A Candid Video that Explains Purpose of SGEU Murals

Yesterday a friend of mine visited our gallery and requested that I explain the "plan" regarding the two murals commissioned by Saskatchewan Government Employees' Union (SGEU) here in my home province. She then proceeded to catch my response on her video camera.





To reiterate, once the two murals are finished, they will be permanently housed at the new SGEU HQ in Regina, and will be photographed with a large format digital camera. The original images will then be enlarged 200% to be pressed into service as highway billboards across the province. A design firm based in Vancouver will be charged with the task of computer generating a slogan and the SGEU logo, to be superimposed over my artwork. As you can imagine, this is all very exciting for me, because my artwork will potentially be viewed by millions of eyeballs in such a high-traffic public setting.

1st of 2 Murals for SGEU 90% Finished

After another weekend of painting, the first of the two murals commissioned for SGEU is about 90% finished. How do I know that, you ask? Here's how... typically I use a technique that requires exactly 13 translucent glazes...I counted!

              

1st SGEU Mural Coming Along Nicely

After several more days of concentrated painting, the first of two murals commissioned by the good folks at Saskatchewan Government Employees' Union (SGEU) is coming along nicely.

Now that this mural is up and running, my painting instincts are kicking

This has been a very enjoyable painting process, with a certain amount of flexibility that has allowed me to stretch my creative muscles. I'm finding that my instincts and experience in mural-painting are holding me in good stead as work progresses. With a project of this magnitude, it is important to remember the end-game. These murals will be digitally captured with large format cameras once I pronounce them "finished". The resulting photographs will be enlarged 200% to create highway billboards throughout the province of Saskatchewan. Bearing this rather astonishing fact in mind, my artwork needs to be sensitive to the context. 

You can see that after a few more good days of painting productivity, the images are emerging as quite vivid.

The rendering of the thematic figures needs to be therefore a bit exaggerated, or put another way, the details must be on the "theatrical" side, with very pronounced features. It would not be appropriate, considering the fact that the observers of the highway billboard replications will be whizzing by at highway speed, to be overly subtle with the "visual fingerprints" of the design.

My "Pride of Ownership" rings true with the Saskatchewan-based 

So, it should not surprise you, dear reader, that my approach to this visual spectacle is to paint in a muscular style. I am sure it will be very interesting to see the effect of these massive photographs based on my original artwork. I'm already wrestling with the concept that every brush stroke will ultimately be enlarged to twice its natural size! 

Please stay tuned, I will be updating this project on a regular basis as work continues.

Please visit my website www.mrgaudet.com for more samples of my artwork and to read about my upcoming book, called "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality".