Garage Door Murals

Stephanie Byrd painted a garage door interior at EFX Fitness in Manchester.

The image was laid out in PowerPoint, projected onto the pre-painted door, traced, and freehand painted using indoor/outdoor black semi-gloss paint that the customer provided.

There are other walls in the gym that she has painted inspirational quotes on. Some walls are brick and others are textured plaster. The walls had also been pre-painted which made the mural very easy to complete. Working with the client to decide size, placement, and color of the approved artwork is part of the process to be sure of a successful outcome.

This is an example of work that Friends of Art Manchester enjoys doing!

Reminder: Our annual meeting will be held January 17, 2017. Details to follow in next post. Please consider joining us. Our membership fee is only $5 per year and we have some good projects lined up for the spring.

Summer Project

Just a little preview of some of the proposals for the tunnel on the Piscataquog River trail. Photo above shows sketches for the tunnel by Anthony Williams.  Photos and sketches below are from Stephanie Byrd. The proposals have to be approved by the mayor and alderman before we can proceed with this project.

Inside Mural - Finished

With thanks to Shirley Perry for the photos. Our artists finished the mural in the O'Malley headquarters. Left to right: Anthony Williams, Deb Funk, Shirley Perry, Stephanie Byrd.

Inside Mural - South Willow Street

This is a mural in process by our talented artists for the campaign office of Martin O'Malley on South Willow Street. Friends of Art Manchester does not endorse any political candidates, but we are always happy to paint.  Thank you to Shirley Perry for the photos.  Final photos will be posted when all the murals are finished. Murals by artists: Anthony Williams, Deb Funk, Shirley Perry, Stephanie Byrd.

Murals and Public Art

Mark Hayward of the Union Leader wrote an article about the murals at Top Shelf Tattoo, 657 Elm Street, Manchester.  Thank you, Mark, for writing about public art.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20151205/LOCALVOICES08/151209523

The students from New Hampshire Institute of Art have been working in a mural on the alley in back of the Palace Theater (downtown Manchester).  I’m not sure if it is finished yet.

Our president, Stephanie Byrd, has been traveling and taking photos of public art in airports.

Our Vice President, Anthony Williams, found this old bust many years ago and would like to know more about it. If you have any suggestions on someone who can tell him about this sculpture, please contact him: amwpaints26@yahoo.com

Webster House - Project Completed

Thank you to all the artists who participated in this project for Webster House: Tina Gagnon, Deb Funk, Anthony Williams, Judy Gelinas, Stephanie Byrd, Linda Feinberg

Building Layers in a composition

Photos and guest blog by Stephanie Byrd, water mixable oil paints on canvas.

If you have wanted to work with oil paint, but were leery because of fumes or extra clean-up, you may want to try water-based oils.

These paints give the feeling of working with oils, are very creamy, blend well, and have vibrant color.  They remain wet a long time like oils, so you have time to go back and blend, remove color, add layers, or other techniques.

Friends of Art Manchester vice president Anthony Williams taught a class at Hobby Lobby on South Willow and provided a canvas with flowers already sketched as well as the paint. He showed me how to keep the paint wet while working using a spray bottle of water as you would with watercolors, and gave ideas on thickening the paint using oil mediums. I liked the flexibility of both types of paint in one.

As you will see in the photos, just like most paintings, start with the background ( photo 1). This is where you begin the color story and think about how the subject will pop when complete. I knew I wanted the eye to be drawn to a red flower at the end, so I chose a muted background with sage and ochre colors.

More detail and blending was added (photo 2) and an effect to make it look a bit like rice paper. 

Background detail and blending

I then began building layers of colors for the secondary yellow flowers (photo 3) and worked on the stems. 

Building layers on flowers

Finally, I added layering, highlights, shadows, and details in the petals,  stamen, and pollen elements (photo 4). 

I liked that I knew I could go back and play with the painting the next day if I didn't like parts of it. Clean-up was easy. All in all, a very enjoyable experience I highly recommend! 

Highlights, shadows and details

Notes:

There are many brands of water soluble oils.  A good reference book is by Sean Dye, Painting with Water Soluble Oils. This is available at the city library, 2nd floor, Art & Music Room. ART 751.42 DYE. Local stores in Manchester usually carry the Winsor & Newton Artisan brand. Brushes and palette knives can be used with this medium.