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Blog
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Hallowell Mural 2019
A comp sketch from a month or more ago–the design has evolved since. This year and a half since I started working on the big Hallowell Mural Project, I have learned much about our town on the river, many fascinating bits and pieces of our history, parts of the various stories that have made our community. I have drawn dozens upon dozens of scenes and people, ships, granite carvers, mill workers, and still drawing. Bigs scenes and little.
I’ve been off the public mural radar for several weeks. Had to finish a few jobs—to keep the bills paid—and a couple of personal things knocked me back bit.
And in the meantime, on my sketch pad I have been weaving all the disparate bits of Hallowell together. We didn’t just show up here in this 21st century on the river. Our town is the result of these centuries of journey, step by step by step to get us here as a kind, talented and welcoming community.
This is the story I am building into the mural—what got us here. I am a bit behind where I had hoped but it is only in the interest of having this be the best possible mural I can create.
I am starting this mural daily blog on my website to keep you all apprised of progress. The next 2 months will be the fascinating time as the 800 square feet of wall come together. Cheers.
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Firehouse Studio
Exciting day, we started building the mural studio.
Yesterday, finally, Jen and I moved all the fascinating stuff in my new, temporary, Firehouse Mural Studio. The City of Hallowell has allowed me to work in the large second floor room in the old Firehouse. This gives me an 11 x 30+ foot wall to work on large sections of the mural at once. This is going to be wonderful—much bigger than the 10 x 10 foot largest space in my regular studio.
That wall on the second floor was lined with many glass display cases of fascinating old firehouse paraphernalia—and a lot of it heavy. In days of old they built things well. So, with permission from local historians and City powers that be, Jen and I carefully moved everything well away from the “mural” wall. It was a bit of work. But now everything is tucked safely away—ensuring that no Firehouses shall be harmed in the production of this mural.
After moving all the Firehouse stuff, we weren’t tired or anything…nope. Last night we took a trip to the lumber yard and bought all the supplies for the temporary “mural easel”. Basically, plywood, 12 foot 2 x 4’s, screws and lots of plastic and canvas drop cloths. Today Jen and I will be over at the Firehouse building an 11 x 24 foot temporary plywood wall/easel. This will be free standing—with padded feet to protect the nice floor—and go against the large wall space we cleared yesterday.
Then I will be able to mount my mural canvas on this temporary plywood wall/easel and begin the next months of work on large areas of the Hallowell Mural.
It is an exciting day seeing the Hallowell Mural Project get to this phase—huge new mural easels are very enticing things.
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Carnival Mural, Final
Jack and I finished the Carnival Mural, 14 x 28 ft. Here is the final full mural and some details. Enjoy. -
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Carnival mural, final
Jack and I finished the Carnival Mural, 14 x 28 ft. Here is the final full mural and some details. Enjoy.
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Carny Mural – another update
Yesterday, we scarfed on a second piece of canvas to lay in the top 4 feet of the sky…a 14 x 28 foot arched mural. And I scrubbed in the first of the hot air balloon stuff going partly on the lower canvas part above. Painted basket on lower canvas, charcoal scribble on the bottom edge of the upper canvas….figures just scribbled in so far.
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Carny Mural-update
Jack and I have been on a serious push the last couple of weeks to get the Carnival Mural for Washington D.C. finished–due to hang on March 2. Here are some updates of progress.
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Hallowell Mural Project
[thermometer] A 750 square foot mural for downtown Hallowell. Fundraising is going well for the project…about halfway to our goal to get this mural done. Here is a link to our Indiegogo Mural Campaign–just one source of funding: Hallowell Mural Project–You can contribute here.
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James Matthews, enslaved man finds refuge in Hallowell.
—a color study for one figure in the Hallowell Mural. acrylic on panel, 24 x 18—
In the ongoing Hallowell Mural research, Sam Webber, our grand historian, introduced me to the story of James Matthews—a man from South Carolina, born into slavery in 1808, who eventually escaped, making his way north to finally find refuge in Hallowell.
In 1838, in the Advocate for Freedom – a Hallowell-based abolitionist publication, Matthews told of his days of enslavement, in an account entitled Recollections of Slavery by a Runaway Slave, a story that spread nationally and became important to the abolitionist movement. You can read more here:
Hallowell has been a haven or sanctuary for many over the years and I felt the chapter of James Matthew’s life was important to include in the story of our town.
This is an early color study as I develop the idea of how he will be woven into the tapestry of the mural, how best to represent him, his physical type, pose and setting. Here I envision him first making his way to Hallowell through the northern forest.
Matthews had a troubled life, even after his escape from slavery. However, when he died in June of 1888, people of Hallowell raised funds so he could be buried in the main cemetery. You can see his grave there today.
You can support the mural project here:
https://igg.me/at/hallowell-mural
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Celebrity Mural
Work continues on, what, for now, we are calling the Celebrity Mural, because if includes the likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Ellen Degeneris, Marilyn Monroe..a cast of over 30 people of note.
This is acrylic on canvas, about 8 x 34 feet. Oh did I mention, Lincoln, Maya Angelou, Samuel L Jackson, Princess Diana…the list goes on.This is a collaborative mural project with artist John Gable.
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drawing studies | Hallowell Mural
Currently working on studies and design for another mural. This will be a large almost 1000 square foot mural for downtown Hallowell, telling the story of this enchanting town where we live.
Here are a just a handful of the hundreds of drawings I have been doing in developing this mural. More to come. And watch for the IndieGogo campaign that will help fund the mural. -
Carnival Mural
New 2 Mural Project with John Gable.
Currently Jack Gable and I are collaborating on a 2 mural project for a venue out of Maine. Here are some detail images of the work-in-progress.
Jack and I are splitting the work, literally trading brushes back and forth as needed. After years of working solo, working side by side with another talented artist is just too much fun.I will post more images as this mural develops and as we really dig into the second mural.
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Stories from the Mezzanine
Commission for Lithgow Library
This is a new painting commissioned by the Friends of Lithgow Library to commemorate the new library.
Stories from the Mezzanine
The Friends of Lithgow Library asked me to create a painting commemorating and celebrating the old and new Lithgow Library. Since many of my public commissions, such as the murals Kennebec in the Capital Judicial Center and City of Ships in Bath, fold together time periods, this was right up my artistic alley.Painting the beautiful architecture, stone, stained glass and lovely wood was a must. This gave the lush stage set for the characters of Stories from the Mezzanine.
The founder of the library from the 1890’s, Llewellyn Lithgow was the first to come to life in the painting. He was a contemporary of Henry Longfellow so I thought it might be interesting if they were having a chat. The library’s current director Betsy Pohl, joined their conversation as the painting’s composition developed. I like this joining of times, our current days with the library days of the 1890’s, bookends to the century and more between.
I see the painting as a tribute to Maine authors as well, so in addition to Longfellow, the poet Edna St Vincent Millay and novelist Stephen King both make appearances.
On the shelves of the library are housed wonderful stories, vibrant adventures and vast knowledge. When we crack open a book the stories within and the characters living there become real around us. These characters live in our minds and hearts and can be powerful influences on us in our daily lives. The people in our favorite books may live with us for years, long after we have closed the pages of the stories they inhabit. They have been dormant, quietly waiting for us to read again. The painting tells this story.
So I opened several of my favorite books and let characters live amongst the ‘real’ people in the painting; Huck Finn created by Mark Twain, young Pip from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and, of course, Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
Two other people in the painting are library patrons, checking out books. What is a library without people who want to read?
Finally, the shelves are filled with real books. I included some of my favorites and others with covers I liked. Ultimately, the books on the shelves were placed carefully to fill the painting’s compositional needs of color, value and pattern.
This painting is a celebration of written words and the beautiful historic building that keeps them safe for us.
Enjoy.
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Greeting Card Shop
My wife Jen Greta Cart has started an online greeting card shop with her very popular paintings at JenGretaCart.com. Her work is beautiful, a combination of real and fantasy, magic and quietly normal all adding up to a lovely charm.
She has been painting for many years and has quite a following of patrons. And now her cards can be found in many brick and mortar card shops around Maine as well.
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Hallowell History Mural
The history mural has begun!
I am designing and painting a new history mural for my home town of Hallowell, Maine. This is going to be 38 x 30 feet on an exterior wall at the north entrance to town. Chris Vallee has donated the north wall of his real estate building on 89 Water St.
The mural will tell the history of Hallowell, from the founding in the mid 1700’s onward. Our town built ships, cut timber, carved granite from our hills for great buildings and monuments of the young nation and had a thriving mill industry, making everything from sandpaper to shoes—all this I will paint into our mural. Important early settlers, native tribes of pre-western history, key townspeople, stone carvers—all will find a place in the mural.
The wall will be a multifaccetted scene of the many years interwoven into one design.
Focus on the Arts
Hallowell is building a future in the Arts, so I will push the paint into the vision for our future as a mid Maine arts center.
We will starting a crowd funding campaign to help fund the mural. This will pay materials and supplies—and pay me for the many months of work involved. I will be researching the key points of history, working with Sam Webber and other local historians. I have begun the early stage of design and will be posting images as the project develops.
Drop me a note if you have things to include—or if you would like to contribute to the project. Here are some of my other recent murals: Kennebec at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta, Maine; City of Ships in Bath, Maine; and Entertainers, Beyond the Sea, a mural for a private residence in Hallowell,
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feet studies
Feet, feet and more feet. Drawing this lower extremity is fun. Feet can be very expressive. We are used to hand gestures in paintings but feet can be story tellers too.
I am working on a new dance painting where both, feet and hands, are very important. When you are eager to start a new painting it is so tempting to just jump in as the idea rushes you—like a vacation romance. While this can yield some clever brushwork—well, and some true disasters as well—more often it is better to rehearse the parts, to dig in and find better and better ways to paint that initial flush of an idea.
I always figure if I have a good painting idea it is worth putting the work into the prep and refinement. Most good ideas reward you for the efforts.
We always envision artists working in a frenzy of inspiration—and I guess we do, sometimes—but to achieve that spontaneous, seemingly effortless beauty of brushwork on the canvas it is necessary to rehearse, study, find the right lines, colors and forms—before you just start scrubbing around on the canvas.
(feet studies, 8×8 inches)
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Street Art Show
Street Art Show, 7.5 x 13 inches, pencil on watercolor paper
This morning I was digging through my flat files to find an older watercolor I did (Autumn Cemetery)—couldn’t remember if I had sold it or still had it tucked away somewhere. Anyway, while digging I stumbled over this drawing I had done at a street art show years ago.
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just sketching
Some evenings it is good just to sit and sketch or doodle. I like to just noodle around with a pencil and without trying to plan a new painting. If we get too locked tight, always producing, producing, producing, it is easy to forget to relax and just play.
Drawing is just plain fun so drawing without a plan is a good way to relax. It loosens the hand and mind. Sometimes I find things I want to pursue further, but mostly this is just a way to relax.
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reviewing anatomy
While I am not a strict anatomist—I am perfectly happy to distort the human form if it fits my painting idea—I do, however, love the study of the human form. Changing the human form to fit my paintings is important. Nevertheless, it is very useful to go back and draw some muscles and bones. I like the review; I like the peaceful study of the body; and it is helpful in my paintings, even those paintings where I freely twist and shape.
I study on my own. There weren’t really anatomy classes in either of the art colleges I attended, back in the day.
This is just a quick sketch refresher of the front and back muscle groups—just to keep them in mind properly. These are small sketches, roughly 7 x 8 inches.
