Church mural.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post
This past week I spent four rather intense days working on a mural for a Methodist church in Fargo. I've gone to Nicaragua on missions trips with a number of people from this church, and since I had painted a mural for the church in Nicaragua, the missions group at the Methodist church in Fargo wanted me to paint their mural.
I was honored to do so. (Even though I admit that painting murals is not a favorite thing for me.)
Painting a mural is interesting in that the reactions to people walking by while it is being painted are always the same. From my experience, here are a few general reactions:
- "I can't even draw stick people."
- Stand in silence, watching for a long time.
- "It's looking good!"
- "What kind of paint are you using?"
- "Wow. That actually looks good."
- "Are you an artist?"
That would just be rude.
So I usually say that I went to school for art, since I don't know that I can say with all honesty that I make my living off of art (if that were their question). That seems to be an acceptable answer.
The 'wow, that actually looks good' line is generally from people who know I draw and paint, but apparently never believed I could do it well. That's mildly annoying, since it would be like going to the doctor and being surprised that he could actually do any doctoring.
Regarding this particular mural...let's just say there's a short list of about ten things that really bother me that I would like to change or do-over, and a much longer list of about 30 things that need tweaking. However, with the time crunch I was under, as well as the fact that I was physically tired (murals are work: paint buckets up and down ladders, mixing, cleaning, stepping back, move the ladder...) I had to stop.
I'm not going to tell you those 10. If you're an artist out there, I'm sure you can come up with them plus more. If you're not and don't see anything wrong with it, then I am certainly not going to fill you in on my mistakes.
The question I get, now that I'm finished, is: Do you like it?
My answer, in all honesty, is: No.
Like I said, murals are not my favorite thing. I dread starting them, trying to get words lined up on the wall, taping paper letter and rubbing powdered graphite onto the paper to transfer the image. I just dread starting them, and then, when I get all done, I know that if I knew at the start how much work it would be by the time I finished, I'd never have made it.
Perhaps I'm lazy.
You have to understand that when you've been nose-to-wall for four days, with a large painting on the peripheral vision at all times, muscles straining, often in solitude in the late evening and fielding the same questions over and over during the work hours...it all becomes associated with the final painting and colors the view just a bit. I don't see the mural. I see the mural plus mistakes plus long hours plus a sore neck plus plus plus.
But, for those of you curious as to what it looked like, there you go. The people at the church seemed to like it well enough, and that's the thing. My main concern is that this not be about the person painting it, but the message and reason it was commissioned.
Labels: art
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 6/02/2007 10:14:00 AM
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1 Comments:
Trust me, it's fine!!! Here's what I think: No artist who is also a photographer is ever really happy with our efforts at realistic representational art - we can do sketches and abstracts and moods and that sort of thing and be happy with it, but once we try to go too 'real', it isn't as real as out photographs and it bugs us and bugs us and bugs us - even while others wander by raving and gushing - which I am sure they were and will be. So put it to rest and be glad for the gift you could give people who will enjoy it and be inspired by it!!
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