Ready for paint

Phew. Done with the drawing. The rest will be cake. Just waiting for the paint to arrive.

Looking Back

2003-2004 tile mural - second floor

ceramic exterior mural (1 of 4)

Detail looking down to the first floor

2nd grade bas relief sculpture (1 of 3) based on Elizabeth Murray's work

1st grade collaborative weaving based on Sheila Hicks

3rd grade bas relief sculpture (recycled plastic) based on Tony Cragg

1st grade mural panels (3 of 9) based on Henri Matisse paper cut-outs

4th grade set design based on Jacob Lawrence

set in action

I like to look back at past projects for inspiration and encouragement. Working big is a passion of mine, especially when I can involve others in the process. My teaching is naturally collaborative, as I work hand-in-hand with my colleague Lynn Westergren, and now our new arts coordinator, Brooke Jones. Over the past ten years we have accomplished so much.

Working Big -- Westminster Mural

the "before" picture

 I took this picture on Monday before the daunting task of priming. I forgot how masonite loves to suck up the paint. I dragged my husband Craig in on Tuesday to finish off the job.

Me, sketching the rainbow

Hand of God

God with Bear and Elephant

Now that the priming is finished, the drawing has begun. I gridded two of the panels today, and almost finished drawing on both of them. The grid definitely helps, but drawing this big is still a challenge. More drawing tomorrow....

Bringing it all together--Westminster Mural Design

I started pulling out the cut-out drawings this morning and powered through the design. The first panel was the hardest because it represents the separation of light and dark, the sun and moon, and the earth and it's physical attributes. No animals or life yet. So I cut apart elements from several drawings (see image of the elements prior to the drawing process). One particularly beautiful image is God's hand holding the sun, at the bottom of the drawing. Another is the sun at the top; it was originally a flower (see picture), but I didn't have an interesting sun drawing, so I made the flower become the sun. This panel will also have flowers, which I will trace directly on to the mural instead to including them as tiny elements in the design. The second and third panels were easier, as they are made almost entirely of the children's drawings; I just created the composition. I decided to put only fish and birds on the second, and then land animals (and people and butterflies--they will also be drawn on later), and God in the middle. So happy some brave child chose to depict God. Love the interpretation. The drawings are now gridded, so that I can draw them, to scale, on the gridded murals panels. Each square in the design will be equal to a 2 foot square.

Westminster Presbyterian Children's Mural

I started a mural project this spring at my church, Westminster Presbyterian, in Alexandria, VA. They were interested in sprucing up the "creation station" hallway,  where the children have Sunday school classes. The mural will be in three separate 8 x 8 foot sections. Pastor Casey Fitzgerald chose this poem as jumping off point for the imagery:

THE CREATION
by: James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)

ND God stepped out on space,
And He looked around and said,
"I'm lonely --
I'll make me a world."

 

And far as the eye of God could see
Darkness covered everything,
Blacker than a hundred midnights
Down in a cypress swamp.

 

Then God smiled,
And the light broke,
And the darkness rolled up on one side,
And the light stood shining on the other,
And God said, "That's good!"

 

Then God reached out and took the light in His hands,
And God rolled the light around in His hands
Until He made the sun;
And He set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars.
Then down between
The darkness and the light
He hurled the world;
And God said, "That's good!"

 

Then God himself stepped down --
And the sun was on His right hand,
And the moon was on His left;
The stars were clustered about His head,
And the earth was under His feet.
And God walked, and where He trod
His footsteps hollowed the valleys out
And bulged the mountains up.

 

Then He stopped and looked and saw
That the earth was hot and barren.
So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas;
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed;
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled;
And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.

 

Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,
The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;
And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.

 

Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand
Over the sea and over the land,
And He said, "Bring forth! Bring forth!"
And quicker than God could drop His hand.
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds
Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said, "That's good!"

 

Then God walked around,
And God looked around
On all that He had made.
He looked at His sun,
And He looked at His moon,
And He looked at His little stars;
He looked on His world
With all its living things,
And God said, "I'm lonely still."

 

Then God sat down
On the side of a hill where He could think;
By a deep, wide river He sat down;
With His head in His hands,
God thought and thought,
Till He thought, "I'll make me a man!"

 

Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled Him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand;
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till He shaped it in His own image;

 

Then into it He blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen. Amen.

"The Creation" is reprinted from The Book of American Negro Poetry. Ed. James Weldon Johnson. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1922.


We read this poem to the children in two sections, and asked them to imagine what they heard the poet describing in the poem. The children used simple shapes (circles, squares, triangles and rectangles) to level out the abilities of the multi-age group and lend continuity to the drawings. I cut out the drawings in order to group them collaboratively, creating a cohesive image. The design will loosely illustrate the poem, and rely heavily on the children's ideas and imagination.

I am loving how the birds, bears and bugs, etc, are fitting together. It's amazing how kids can picture things so perfectly, and just with simple shapes. Excited to see how it will look once I transfer the design to the wall...  

Market Basket

The last few pillows for the Black Point Market in Niantic, CT. All hand-printed with hand-carved stamps.

Summer Pillows