When Work Is Play
tomatosplatlunchbox mural
Tomato splat adds a little pop to the restaurant name.
ceilingflaglunchbox mural
First responder flag in entry ceiling
raisingflagiwojima mural
Raising the flag at Iwo Jima
I've mentioned before that murals are the bread-and-butter aspect of my
art career and that I've been getting a lot of them lately. Sometimes I
can get so enthusiastic about the concept in a project that I forget
that this is my livelihood. For this one, I had to force myself to
price it according to my pricing grid and not my heart. Even then, I
caught myself adding elements without mentioning any add-on cost. I
also did not consider the difficulty of the project when I said yes to
it. And because I try to be a person of my word, I let that opportunity
go and jumped in anyway.
Now, I couldn't afford to get ahead of myself like this too often, but
the project was just too stinkin' fun for me to feel much regret about
that. I made a small profit and made a new friend in the owner of the
restaurant. He is thrilled with the work and I am a wiser painter.
Win-win, I'd say.
The project started out tame enough with his request for a faux brick
wall surrounding real brick and the name of the restaurant, Lunch Box,
graffitti style. Then he mentioned the iconic WWII photograph of men
raising the American flag at Iwo Jima. My father, all of my brothers,
and one of my sisters have served in the military and I have a special
fondness for those who protect the rest of us. As I worked out the
details, it seemed appropriate to frame the scene with a crumbling
wall, kind of symbolic of the crumbling of Hitler's stranglehold on the
world.
Then my client asked me about the first responder flag that he wanted
in the ceiling of the entry. "Sure, I can do that," I declared. I just
knew that one of my ladders would fit in there. It turned out that
neither my scaffold, nor my tallest ladder would fit in that small
space. My 10 foot reach ladder allowed my fingertips to touch the
ceiling, but not tall enough for me to work without stretching my right
shoulder out of its socket. And this would be different from the loose
cloud and sky murals I've done. It would require a great deal of
precision. So I built a small platform out of a wood pallet and a thick
piece of plywood cut to fit. Add some felt pads on the underside, and I
could slide it around easily without hurting the floor. Problem solved,
right?
Ah, but that was not the REAL challenge. I've done lots and lots of
lettering before, at eye-level looking at the surface straight on. I
did not anticipate the visual warp that occurs when you look up at
something from beneath it. Had I been able to use the scaffold, I could
have stood back to check that my lines were straight. As it was, I had
to get off the ladder every time I wanted to do that. Those charming
nostalgic license plates were all different widths and some of them
stuck out from the wall a bit, so measuring from the edge was throwing
me waaaay off! I spent one whole day chalking lines, climbing down to
check them, rubbing them out, and re-drawing them. Next day was just as
frustrating at first, but then I worked out from the center, as best I
could find it, and that was better. Still off though and this had me a
wee bit stressed. Once I started applying paint, the errors that I
couldn't seem to adjust for began to be less noticeable. By the time I
was done it was hard to tell that anything was off.
We had talked briefly about the need for a pop of red on the restaurant
name. it seemed too drab. But just outlining it wouldn't work because
you have to plan the spacing of letters according to the elements
you'll use. We had not planned to outline and adding one would make
everything feel squished. I had to come up with some other way to get
some red in there. I really appreciate that my client gave me a good
bit of artistic freedom. His place has such a fun, retro atmosphere
that I mentioned making it look like someone threw a tomato at the
wall. He immediately embraced that idea. I'm sure I'm not the only one
who remembers tomato fights with siblings in the family garden. It'll
be fun to see how his customers respond.
While this project presented many challenges, it also brought many
delights. I cannot wait for Lunch Box to open around mid-January. I
want to be the first person through that door! I'm dying for a good
burger.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good bite...I mean night.
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