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Murals

6/26/2015

1 Comment

 
I wanted to show some examples of mural painting I have done, so I thought I'd post a few pictures here. Most of these murals were painted over ten years ago - since having kids, I haven't been doing as much of this kind of work. It is fun to look back and see all these different projects now.

This first one shows a large exterior mural I painted for Boardwalk Equities Inc. back in 1999. It is four storeys high and was completed in my free time over the course of a summer. It was the first time I'd done anything like this, and I wish I had had a bit more time to plan a better picture... there are quite a few things I would have done differently about the painting itself! However, it was a learning experience and at least the bright colours have stood the test of time. It's still up there now, all these years later.
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As part of the City of Calgary's Painted Utility Box program, I painted two utility boxes on Elbow Drive in 2012. My son kept me company!
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The picture above has to be my favourite letter panel in the Calgary Alphabet utility box mural. In case you're wondering what kind of Calgary reference this is, it shows Ben Heppner as Captain Ahab in Calgary Opera's 2012 world premiere of "Moby Dick" - but that was obvious, right?

On the left: this the door to Calgary's Campus Preschool in Capitol Hill. I painted the inside and outside of this door, and finished the day before the gigantic flood of June 2013! So this was a rather memorable project for more than one reason.
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I like painting the sky. Here is a mosaic sky mural I painted on a vaulted stairwell ceiling in Strathmore, Alberta, about ten years ago.
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It's a long story, but I also painted a mural in the lobby of the Plaza Theatre in Calgary's Kensington neighbourhood. I never go to the movies anymore, so I haven't been back there in a long time. I wonder if it's still there? Here's the only picture I seem to have of it - a work in progress shot featuring my painting apprentice on the job. She painted the two outside panels and I painted the centre one.
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I've also painted quite a few murals in private homes. Here are two (subjects chosen by my creative clients)
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On the left, one of four exterior panels on the Lake Bonavista Rec Centre in Calgary. This one was my favourite of the four. I had fun painting those panels in a studio I rented in ArtPoint Gallery & Studios a long time back.

As for the monster truck mural - it is not exactly what I think of as "high art," but this little boy was just so happy.
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1 Comment

Calgary Alphabet Utility Box, Revisited

6/26/2015

0 Comments

 
I'm just going to post a few pictures of a utility box I painted back in 2012, to show some folks an example of a comic-strip alphabet mural. These pictures are of a painted utility box on Elbow Drive in Calgary. Each of the panels is pretty small (a few inches in width/height), so there isn't room for more than a single phrase and image. Bigger panels would allow for a bit more than this.
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    sam hester

    I am a graphic recorder based in Calgary. I like local stories. I write comics when I have free time. And I leave eraser shavings everywhere I go.

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    my website

    www.the23rdstory.com started as a blog and now includes some information about my graphic recording practice as well.

    I also have an (old) website which features a lot of my (old) work. Look out, it's a bit clunky and there are a lot of links that don't go anywhere, but there are still a few interesting things there:
    www.thedrawingbook.com


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