Mural | Real Art Is Better!

The larger version of the mural study, 18″ x 36″

I have now finished a larger study of the mural concept for the Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company’s outside wall. I took photos of both the smaller painting and the new larger one and superimposed them in Photoshop onto the building, a picture of which I had taken earlier this summer. I am still undecided about whether I like the red or green floor option. The red floor, which actually exists in the brewery, seems like it diminishes the beauty of the copper kettles. I decided to see what it would look like if it was green. I think the green makes the copper brew kettles pop a bit more, but I wonder if it is clashing with the green stripe on the building. I set up an appointment for this Friday with the boss to discuss the two options. The real scary part ensues if he gives me the go-ahead, because I have to make the biggest painting I have ever made. I wonder if they will paint the floor of the brewery green after the mural is installed? I would really appreciate your feedback, so please vote for your favorite option below in the Mural Poll.

Red floor option

Green floor option

First small painting mural study

The owner of Snow Goose Restaurant and Sleeping Lady Brewing Company decided to have a mural on the North wall of the building on 3rd Avenue, and the manager contacted me because in the brewing community in Anchorage I’m known as the “beer artist”, so naturally he thought I was the obvious choice. I am really excited about an opportunity to paint on such a large scale. This will be the largest painting I’ve ever made by far!

The first thing I did was research how one goes about making and selling someone on a mural concept. I learned that a detailed proposal is not included in the original bid, because a proposal takes so much time and energy to complete. Once the bid is approved, the proposal is a paid part of the process of creating the mural. I prepared a bid packet with three preliminary image concepts along with a budget and met with the owner to make the hard sell. To my delight, he chose the design that I preferred and gave me the go-ahead to create the mural proposal. The concept is a depiction of the inside of the brewery, which has gorgeous copper kettles. I want to show all aspects of the brewing process, which is difficult because all the steps don’t happen in one place in the brewery. The ability to show more than one can photograph is one of the interesting aspects of painting. So I am working from many photos I took early one morning at 6:30 AM while the brewers were brewing a batch of Fish On! IPA -one of my favorite brews. I printed the best photos and laid them out all over my studio and made a compositional sketch. I then made a small oil painting study of the brewery. Now I am making a larger study, and when it’s finished I will make a mock-up image in Photoshop to show what it will look like on the wall. Stay tuned to see the photos of that mock up.