Redwoods Mural

A few months back I was able to finally start on another Silverado Middle School mural -- Hard to believe the last one was six years ago.

I was contacted about it last year, but after I said I'd like to do it somehow it took a year for the folks at the school to get back to me. I'd hoped to get it done before Christmas, but as it was I didn't get started until March.

This is what the wall looked like:

The request was for a mural showing 1) a redwood forest, 2) snow covered mountains, and 3) a creek. Ok. I cobbled together some old photos I'd taken in the Yosemite and in Sequoia National Park. I didn't have a suitable snow covered mountain, but I did find one in an ad in the AAA magazine. Looked like it might work.

the prototype mural plan

First I cleaned off the wall. It had been recently painted, but already had a few glops of stuff on it.

At about this point I realized that the wall around the corner to the right was quite blank and the mural might be extended around the corner. Interesting idea. I asked the principal if this would be ok. Sure, he said. I re-cobbled the plan:

The wall around the corner is much taller than the original wall, which is under a canopy. This gave me an excuse to show redwood trees being not just wide but also tall.

Here are a few work photos.

Creek being painted.

These folk are coming down the path on the streetside mural.

Here's the finished version of the original mural wall.

This shows how the mural wraps around the corner.
(It was about 3/4 finished at the time.)

Nearing the end, I spent a day designing and lettering a sign
showing a quote from a student's father which the
administration felt was appropriate to put on the mural.

This is the part of the wall around the corner, actually the street side of the building.