These clients wanted a cover-up for the graffiti on the side of their home, and requested an unusually delightful range of subject ideas: Tulips, daffodils, red poppies, snapdragons. Frogs, dragons, lizards, bugs, mosquitos, bees, beetles, lightning bugs. (No monkeys! No snakes! No birds!)
Following the trail of the dragon, I learned that Sabrina’s father had told her stories of Springdale the Dragon while she was growing up. He ate tulips (red to breathe fire, purple otherwise) and lived in a windmill and was friends with the three Watchfrogs.
This design pays homage to those stories in a playful surprise for the many folks who stroll through this alley to get to the nearby market or walk their kids around the block to the park. Springdale dreams of critters and flowers curling through his smokey breath.
Mural in Charlottesville, VA painted for Tom Tom Fest 2017 on Charlottesville Day School.
Painted for a tiny pizzeria / bakery / cafe tucked into a corner of Bolivia, on the town square in Copacabana.
Charlotte's mom Sarah wanted to give her (extremely adorable) child the mural that she wished she'd had in her room as a little girl. We gathered lots of reference images - Edmund Dulac illustrations, chinoiserie, art deco paintings, illustrated manuscripts, persian miniatures - and made a big list of colors and subject matter. Once I had some sketches to work with, we went back and forth on composition, layout, color ways, and little additions (like tiny deer in the background).
The Shugars’ are connoisseurs of Art Deco, particularly of Art Deco-era automobiles. Their beautiful home is filled with tastefully curated artwork and custom furnishings befitting those themes. Their garage is filled with two sporty cars, one a handsome restoration project and one a speedy and well-outfitted toy. And the back of their garage, the only part of their home visible from the alley.... was beige. Unacceptable.
A car was the obvious solution; an Art Deco car even more so. I worked with them to delve into a vast expanse of visual reference material, choosing an aesthetic and a specific vehicle to work from. The details of the car and the luxury of the driver were key for them, so we reached a design that cut away any other distractions.
Now when you drive down the Floyd-Ellwood alley, perhaps on your way to the Belmont Library or the pocket park hidden deeper in, you'll get a peek of what it looks like to love a car.
Mike is a Doctor of Osteopathy (J. Michael Herr, DO) who recently took over another doctor friend's practice. The practice came complete with his friend's well wishes, a lot of his mail, and his old office.
He redecorated the office with lots of beautiful artwork from Ten Thousand Villages, but the reception area still felt pretty bare. Interested in giving the space more personality, warmth, and life, he asked me to paint a mural that included some of the Ten Thousand Villages artwork.
We decided that Mike's hands themselves would be a strong symbolic centerpiece for the design, since a doctor of osteopathy commonly treats his patients by using his hands to manipulate their musculoskeletal systems. The accent walls bring color and warmth, and give the reception area definition.
Halcyon Vintage is a vintage clothing shop established in 1983 by the lovely Connie Carroll. It's a staple of the Robinson St / Main St shopping area, and (I'm told by experts) a real hidden treasure for those interested in authentic vintage apparel.
For years the alley-side of the shop has been distinguished by a wooden sign by Billy Pickett, a veteran Richmond sign-painter. As with any wooden sign though, this one finally bit the dust earlier this year and Connie decided to replace it directly on the wall itself.
I worked with Connie to design a mural based off of the original design, which is an illustration of the myth of Alcyone. The new version has several subtle symbols representing Connie's two homes of Virginia and Maine: for example, the tree is a portrait of a specific tree on the James near Pony Pasture, and the rocks are based off of the Maine coastline.
Chesapeake Bank commissioned this mural to beautify the construction site for their first Richmond branch. Designed specifically for the site, the mural runs the full length of the block, capping the corners with detailed portraits of iconic local buildings and sights.
To create these portraits, I started by walking around to many local businesses in the Westhampton shopping area (Grove Ave, Libbie Rd, Patterson Ave) and asking people what they thought of as iconic to their community - which people, buildings, fixtures, events, and etc characterize the area? Many people were somewhat bemused - though they'd lived and worked in the area for a long time, they didn't see their surroundings as "iconic". Nevertheless I ended up with a long list of businesses that had been there for 20, 30, and 40 years, repeated imagery like the streetlights, and groups of people like joggers and shoppers. (Many subjects were mentioned over and over by those same bemused people - hopefully these images act as a mirror for them to see the lovely character of their neighborhood!)
More details below about different parts of the installation.