Over the past year I’ve been working on a public mural for the town of Clyde, NY. Most of the year was taken up by a prolonged planning process, with painting beginning just this past August. It’s a releif to have the mural finished and in place – done! Here’s a map to the location so you can see it for yourself.
The owner of the building requested a trompe l’oeil mural featuring a nineteenth century hardware store, to represent the business that has existed there since the late 1800’s.
Mr. & Mrs. Roberts purchased the hardware store over twenty years ago. It came with a pretty good selection of antique and vintage items, a collection that the Roberts added to over the years in the hopes of someday opening a museum. When Mr. Roberts passed away, his collection was gradually sold off. What was left proved to be a treasure trove of photo reference, a fascinating look into the past that would become part of the mural.
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Arthur and I, after finishing up on the last day. Arthur Barnes assisted me on site by painting the brickwork to match the wal. All full color work was done on site by me.
Mr. Roberts is memorialized in the painting, taking the place of a 19th century store clerk. I think that would have made him happy!
The most challenging element of this painting was the window frame, one of the areas that I thought would be the simplest to accomplish. It’s just a bunch of vertical lines, right? But those narrow bands of color are solely responsible for creating the depth of the window. In the end, pairing a bright warm edge with a cool purple interior and highlighting the sides provided enough contrast.
This pristine, never-used red scooter gives a good dose of nostalgia as well as a shot of brilliant color. A wooden pulley, fiesta ware, wrenches and snaffle bits are a nice cross section of what you might have purchased at Clyde Hardware in 1858, or 1962…. and it’s not too different from what you’ll find there today. Housewares, tools, paint… not much has changed!
This Tuesday I added the finishing touches. Two trompe goldfinches, two trompe Red Admirals, and a few cast shadows on the wall. Overall, the mural is effective. My best moment was standing across the road to evaluate the shadow of the flying goldfinch, and experiencing the effect that the bird was floating away from the wall – success!
This mural is just one of a series of murals being installed in Clyde this summer, done by various artists. Clyde, NY is a canal town experiencing the same economic cycle as so many others in NY. Huge prosperity followed by a slow decline with passionate bursts of rejuvenation. As I am fond of saying, public art is one of the very best ways to show the world that a community is thriving and loving their town no matter what the economy is doing. As a muralist, I love being part of these passionate bursts that are occurring in so many places along the canal. There is a lot of energy and enthusiasm. The murals of Clyde will be part of the Muralmania trail as well, a project that is turning the Erie Canal into the longest mural trail in the world!
Painting the shadow cast by a butterfly.