December 2nd, our 50th Vero Beach Mural Painting Session

 NOTE: The Vero Beach Mural Project is being Sponsored by the Vero Beach Art Club as a gift to the City.  The artist members of the Vero Beach Art Club who are volunteering their time and talents are Judy Burgarella (http://www.burgarellaart.com/)  Dawn Mill and Christine Thomas (www.innerspacesandouterplaces.com).   Examples of artists' work can also be found on www.verobeachartclub.org/) The Mural consists of six stretched canvas panels, 36' long by 8' high, each panel 8' x 6'.  Created in and for the Community Center, in their "Florida Room."  Visitors are welcome to watch the artists paint between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays.

Today Dawn and I painted without Christine, as she had a commission to work on, although she stopped in briefly to talk.  Dawn and I discussed the progress and current strategy, and when Christine stopped in we discussed and adjusted our timeline, strategy, and cutting out some ideas we had hoped to accomplish with the mural due to the Club's limited budget for this project. 

To update everyone on its progress, below is a complete panorama of the mural to date, and further on in this blog will be the panels two-by-two.


All six 6'x8' panels of the Vero Beach Mural Project

Saturday, December 3rd I manned the Artists Guild Gallery early in the morning in order to sell tickets to the Vero Beach Art Club's "Art Trail," a tour of 10 artist's studios.  By 11:00 a.m. I was off with two other gallery buddies to spend a delightful day touring other artists' studios.  One of the stops on the tour was the studio/farm of Sean and Sharon Sexton.  This was the absolute highlight of the whole day, and one that I will always remember.  Our first hint of what was to come was as we pulled up in the driveway several cobalt blue and seafoam green peacocks strutted up to greet us.  Coincidentally, I painted their farm into the mural months ago at the request of Dawn Mill, who provided me with a photo of the barn.  Now after seeing this wonderful work of art that is their home and studio, I am ashamed to say that my brief painting in the upper left corner of Panel #2 certainly does not do it justice.  Sean and Sharon are not only masters with the brush, but masters of carpentry, design, improvisation, and incredible finders of delicious artifacts which they have incorporated into their one-of-a-kind home.  I mentioned to Sean that I had painted their farm into the mural, and so below is the small area where the Sexton Barn is represented.


Sexton Barn, etc.

Below are the panels, two-by-two, in order to better see the detail.



Panels #1 and #2 by Judy Burgarella



Panel #3 by Dawn Mill transitioning to Panel #4 by Christine Thomas



Panel #5 by Dawn Mill and Panel #6 by Christine Thomas

Shown below is Dawn painting from a ladder.  The ladder is essential as we add elements to the upper area, which makes the painting of this mural a little more difficult.  It is getting more beautiful with each painting session, and will make a wonderful attraction for the City. 


Dawn Mill painting in her spoonbills

Below are the five spoonbills Dawn painted in Panels #3 and #4 - a perfect addition to our mural.


Dawn Mill's spoonbills

Most of my day today was working on the transitioning of Panels #1 and #2, and I painted in hibiscus sandwitched among saw palmettos. On the screen it doesn't look like much, but it is equivalent to doing a complete medium-sized painting in a day, minus lugging the canvases out of their hiding place and setting up which takes about an hour and a half out of our 8-hour day.  Next time I'll scumble in some grasses around the panther cub (which incidentally they really are spotted when young) and this section of the canvas will be completely done.

Judy Burgarella's Panel #1 and #2 transition

Be sure to visit back again next week and see what new critters we breathe life into!

Ciou!

Judy Burgarella

Blogger for the Vero Beach Mural Project