
* Read reviews of the Easthampton Mural (there are some doozies)
* Flickr set of painting day with volunteer crew
* Springfield Republican interview
* Daily Hampshire Gazette interview
SKETCH (late ’07): Here’s my initial sketch. Sharpie pens over a bad copy of the provided photo because my printer was running out of ink. I forget why I decided against the lowercase “e” (possibly confusion with some commercial brand I’m forgetting right now). In the long run I’m glad I did though, because something so simple to draw on a piece of paper would have been INCREDIBLY hard to pull off in real life with pencils and string and paint (a perfectly round 2-story tall lowercase e? Yikes.)
Early color concept.
PROPOSAL (late ’07): This is my proposal mockup image, bodged together in Photoshop over a photo provided by ECA (the photo proved to show a distorted perspective, so there were certain things that needed changing when paint finally started hitting the wall). My proposal was about as no-bullshit as the design itself. I promised no silly historical collages, no sunsets over lakes. I promised quick completion due to the design’s simplicity (turned out true). I promised easy upkeep (4 colors+mostly flat areas of color = anyone can touch it up). Anyway, they went for it. This was the image that ended up in local papers, causing a great mini-uproar on local forums.
COLOR TEST (May 27th, 2008): Workin’ it out on a hunk of sheetrock. Lots of trips to Florence Paint to buy them lil’ sample jars. Getting that tan/beige color turned out to be a big pain in my butt. Benjy Moore, ya’all!
SKETCH DAYS (May 29th & 30th): Sketching took hours. Hours and lots of rudimentary math. Lots of little tricks and shortcuts I was suddenly recalling from my high school freshman drafting class, back when they still taught kids on Vemco locking ruler arms. Lots of string. Lots of mistakes. I ground down 1.5 pencils and ruined 8 or 9 old Sharpies. Worked a day and a half and still didn’t get to some of the tippity-top of the design, but on the upside we did start painting the low stuff. As you can see, the wall is so large, it even makes a Ford Festiva look small. Crazy!
PAINTING DAY (June 1): Gosh dang I’m tired. Awesome crew of friends – Matt Dube, Barry Daggett, Sturgis Cunningham, Sarah S., Nate Duval, Mister Reusch, Kendra McDade, and Katherine T. I can’t believe we got so much done in one day. I say again: Gosh Dang. Super-special thanks to Casey & Dave at Manchester Rental for all of their scaffolding hauling and help. Way more photos on Flickr .
THE UNVEILING: A surprising amount of people showed up. Cool! Ice cream and cake and the mayor! Cool! Check out that plaque! A few more photos on the ECA blog.
UPDATE: August, 2011: I drove by the mural a week or so ago, and I gotta say, it still looks brand-frickin’ new! I had mixed feelings back in ’08 because the brick wall was in sort of terrible shape, but dang. I hereby recommend and enthusiastically endorse Benjamin Moore paint! For All Your Painting Needs!