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At the beginning of September 2022, I began to paint a 400sqft mural at my local gym. The work opportunity has been unique, and I enjoy the shift from working in isolation to the open public. As of October 18th, I have spent around 80 hours completing about 75% of the process.
A short meeting with the gym's owners showed their incredible enthusiasm and support to patronize this piece and began our design process.
I toyed with multiple concepts to properly adjust the 5:3 scale of the flag to the 39:10 scale of the wall. I also entertained the ideas of wind in the flag, silhouettes in the opposite direction, and changing the layout to be non-traditional. The final design has been an exciting mix between these drafts.
The first step was prep & prime.. I removed all hanging displays, patched holes, and added 2.5 layers of white, flat, primer in the span of a day.
Next, added my "in the works" signature and started mapping the silhouettes and stripes. I added the stripes through basic algebra and used a projection to outline the figures.
Once the wall was laid out, I taped off the white stripes and started my first few layers of red.
After many layers of red paint, I began filling in the silhouettes with the purest black I could find.
The silhouettes were a slow, detailed, but oh-so-fulfilling process; painting in such high contrast was a new experience for me that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The most challenging part of this project was the STARS! I was surprised to realize the layout of the US flag and fiddled with the scale for days before realizing the placement needed. My successful attempt was the result of graphing each of the center points.
The drawings and calculations for star placement
With the stars in place came the meticulous process of outlining each star and filling in the navy background. This is my current step and I expect to be here for another 10 hours.
After the stars, I will fill in each white stripe. Finally, I will touch up the entire wall, clean my workspace, and close out.
This project has been an absolute blast and I am excited to be nearing the final destination and really seeing the original concept in action!
Come see my work in person at iTrain Fitness, 103 L P Auer Rd, Johnson City, TN, 37604.
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