The Muralists
Guest contribution by Mike Svob
Photographs courtesy of Peter Segnitz
Mural painting has many elements in common with painting at an easel. The big difference is that a mural just requires more. More painting, more time, more space to work, more supplies (which means more money), more difficulty in transport. You get the picture? In this case it required more artists as well. Mike Svob and Alan Wylie teamed up for the umpteenth time recently to complete a mural themed "Beautiful BC." To collaborate on a project like this, artists need to compromise. To most rugged individual artist types, compromise is a dirty word so we will leave that subject alone. What essentially happens is each painter has to adapt their palette, brushwork, technique and design sense to the other so that the finished work has a seamless, harmonious look. Fortunately, Alan and Mike have collaborated on several murals so they have had a chance to work out the kinks.
For visualization of the Svob/Wylie project, you can find a short documentary video "The Muralists," available free on the internet. The video was produced by the White Rock Gallery. When Peter Segnitz, the husband of Gallery owner Dennie Segnitz, learned about the mural project, he started loitering around with his camera and tripod. He was not much of a nuisance, so the artists let him stay. The resulting video is meant for general public interest, not as an instructional tool for artists, but it still captures the flavour of the mural creation process and therefore provides some pointers for artists specifically. "The Muralists" can be found at www.YouTube.com (search "Mike Svob mural" or "Alan Wylie mural") or at www.whiterockgallery.com
Any artist undertaking a mural project should invest as much effort as possible in the preliminary drawings and sketches. A good place to start is with the client or customer, if there is one. Figure out what you want or in this case what the client really wants. This preliminary idea and meeting of the minds is probably one of the most important parts of the process. The patron in this case gave Alan and Mike a great deal of artistic license. The video gives you a sense of how the artists go through a series of progressive pencil sketches followed by an inked drawing which is captured digitally to be projected on the working surface. The colour scheme is not decided until the actual painting is begun. This is so the artists (Alan and Mike) actually have something further to think about when the application of colour begins.
Many murals are painted on-site but this one involved a studio painting on panel that was digitally reproduced, "giclee type". The finished panels numbered 16, each 3' x 6' which were sent to an industrial scale graphics shop where they were painstakingly scanned and colour corrected. The digitized image was then printed in a greatly enlarged format on highly specialized equipment (a really big printer). The final result measures 8' x 256' on canvas type vinyl. Experienced crews then stretched the behemoth onto a framework, or in some cases, applied it directly to the wall. The plan is for up to 8 of these in different Playtime Gaming locations all over the province. Langley and Campbell River have theirs installed at present. Courtenay is next. It has taken two years from the start to finish to get the first mural on the wall.
The artwork was done on panels sealed with PVA and gesso. The artist quality acrylic paint and gesso used was supplied by Golden.
Mike Svob's next plein air workshop is in San Miguel, Mexico, Fall 2008. For details, visit www.mikesvob.com
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