August 29th, our 23rd Painting Session

Vero Beach Mural Project Sponsored by the Vero Beach Art Club.  Created by Artist Volunteers Judy Burgarella, Dawn Mill and Christine Thomas.  Stretched canvas panels, 36' long by 8' high, each panel 8' x 6'.  Created in and for the Community Center.  Visitors welcome to watch the artists paint between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays.
   It looks like today we all got a lot done, however appearances can be misleading.  What really happened is that we slopped a lot of paint really fast on the remainder of the white canvas.  Then we stepped back and took a look ... and WALLAH!   What a difference, and what a welcome relief to see one panel segueing onto another, albeit somewhat rough in spots.  However, we could tell that we were on to something, and we were proud of what we saw so far.

  At about 9:30 Dawn's phone rang, and it was Christine saying she had gotten broadsided when leaving her development.  After she settled the necessary phone calls and paperwork of the accident at home, she hobbled in to paint with us ... and tomorrow is her birthday too.  We gave her lots of sympathy, took her to lunch, toasted her birthday along with Dawn's pending trip to Alaska, and got back to the canvases.  Christine had aches and pains, but she's a real trouper and pushed on.

Today Sue Dinenno stopped by with Pheobe, her cute little white fluffy dog, and Bob Barbour, photographer/videographer who will be doing a 7-minute video about the mural for use on U-Tube and TV.  His set-up is so complicated that it took him quite a while to get it all ready, but the end result was spon-on professional.  He will join us for several weeks until he gets enough footage to get started.

Below is Panel 1, my panel, which I did little on except start painting the Barrier Island shrub middle-value color, worked on the beach of the Indian River Lagoon, and put grapefruits in the boxcar.  Also worked on the rails and grass.



Panel #1 by Judy Burgarella



 


Panel #2 by Judy Burgarella


Next is Panel #2 below is also my work.  I was so tired of seeing a white canvas that I grabbed my 2-1/2" brush, slathered it up real good with diluted green paint, and in a painting frienzy slapped it all over the canvas, leaving openings for the sandy pathways.  I was having so much fun that Dawn decided to do the same, and so her and Christine proceeded to cover the remainder of their ocean on Panel #6.  We all stepped back and felt very satisfied with our progress for he day.

Panel #2 by Judy Burgarella

 Below is Panel #3, which is basically completed.  Beautiful job by Dawn Mill, and we're glad to show off at least one completed panel.

 


Panel #3 by Dawn Mill

 
Panel #4 by Christine is just getting better and better.  She is really putting personality onto those critters, although she only had a little while to actually paint.




Panel #4 by Christine Thomas

 Panel #5 below is starting to "feel" like Vero's beachside area.  The Driftwood is in clear view now, and you can almost smell the food from Waldo's wafting out over the beachsand!



Panel #5 by Dawn Mill

 Below is Panel #6, which Dawn and Christine had been working on together today to get rid of the remainder of the white canvas. 

 

Panel #6 upper portion by Dawn Mill, lower portion by Christine Thomas


Now all six canvas panels are covered with paint, and it feels like a giant step to us.  It sure was great seeing it all running together (below), and now we feel confident that this project will be completed at some time, and that it will be beautiful and interesting.



 Because of regularly scheduled events at the Community Center, we were packed up and gone by 4:45.  For the next few painting sessions it will be just Christine and myself ... maybe we can catch up to that whippersnapper by the time she gets back ... not.

Check us out again, and see how far we get.  At first Dawn said to paint in a simpler mural-style of painting, but we all are ending up painting like we do at our easels, which is a slower process.  We hope to finish by November, but who knows?  Stay tuned.

Judy Burgarella
Blogger for the Vero Beach Mural Project