A Mural Proposal?

I'll have to resist my ordinary inclination to avoid cliches... But it's true. Be careful what you wish for. Because in the midst of last week's whining, something was brewing. I received an unusual call from a friend yesterday- an invitation to submit a proposal for a public mural project. Apparently one local artist has received a good chunk of money to put together a program to decorate some of our local, bleak, busway walls. My friend is tasked with assembling a team of artists to work with a group of high school kids in completing these murals. Each proposal submission will be judged by a panel of local community figures, and several artists will be invited to particpate. There are two five-week sessions over the summer, and they entail forty hours per week of work. And yes... it pays pretty well. But it has to be in by this Friday.

My initial reaction was self doubt. I tried to mask it by hedging over the summertime commitment. While it's true that I look forward all year to my summer breaks, and never had any intention of working during them, this is a great opportunity to enhance my skills. It's a fact that I have never painted a mural. It's even true that I have barely ever painted. I draw consistently- I have been doing so off and on during my whole life. But painting? That's a whole nother thing altogether. Even when it comes to drawing, I've never worked bigger than 11" x 18". And I consistently work merely with black ink. This has to be in color, obviously. So it's a real challenge. The proposal itself must be completed on a piece of illustration board, with 18" X 24" dimensions. So one could say I'm out of my depth here.

But I've decided to try it anyway. Because I know I am capable of doing good work, and I learn fairly quickly. And I have plenty of experience with kids- at least enough to know that I can learn a whole lot from them. So I have started it. The theme of the piece must be Pittsburgh: Past, Present, or Future. Initially I was drawing a blank, but after a bit of thought I came up with (what I thought was) a decent concept. It would be so easy to slip into the timeworn and overused conceptions of this city. I need ti reflect its character, but offer something fresh and original. And since it is public art, it has to be accessible. I think my plan meets these criteria.

I've decided to skip all of my regular drawing sessions this week. There's no way I'm going to have this done on time if I stick to my regular schedule. I'm inevitably going to fall behind on my journal. I'm going to be tired. I'm going to miss my friends. And I'm probably going to be a bit preoccupied at the job. But I've already gathered my source material. I've done a rough draft in pencil, and I'm happy with the composition. I've even started pencilling a final draft. It's much more time consuming than I would have imagined. I'm feeling a lot of pressure to get it just right. It's grueling, and it's going to take hours and hours.

After I've finshed penciling, I'll ink over every line with a fine ONYX brand uniball pen. More hours will pass. Finally I'll color it in plain old Crayola crayon. I know that sounds remedial, but I'm confident in my use of crayons. I know I won't screw it up... and there's a good chance that I would if I used some paint medium that I'm not used to. And I think it will convey the feeling of a mural-quality work. By Friday night, I'll be able to relax.

The best thing about this project is that I will feel good about doing the proposal, even if my submission is not accepted. This will be the most amount of time I've ever spent on a single image. It's going to look good because I'm putting careful and meticulous effort into it. If it's not right for the judges, I'm sure I will be able to display it somewhere. Parts of it will even be fun and rewarding. So please excuse me if my attention is elsewhere. Please excuse me if my blog is more boring than usual. Really, I have an excuse.