Saturday, July 23, 2011

24th of July parade mural





My thanks to the Parker 1st ward and a special thanks to the Frisby family for inviting me to do this mural. It was a good thing for me. It turned out awesome as you can see. Enjoy everyone!

24th of July Parade Float

Forgive me for not posting very often. Difficulties in life have been extreme...but here is some good news that is positive!

Today was the 24th of July Parade. I had the privileged of  working on a float this year! It was really fun and it made first place too!!! The part I worked on was a replica 10"x7" section of the Vietnam Wall Memorial that was built. It rotated around with a flag on the other side. On the other end was the Ellis Island base with the Statue of Liberty atop it. Between the two were costumed immigrants waving to the crowd. I dont' have photos unfortunately, but when I get some I will post them. The concept was to have soldiers painted on the wall from WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and The Iraq War. There were 70 names roughly of soldiers from Fremont County that had given their lives in those 4 wars that were placed on the bottom where I made the soldiers fade down into black.

We looked at a painting from Lee Teter for inspiration. In that painting there is a man standing in front of the Vietnam memorial with soldiers looking back through it at him. It is a very touching image. For our project we placed the names of all the soldiers from Fremont County who had given their lives in those 4 wars. I painted the 4 soldiers standing there. No one was there to stand on the float like in Lee Teters painting, but we figured with it rotating, it would make someone sick. Anyway, I painted them in basic black and white kind of like they were fading in. Then I painted the Irag War soldier with his face and hands in color almost as a symbol that the war is still alive and going. Not sure if that was what anyone else thought, but who knows.

All in all, I enjoyed painting it. I was nervous because I was using acrylic and I haven't painted with acrylic in a while. I used a simple dry-brushing technique and it really pulled together when you stood back from it. Everyone loved it. I didn't make it to the parade, but I heard that it got a real applause. :) which makes me happy. They want to work out a way to donate it to the Veterans hall there in Fremont county. But otherwise, there is a possibility it will be in another parade this year.....updates on that later.

Again, sorry I didn't have a photo. I'll get one soon. The extreme life changes have taken their toll on heart and mind. Happy 24th of July Pioneers! May we all remember our forefathers, our kindred who fought for us, and the value of our freedoms!