January 23rd, our 56th 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 I was all by my lonesome working on the mural.  It sure was quiet in there (after all the exercize people left and the jazzy music stopped).  Missed my "buds," but Dawn was away and Christine is knee-deep in her move.  Got there early, but had to leave at 3:30 for a meeting, but felt as if I accomplished something in spite of the short day.  The Vero Beach Art Club's "Art by the Sea" show at the VB Museum took up a lot of Dawn's and my time last week, so that took priority over the mural.  If you missed that show, you missed a good one.  So exciting to be involved in a really great show like that. 

So using my trusty laptop as a guide, I loaded up some pics I took of Vero Beach's new Mayor, Pilar Turner, and painted her into the crosswalk of the Downtown (Panel #1) canvas.  Pilar's image on the canvas is really small, but you can tell it is her, wearing the same outfit as in the photo.  Pictured below is a close-up of Pilar walking towards and looking at the group gathered in the lower left side of the panel.

Detail of Downtown Panel #1, Mayor Pilar Turner

Pictured below are elements I was also able to work on - the old movie theatre foyer with the pillars, the blocking in of Tea & Chi, the overhang marquee, Theatre Plaza sign and a soon-to-come bench which has been roughly blocked in with vine charcoal.  Lettering is always a bit of a challenge for me, but this is only a mural and it is not meant to be perfect.
NOTE:  After posting this and then proofreading it again online, I realize that the perspective on the vertical "Theatre Plaza" sign is absolutely wrong!  Eugh!  Guess this will be a redo for Friday.  Panels are so big sometimes you just get lost in them, but once they are in the blog it seems that one can see all the mistakes.

Detail of Panel #1 elements worked on

Below is the whole panel.

Panel #1, in progress

Below are Panels #1 and #2 pictured side-by-side, the way they will be mounted in the Florida Room of the Community Center.  There are still finishing touches to be done, plus additions to the sky, in Panel #2, but we think the transition from #1 to #2 is pretty good considering it's going from city to country (western Vero).

Panels #1 & #2 by Judy Burgarella

Well, that's all for now folks.  This Friday Christine will be painting with me -- Yay!  We've got some great things planned for the next session, so stay tuned!

Judy Burgarella
Blogger for the Vero Beach Mural Project