Today I worked on a lot of little things that don't stand out but make a difference in the quality. First I lightened the horizon to make the hotel and tree line stand out from the sky. Then I added light and medium blue to the water, and finished the day defining the edges of the boats. After I cleaned up I wheeled the wagon to store it in my usual corner in the club house. When I got to the front door I discovered everyone was gone and the door was locked. I looked around and saw a few cars still in the parking lot so I knocked on the door. I put my face to the window, but everything was dark and nothing was moving. I had no choice but to load the wagon in the van and take it home with me.

I was interviewed for a story a couple weeks ago for a story in the Charlotte sun about the mural I am painting for the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society. I didn't learn till yesterday that the story came out the day after Christmas. I was very pleased with the photo and the story.

 Today I worked on getting the oar in the foreground straight, increasing the contrast in the boat in the fore ground, sharpening the details in the hotel, and adding color to the trees and foliage to bring it "alive".

This morning I put together the top to use as a work bench at the Punta Gorda Mural site. It was much better than working off the ground. I worked mostly on the boat, the background foliage, and foliage reflection.

After the third day of painting on the Punta Gorda mural project, almost all of the mural has color. Now it is about refining the values, lighting some areas and darkening others, and adding detail.
My wagon has been working well moving supplies back and forth, but with all the paint it is quite heavy. I have to pull it down and up a large ditch, and pulling it up is quite a struggle. Tomorrow I am going to include a board that stretches across the top of the wagon to use as a table to work off from. Until now I have been taking the paint out of the wagon and setting it on the ground. It occurred to me  that a board across  the top will save a lot of bending over.

This is the Sculling mural after two days of painting. I have painted mostly dark and middle tones so far, but it is beginning to take shape. Some time over the weekend the Punta Gorda Historic Mural Society put up a banner in front of the mural site announcing the mural project as sponsored by the mural society. Next time I'll include the banner in the photo.

I spent last night building a frame to wrap around the Punta Gorda sculling mural sample so that I could cover the whole thing with plexiglass. That way I can draw a grid pattern on the face of the painting without damaging the painting. The plexiglass and frame also serves to protect the painting as I transport it everyday to the site and back. The frame also gives me a handy place to attach a handle.

This is a photograph of a photograph of a painting I did as a proposal for the sculling mural for Punta Gorda Historical Mural society. It was given to me to use as a guide for laying out the actual mural, but after I drew a grid pattern on it I realized that the photograph distorted the image by stretching it out horizontally on a scale of about four feet. I didn't notice it until I started counting out the squares and discovered there were too many. I arranged to get the original painting back, and looking at them side by side it was obvious, but not so obvious separately.

I bought this wagon a week ago to move supplies back and forth to the mural site for the Punta Gorda Historical Mural Society. When I walked to the site two days ago I realized that the banks were so steep that the wagon needed sides to keep things from falling out. When I got back home I started thinking about how I would go about building sides, and it dawned on me that I could incorporate  a sign. This is the result.
That is "Bootstrap Bill," my brother Tom's cat, under the wagon.

Day one of the Punta Gorda Murals

Finally after more than a year of waiting I am getting started on the first of four murals for the Punta Gorda Historical mural society. Today, in addition to painting primer on the wall, it was a day of familiarizing myself to the surroundings and the weather conditions I will be working under. The day was warm and sunny, hence the sunglasses. But of course once I start actually painting the mural the sunglasses will have to come off.