The Rosa Valdez Project: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Mural Part 2

Where to start? One Saturday afternoon I went to take measurements and see what space I had to work with. The room to be transformed into the library has these large windows and there are also doors on the opposite wall. There was also an electrical conduit running along the bottom of the wall. Right way the electrical fixtures and windows posed quite a challenge in having sufficient surface space to paint.

Part of being an artist is problem solving. Whether it's figuring out how to draw a hand a certain way, create a certain lighting in a picture, a specific angle or perspective, what technique to use or what medium to work in, there's always a problem to solve. At some point it just occurred to me to make some wooden boxes to be mounted to the wall. Only problem is I'm no carpenter and I'm not a magician either. Fortunately, the organizer for the volunteer effort, Lezlie Gold, is a seriously resourceful person (and possibly magician mixed in there too). Within no time she was able to provide fantastic boxes just as I had envisioned, only better. Two boxes measuring roughly 4x6 feet and the other 3x3 feet, would be the surfaces I would need to create the murals for the library. As these were mobile units I worked on these at home, later delivering them for installation at the center.

The final murals for the entrance I painted on my days off and a few hours here and there in the morning and afternoon on different days.

In the end everything turned out pretty much in line with the original concepts. I think I got pretty darn close to the look of Carle's work and everyone seemed to really enjoy the murals. It was a great experience and I met some super nice people along the way! Was amazing to see all the kids and volunteers work together and be a part of something that many children will enjoy for years to come.

Entrance

Entrance (View from steps)

Steps

Stairs

Hallway

Library Final Set Up

Caterpillar Box

Butterfly Box

Now I wonder where the next place is my art will lead me to?

The Rosa Valdez Project: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Mural Part 1

The thing I like most about my art is that I never know where it will take me. Sometimes I'm taken to a  fantastic realm of knights and dragons, cities filled with super heroes and sometimes off to a galaxy far, far away.

Every now and then my art takes me to a place not so far away. A place with really good people.

Over the last month or so I had the great opportunity to be a part of a volunteer effort (initiated by Girl Scout Junior Troop #564) with the focus of adding a children's  library to the Rosa Valdez Early Childhood Learning Center here in Tampa. For over a hundred years the center has been helping families and children in their community by providing childcare, therapeutic services, behavioral counseling and family support.

The concept for the look of the library was to incorporate murals based on the artwork of Eric Carle's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. What started out as a picture or two to be featured in the library evolved into several larger murals featuring the Caterpillar and the Butterfly from the story!

Entrance Wall Concept

Then the idea was to paint some of the food the Caterpillar eats as you walk up the stairs toward the library.

Stair Wall Concept

Once at the top of the stairs the food would continue down the hallway just before you get to the library.

Hallway Concept

Then, once in the library, the Butterfly would be featured prominently at the end of the room!

Library Wall Concept

For any of you who have followed this blog and my artwork know this is a huge leap stylistically for me. My own style features solid line work pretty heavily, resulting in an almost animated look. It's been a few years since my last mural, so I really took to the challenge of capturing the look of Eric Carle's work and had a blast slinging some paint! The illustrations for his books are done using a collage technique with hand painted paper, cut and layered into the images of bears and bugs and other fun stuff. For these murals there was no collage or cutting paper. As the colors are pretty random I was shooting mostly for an accurate representation of the style rather than an exact translation.

With the concept fleshed out we actually submitted the idea to Eric Carle's people for approval. We got the green light and the only request we had for alterations was to include the fruit and veggies rather than some of the  junk food pictured in the book.

With the official OK, a few quarts of paint and brushes in hand I set out to paint some big Caterpillars and Butterflies!