St. Francis Mural Project

Here is my last reference photo for the next mural project.  I wanted to create a still life in the style of a 17th century Dutch vanitas painting.  I love the rich colors, dramatic lighting and interesting textures.  It's loaded with symbolism that recalls the epic battle of David and Goliath.  My favorite part is the plaster cast eye of Michelangelo's David.  I can't wait to paint it!

St. Francis Mural Project

 

Variations of mission-style arch for back wall. 

 

 

Choir wall

St. Francis Mural Project

Sincerest apologies to my 13 followers for the recent lapse in blogging activity.  I've been quite busy lately getting through this last semester-helping students get ready for AP Art History exams and AP Studio Art portfolios, matting and framing several student works and setting up Juan Diego's annual Fra Angelico art exhibition.  Thankfully, as of this week I have a lot less going on which means I can start moving forward with the next mural project.  Before I do, here's one more look at the finished altarpiece mural.  I never get sick of looking at it.

                                                                       Choir wall

 

This view is looking down the nave toward the rear of the church.  The concepts for this wall mural are symbols of Old Testament Covenants.  To maintain the order and balance of this beautiful mission style architecture, I wanted to create multiple smaller murals set within mission-style archways to compliment the mission motif.

 This is a sketch I did on site in my sketchbook.  You can see the archways I mentioned earlier, I have several variations of this idea.  I think it works well in the space.

 

Here are some preliminary thumbnails of the archways. 

                                                   Molly's also excited to get back to work. 

St. Francis Mural Project

The mural is finally installed!  The crucifix and corpus are arriving from Germany this week and will be hung on Friday.  I can't wait to see it all together.  More pics to come. 

 

St. Francis Mural Project

 

The finish line is in sight.  I'm hoping to install the mural in the next 2-3 weeks, God willing.  This project has been about a year in the making, and although I am ready to be finished, it is bittersweet to know that it will soon be over.  I won't know what to do with myself.  Believe it or not, I'm excited to get back to painting...only on a much smaller scale.

St. Francis Mural Project

Here's the latest progress on the mural.  I started washing in the color for the figures in the first row this week.  It's exciting to see how far I've come, but also overwhelming to see how much work is left.  The beginning of a painting always goes fast because you're using a big brush and blocking-in large areas...detail work on the other hand requires much more time.

 Here are some reference photos I took for the figures.  I hired a theater tech student at JD to operate the stage lights to create a theatrical mood.  I think they turned out beautifully.

St. Francis Mural Project

Check out the story Intermountain Catholic did on the mural.  I think it goes to print today.