The Morning Sun
Lafayette, IN USA (2020)
About
In late September 2020, on one of the projects for Wabash Walls and Tippecanoe Arts Federation, I painted my first piece on the street. I was originally asked to paint something rather simple as a crosswalk design, but aside from something anamorphic, I couldn't think of anything that really fit those parameters. So I asked if I could paint a figure whose main viewing angle would be from an aerial view and was told, "Sure!"
In late September 2020, on one of the projects for Wabash Walls and Tippecanoe Arts Federation, I painted my first piece on the street. I was originally asked to paint something rather simple as a crosswalk design, but aside from something anamorphic, I couldn't think of anything that really fit those parameters. So I asked if I could paint a figure whose main viewing angle would be from an aerial view and was told, "Sure!"
The concept behind it ties into another piece that I did in Lafayette, IN, and relates to the Gaelic Beltane Festival, which (from my reading), is a festival celebrating the beginning of summer (among other things). The name "Beltane" refers to the fire that accompanies the festivals and oftentimes, yellow flowers were used symbolically as a representation of that. While a sunflower isn't really a summertime flower, I really liked its imagery and the symbolism behind it being both a source of sunlight and warmth as well as something beautiful and open. The concept behind the piece as a whole is that of a folk musician playing a song for the neighborhood to hear and appreciate. Something that they will walk by/over every day, and will get to see anew whenever they look at google maps.
It was a bit tricky to do in the timeframe, and working around lane closures (we had 2 days from 7am to noon with half the road being closed each day, and one full day), but I really loved doing this one and it was a nice test of blending my illustrations with my paintings.
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