaries is like being a playground monitor in a grade school. :rofl:

Yes, this is the same friend who did the grain tower in Berthoud. (My fav of hers b/c she used some of my photos in it. :))

I have very limited wall space in this house, and as you can see, I have some large art. We also only have two closets, which means there isn't a lot of room to store large art. So the framed photos are packed away until the next move, just because they take up less storage space.

I'm not taking many photos these days--not sure why, the muse is gone for the moment. :( And you're right, modding takes up a lot of time. (You Photo Groupies just aren't controversial enough for me to hang in here! :P) But I come in to sneak a peek at the photos on a regular basis, and was happy to see you've come back to rabble-rouse in the PG. :hi: