Murals

I have this thing about blank walls. I get this urge to paint on them. I don't paint on anything else.

I haven't given in to my urges as much as I would have liked.

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This wall was in the basement of Freeborn Hall, at UC Davis where the Experimental College used to live. It was my first wall. The oil paint is on so thick, I fear they must have had to sand blast the wall if they wanted to paint over the mural. (I just kept adding paint until it looked like I wanted it to. In case you don't recognize it, this is a rain forest.)

The left hand part of a mural of a rainforest.

The part to the left...

The part to the right...

the right hand part of a mural of a rainforest

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This mural was in my friend Jacki's house in Davis, California. I got a bunch of books on cave painting from the library and picked items I liked. I painted in oils with sticks, sponges, a palate knife, my fingers--whatever seemed to suit the purpose. Then I tied the whole string of animals together with a background meant to look like cave wall. My friend no longer owns the house, so I have no idea if the mural still exits.

This little horse is my favorite element.

Drawing of a horse in the style of cave painting

This is the end deer, before and after the background was added.

The complete wall--or as much as one could photograph, considering the constraints of other walls in the house.

Almost the whole mural of ther cave paintings

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This mural I did in my own house, also in Davis, CA. I got a bunch of books on Chinese art and picked out the kind of images I liked. I decided on having no people, no bridges. I no longer have the house, so I don't know if this mural exits either.

This shows the typical evolution of the mural. I built parts, then tied them together. The biggest problem with this mural was there was no room for error. White space was very important. It was exactly the opposite approach from the rain forest, where layer upon layer was put on (but then the rain forest was on a pink wall I was trying to hide. The Chinese art used the wall itself as part of the picture). This mural was done in only two colors: black and very dark green (for the trees--but the photo doesn't pick up the color difference).

early segment of Chinese landscape mural

The completed picture.