Art Among Armadillos. Rooting Around for Mural Directions

A friend of mine since highschool has commissioned me to paint a 5'x9' mural in the entry of his new home in the Texas foothills.  Usually I paint on canvas and ship the painting out, but this time he said he wanted me to paint on site and install my "aura" as well as my mural.  Of course it sounds like fun.

And, after I finish, Phil will fly down and we'll take off for a trip with my best friend Norma (from San Angelo) to fabulous Big Bend....one of the wonders of the world, in my opinion.  If my friend, (I'll call him "A") wants to go, he can come too. We'll go at the end of October, so the weather should be perfect.

Anyhow, we are right at the beginning of the mural design process, and I thought some of my subscribers and Facebook friends might find it interesting.  In fact, I would love to hear comments and input. Please!

Here goes....................

 

Dear A.
For your 5'x9' entry mural, I have included 4 possible ROUGH designs to give me some direction in where you want to go. You mentioned that it would be fun to have an abstraction instead of the usual cattle grazing in bluebonnets mural...something different to "annoy people".  Love it.

So, instead of my usual initial pencil drawings, I did them in color, since you stated you wanted the design to be abstract, and color is so important in an abstraction.  Abstraction, to me, is  where nothing  recognizable as figurative....the painting is geometric or a loose color field with what we painters call "marks". The language of paint and color...value, color, texture and shape are paramount.  But, to a lot of people , abstraction can mean stylization, a loose sort of rendering or an impressionist approach. I present these beginning color sketches are to help me understand your vision and show me a direction for your mural. You should be able to  see how I  went from figurative to increasingly abstract. You can pick one or pick and choose...your wishes (with my input) are my command.

You sent me some photos of your house in the hill country near Austin, and some of your landscape...Texas natural with some of the flowers, the live oaks and the cedars.  I have been in Austin several times and loved it....it's freewheeling openess and mix of people and cultures, and the land, especially the land.  I was fascinated when a friend took me out to her acreage and we waded down her spring in the shade of the oaks and cedars....the ancient aquifer water dripping  down in trickles and falls from  the limestone ledges , the lush line of growth and creatures along the spring, the heat and the sound and presence of insects and birds.( Ack, the ticks!)

So, what I tried to include in your renderings....all except the last true abstract version.....(1) the spring and pools, (2) the rounded pillowy shapes of the live oaks and the cedars (especially striking to a Pacific Northwest native used to the sharp points of firs and hemlocks), (3) the purple blue of the blue bonnet wild flowers, (4) the stacked limestone ledges, and the (5)  hot blue of the sky and  (6) the glare of the Texas sun. And, of course, (7) some nymphs (except in the abstraction.)  De rigueur for a landscape. 

#1 is impressionist and loose, the next, #2 and #3, are more stylized, and #4, of course would be the abstraction.

When I asked you about the bodacious level of the nymphs, you said you wanted them not so defined.  A gleaming haunch seen through the water, a giggling girl leaning around a tree.  After all, your mother does visit, although I know your 102 yr. old mother. She is sharp as a tack,  has probably has seen it all and when it comes to actual seeing , doesn't see much at this point anyhow.

 Let me know your wishes, oh Tall Person among Cedars.  We'll come to a fabulous conclusion.  Hope to hear from you soon.  J

Do offer suggestions....we appreciate any feedback, viewers and friends, and remember, these are ROUGHS!

Comments

[Mary Ross]

Jennifer, to me these do not rate as "roughs" but beautiful works of art in themselves. I love the loose watercolor effect!

[Karen]

What a fun project!! I am loving the first one best, but it just doesn't seem, well, Texan, not to have a lurking voyeristic cow and an armadillo sneaking a few peaks at the nymphs!! However, skinny dipping ( or chunky dunkin) in a cool Texas stream is definately right on track!!

[RamonGustav]

Do you have ideas which worth millions but you lack the necessary capital to put your idea to test?