August 2010
at Last! after a month back home in Winnipeg, here are the closing shots of the ‘Spirit Farmer”aka the Peanut Farmer. What an experience… I can’t express how much it’s meant to me to develop this project into what it’s become- the ultimate painting it can possibly be. The community allowed me to be their voice, and have fully embraced what I have ‘said’.
Things are beginning to wind down, down south…as I work my way around the silos the missing details are taking form in every direction. It’s interesting to animate the scenery with little vignettes here and there, most of which are life size scale in the central area of the mural.
Return to Colquitt! I migrated back south in January to complete the last stage of the icon mural. After laying in a few crops (Corn, cotton), they call it ‘crop rotation’, I got down to working in the last elements to bring the background to life from all directions.
With much ceremony and celebration, Colquitt’s Legacy project for the 2010 Global Mural Conference was dedicated on Oct. 30. I managed to reach 75% completion, with the main walls facing town square being the most complete area of the mural. What a thrill it is for me to look back from town centre and see my art towering over the community like a guardian spirit. It’s been an honor to be the voice for this community. I’ll probably return in the new year to add the finishing touches to the landscape…and other imagery!
As the main attraction, the west wall takes form, amazing things are happening. It feels like ideas that were circling the periphery of my psyche have come into being, with the mood of the farmer, the host of peanut entities and the environment within the structure of the peanut plant carrying these thoughts. It’s amazing to me that people are picking up on it and a nonverbal dialogue has been established. A powerful spiritual message is taking form almost on it’s own…
This is the most exciting part of the mural for me, when things change almost daily. As the main character develops, the whole thing begins to make sense, come into focus… the joy of painting takes over almost as much as the exhaustion does…
I’m moving into the main event of this enormous project now, with the countdown to the global mural conference happening at the end of the month. Along way to go and a short time to get there! And don’t worry, I washed Monty! (You’ve got to take care of your helpers)
The first stages of the biggest project of my career, a monumental icon to agriculture in the heart of the deep south. “The Peanut Farmer” is a 100 foot tall mural that wraps around a four tower peanut silo in Colquitt, Georgia. It’s been commissioned to celebrate the 7th Global Mural Conference being held October 25-29.