The past two weeks have been very intense but extremely exhilarating as well. It’s been very rewarding to see my plans/theories work out in physical reality, and to hear the positive responses from people as the mural has taken shape.
The super fun part - painting the giant pansies
I spent the first May bank holiday weekend (Saturday and Monday) on my own on the cherry picker, happily painting the vivid colours of the huge pansies in the archway. The hard work Colin and I did with two coats of white in between and around my pansy petals paid off (the doodle grid worked really well for scaling up).
The basket of the cherry picker machine became my mobile mini art studio, and I was much more comfortable operating the machine independently by this time. Being in one place with all my beloved heavy body acrylics, cracking open the deep magenta and alizarin crimson, was a true delight!
I was really in my element here, just using slightly bigger brushes than usual! It was more physically demanding too, because of the rough, bumpy surface - apparently the render is 80 years old! My hands and wrists were aching by the end of the day.
Also, painting the giant pansies - a metre or so across - reminded me of the nebula oil paintings I painted in 2019-2020. The same swathes of colour, glowing techniques, ripply edges, emanating energy.
A race against the clock!
It was good that I used the bank holiday weekend to get the upper work done, because on Tuesday the cherry picker was picked up. We managed to paint the giant leaves and my “thought” sign just in time!
I learned a lot from this - how the background colours and upper work needs to take priority while we have the machine, something I have called “Phase 1”.
Phase 2 begins
No need to put on a harness and helmet now: we measured and marked out the lower central area and I drew the lettering, outlining it so others could paint in the green background. My friend Rod turned up - he lived on Daisy Street when he was a child and he and his wife came to some of the creative sessions earlier this year. It has been great to have his help and company!
Getting to know the Pansy Street residents
We’ve had loads of great conversations with local people the past couple of weeks. Kev (pictured above, left) has been incredibly helpful and encouraging in all sorts of ways. Our chats help me to build up a picture of what life is really like in this neighbourhood, the challenges people face, what things used to be like and what things are like now. I’ve listened to quite a lot of people and passers-by, and talked to Indian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish and Latvian people who live here. Young people have stopped to chat or driven over from the main road where they have caught sight of the giant pansies, curious about them.
A particularly touching thing happened on Friday (5th May) when Kev brought me a lady in her fifties who I’ve seen around and said hello to a few times. She said that the phrase “Living in my precious memories” is particularly meaningful to her because in her twenties, she had a son who sadly died aged 5 years old. Seeing the mural evokes fond memories of him.
What do you think of the smaller pansies and the colours we’ve chosen for the letters?
Phase 3
The next stage is to finish connecting the details of the lower area to the upper area to make the whole thing more cohesive. I will also put an anti-graffiti coating on the lower area to protect the artwork from vandalism. I also have a couple more lower/mid section details in mind for this first mural, before moving on to the next one!
The word is spreading…
If you want to get daily updates, I’ve been doing a short picture post on Instagram and Facebook once every day or two.
My Instagram is madeleine_faith_art
My Facebook is Madeleine Pires - Artist
Thank you for your interest and support - please leave a comment with your thoughts! If you live locally and want to make a contribution, please email me! I have various painting and measuring tasks I can delegate. And other people’s input making decisions is helpful too. I love the way art brings people together!
Madeleine
Oh Madeleine: your color choices are wonderfully bright and happy. The atmosphere is changing in the neighborhoods as you love through your paintbrush! Exquisite!