Back to the Basics

If you have ever navigated through the downtown streets of Richmond, VA, there is no way you could miss the eye-catching murals. Street art has always been a fascination of mine, simply based off their magnitude and the fact that these pieces become focal points that add character to a city.

Even though I marvel at large scale paintings, it never crossed my mind, until three years ago, that I could be the painter of a mural, or a few. Why the heck not?! After this epiphany, I started my research the next day. I surfed the internet for about a week and could not find the information that I was seeking, so I told myself that when the time was right, it would come to me.

In RVA, there is a community arts center known as The Visual Arts Center of Richmond or Visarts. Being that they offer a wide range of classes to adult and children artists that help develop and advance skill sets, from time to time I would check out their class archives. Every now and then, a class would catch my interest, but it was not until January 2017 that I saw a class I could not let pass me by. There it was, listed right before my eyes: Mural Painting — NEW! Adult Weekend Workshop | May 5th & 6th. Finally, a door that I had been waiting to open had been presented to me and I was ecstatic. So as a belated Christmas gift from my mother, I registered for the workshop and my first art class since elementary was on the horizon.

Over the next few months, I counted down the days and could not wait to attend the class. The morning of May 5th, I arrived at Visarts ready as ever, so ready I even got there before the instructor, Nils Westergard, and the other students. Once the other four students arrived, everyone introduced themselves, their choice of medium, and the class began. Nils escorted us to the back alley of the Visarts Center to prep and analyze how much area each artist would have for their mural. With five of us, we each had a section of wall about 10 feet wide at the height of about 8 feet. After coming to this calculation, we headed back to the classroom. Once inside, Nils started with his backstory, showed us some of his works, then got down to the good stuff. Walking us through the steps from prepping the wall to laying the paint, he provided a fair number of tips he felt would help us work smarter in a short time span, since painters usually have no more than a few days to complete their murals.

After his in-class instruction, we headed outside and got down to business. The first day of the workshop, we painted from around noon to 4pm. The second day, we painted from 1pm to 4pm. Here is my progress after the two-day weekend workshop.

On day one, I completed the Great Dane and the lower half of the female figure. On day two, I worked on the landscape and upper portion of the figure.

While this mural was not permanent, over the course of the following month, I did go back in short intervals to complete it in order to add it to my portfolio. It rained a lot during the month of May, so these days were not consecutive.

On day three, I continued to work on the landscape by adding more detail to the skyline and beach.

On day four, I completed the landscape and began defining the details of the figure. On day five, I completed the figure's legs, torso, bathing suit, and chest, but I was not able to take a picture of my progress because the battery life on my cell phone was too low. Then the next time I came back to the mural, I forgot to take a picture before I started again. So below is day six, where I completed the arm, hand, and the base shape for the hair and head.

At this point, I was not really digging the skin tone of the figure, but I was going to roll with it since all I had to do was paint her face. A few days later, I received an email from the director of Visarts informing the class that our murals would soon be painted over in preparation for an another class. So respectfully, I responded, asking what day was the paint over and would I be able to complete the face beforehand. The entire day I waited for a reply and once I did not receive one I had a funny feeling that something was not right. That same night, I asked my sister to drive me over to the mural just to make sure that it was still up. Needless to say, all the murals were still there, but mine was not as I left it.

The next morning I got up early and arrived at Visarts about two hours before they opened. They say the early bird catches the worm, so that morning I caught my worm because I was determined to have this piece in my portfolio. Below is how the mural looked the night before and the beginning of day seven.

Since I had already been considering a different color scheme for her skin, I was not upset at the fact that a portion of my work had been covered, but I did not appreciate the failure to communicate that the exposed nipple beside a breast cancer awareness ribbon was too much. It would have been no problem to change the design, but anyways later that morning the director and I spoke, came to an understanding, and I was able to continue working. Being that I had to make some extra adjustments, I did not quite get as much time on the face detail as I had anticipated. So not to hold their preparation for the next class up toooo long, I found a stopping point. Even though I absolutely hated the face, I had a mini photo shoot with my work. Plus by that time, the sun was at its peak and my shoulders were killing me.

My sister tried so hard to convince me that the face looked good, but I knew it was nowhere near finished. Once we got home, I got 'er done in good old Microsoft Paint.

Titled "Maldives Glow"

Overall, my first art class since elementary school was a pretty awesome experience. I love to learn and I appreciated the laid back atmosphere and vibe of The Visual Arts Center. The instructor, Nils Westergard, was insightful with a sense of humor, which made the class even more enjoyable, and I got the opportunity to cross paths and collaborate with four incredibly talented artists: Rebecca, Tamara, Safiya, and Andrew.

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