The finishing touches were painted on Friday May 18th. Bill Brokaw arrived on site at 6AM Saturday morning to shoot the photo for our 16 x 22 inch poster. With his awesome photoshop skills, Bill disappeared the guard rail and black fence that obscures our view of the lower left of the mural, also the sign on the upper right. Bill also worked some magic with the window to kick it back. Thank you, Bill!
Next step is to Graphic Imaging in Pipersville, Pa to make the prints from Bill’s photo file.
Today the eagle got a little friend. Seen on the lower left, I’ve painted an Oriole perched in the branches. My wildlife consultant is Dr. Larry King, resident of Frenchtown and avid birdwatcher.
Today is scheduled to be the last day of painting. There are so many details I want to include. I better get crackin’!
Yesterday
Today
We are in the final days, detailing the cracks in the wall and painting in the foliage. I am also painting out more foliage: as you can see on today’s photo, the tree on the right is diminished. The foliage on the left has become more distinct. We plan to perch an Oriole in the branches above the wigwam. Several viewers requested an American Bald Eagle, and we have fulfilled their wish.
Close up of the eagle on the upper right.
We’ll be finishing the mural on the next sunny day, forecast to be Thursday.
Before changes were made.
After changes were made.
Several important changes have been made to the mural in the last two days, as you can see in the comparison photos above. On the left: the white egret, the fishing canoe and the branches of the tree are all a problem. On the right the egret is transformed to a Blue Grey Heron and the fishing canoe is larger, in more credible proportion. Notice that the fisherman in the boat could, on closer inspection, quite possibly be a woman. In the native tradition, this figure may represent a “two spirited” person. It was by accident, not by design but apparently this person wanted a life in the mural. I’ve also painted out the connection between the foliage on the front right with the distant reflection in the water. It was hindering our view and sense of depth. Lastly, the wigwam has more definition from the background and some deeper shadows.
Today Don designed the slab of cement to the right of the image that will be our Dedication Stone to acknowledge the donors to the mural at the level of $1,000. and up. Just a few more details and it will be complete, ready for the donor’s names.
I changed the Great White Egret to a Blue Gray Heron today. Note that the water at the shallow level is now a little greener. I’m almost finished with the sycamore tree at the right. I am starting to think that the Lenape in the dugout canoe needs to be a bit bigger to be in correct proportion, so that might need to change tomorrow. Fortunately, all my paint is pre-mixed in plastic containers, making it fairly easy to make changes like that.
Today I painted the highlights on the 21st century guy’s red t-shirt and blue jeans. The shirt and the jeans are nice rich colors in contrast to the earth tones of our Lenape family, but they still needed to pop more. It is crucial that his life sized figure reads as real and the more I can do to increase his 3 dimensionality, the more the mural will “fool the eye”, a.k.a. “trompe l’oeil”.
Don spent most of the day on the “upper deck”, making sure the new areas of sky we’ve revealed by visually breaking open the wall are well blended.
Tomorrow I will change the white egret to a Blue Heron and finish the foliage on the right side. His sneakers need to be painted, too. Our goal is to finish the mural by Monday.