Mural samples in mid progress

The Punta Gorda mural samples are progressing fine I think with eight days to go. Much of my time has been spent on getting the right color values to create a sense of depth, contrast, warmth, and drama. In every painting, at least for me, there is a point where I feel like I am floundering, with no feeling of where I am going next. Colors are added and painted over then added again, more pink, maybe more yellow. Eventually I find the combination that feels right. I'm at that point now where things are getting worked out, for the most part, and I expect the next eight days to go pretty smoothly. Except for Christmas eve and Christmas day I have been working six to eight hours a day. I will probably finish a day or two before the deadline, but it's always nice to have a little cushion.
       You might have noticed that the paintings haven't been painted all the way to the edge. That is because the Punta Gorda Historical Mural Society wants a painted frame to complete the edge.
    

Beginning Painting on Canvas

After four days of transferring the drawings to canvas the Punta Gorda murals begin to get colorful. Because I am under a deadline I decided to begin painting all the canvases at once. I chose to work in acrylic also because of time constraints,and because the actual mural will be in acrylics.
    I began the paintings by covering the whole canvas with a thin wash of an off yellow. This preserved the drawing while toneing down the brightness of the white canvas.  Moving the background to a more medium tone should help me make better color choices going forward. Also the yellow helps me keep an overall warm feeling I am striving for.
   Then I began blocking out the dark areas with a dark purple. This helps me set the value range and begins the process of working from dark to light. Up until this point the process has been pretty straight forward. Now comes the challenging, scary, unsure, creative  color choices  that often takes me in unexpected directions and is what keeps painting fun.

Punta Gorda Mural in Progress

Six weeks ago I posted four drawings which I explained was a proposal for a mural to be painted in Punta Gorda, Florida. Last week I received a phone call from the Punta Gorda Historical Mural Society. I hoped for the best, I thought my drawings were good, but I was realistic in that there are a lot of good artists here in South West Florida. So I was ready to hear bad news.Instead what I heard is they loved my drawings and they want me to paint their murals!
    The next step in the process is to make samples of the mural in color. I ordered some canvas and frames to build four stretched canvases 18 inches by 48 inches. Now I am in the process of transferring the original drawings to canvas. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I placed a grid of 1/2 inch squares on plexiglass over the drawing and drew a grid of one inch squares on the canvas. Then drawing square by square I re-draw the drawing onto the canvas. It may seem like a long drawn out process but it is much easier than just drawing it bigger.
       The mural society plans to use the drawings and scale paintings in fundraisers to raise the money for the murals. They want to begin as soon as possible, so they have asked me to complete the paintings by Jan. 5. That means I have 18 days to complete four paintings. That is way faster than I usually work but I look at it as a challenge, and I believe it's doable.
     The mural society also asked me to send them a short bio to be used in the fundraising and to be included in a local periodical. I tried to write something a little different than the standard autobiographical listing. I thought it turned out interesting, but I haven't got any feedback yet.
     This will be the first of many postings as the murals progress, though the actual paintings may not start until summer or fall depending on how fast the money is raised.

                                                                 My Life as an Artist
When I was six years old in 1954, I went to a white clapboard two room schoolhouse in a rural are on the outskirts of Flint Michigan. Every day at 11:00 all the children were loaded onto an olive green school bus left over from WWII, and taken to the local high school for hot lunch . Even then the two story brick building was old. The polished granite stair steps dipped along each side forming pathways in the stone from the thousands of children before me.
    I remember the cafeteria as dark. The plaster walls were divided green over dark green except for the wall opposite the food counter. Here was painted a mural of a farm scene signed by the artist. For the first time I recognized that art was something that a real person made, not just pictures in a book. I was fascinated by the painting and every day I looked forward to finding something new in it.
    The building has long since been torn down and the mural, probably from a depression era government works program, was destroyed with it. But the memory and the effect it had on me still lived on. I majored in art in college and graduated from Central Michigan University with a bachelor's degree in 1970. Though many of my paintings in college were large, I had yet to paint a mural.
    My first mural was painted in a cafeteria. Three months after graduation I was drafted into the army and sent to basic training in Fort Knox Kentucky. The head cook there discovered I was an artist and offered me the opportunity to paint a mural rather than the typical mess hall duty. The mural, about 5'tall and 12'wide, was a landscape of mallards reflecting on a marshy lakeside. I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, but I was able to finish and sign it to the cook's satisfaction before I was flown to Vietnam. It was gratifying during my tour there to from time to time meet someone who would ask me, "Are you the David Lackey who painted the mural at the Fort Knox mess hall?"
    After the army, I taught drawing and painting at a small art center in Clio Michigan. Eventually I became president of The Clio Art Society, where I organized classes, and curated the gallery. As a leader in the arts I saw as part of my mission to help people become aware of the arts in our community. In the late 1980's large murals on the west coast were getting a lot of attention. I looked around town for a possible mural project and saw a two story brick building with peeling paint, boarded up windows, and a wide expanse of wall right in the center of town.
     I wrote a letter to the city commissioners proposing to paint a mural on the side of the building. I offered to paint the mural for free, if they could arrange for the wall to be sand blasted and a 28'x28' section primed for a mural. I felt it was a long shot, I didn't expect they would come up with the financing, but you never know. To my surprise, they took me up on the offer. A local state representative found a grant to create summer jobs for teens and put them to work on the wall. By June of that year I was painting a mural that became a landmark in the city of Clio.
    
     I have shown in many galleries and won many awards throughout the mid-Michigan area. Though I have not painted a lot of murals they have been an important part of my life as an artist. My love for murals got a revival last spring when I painted a mural for Fathoms restaurant while visiting in Carrabelle Florida. Then that same month while visiting my brother in Englewood, a friend told me about the murals in Punta Gorda. I took a driving tour the next day and was impressed by the number and quality of the murals. I knew then I wanted to paint a mural in Punta Gorda.
     It is an honor to be selected for the next set of four murals by the Punta Gorda Historical Mural Society. I look forward to begin working on them and becoming a part of the history of Punta Gorda.