Ribbon-Cutting on August 26th

After painting a wide swath of over 60 large murals across Canada over the past 30+ years, Canadian artist/author Michael R. Gaudet's latest mural (of monumental proportions) has been installed just outside the Village of Young, SK.

"Forever YOUNG" is twenty feet high and eighty feet long, mounted ten feet above the ground on a huge steel frame that is engineered to withstand gale-force winds. The mural is claimed to be the "World's Largest Free-Standing Mural".

This stunning photo shows the massive scale of "forever YOUNG" as the panels are installed.

Gaudet says, "I always use professional-quality artist's acrylics for my paintings and murals. These paints are considerably more expensive than exterior latex, however they are the superior product for murals. I usually shy away from painting directly on an existing wall, because a mural is only as good as the surface it is painted on. Instead, I use a specially engineered painting panel that gets installed on the wall. In the case of the Young project, we opted to build a structure on which to install my mural."

"I will begin a mural project by collaborating with the stakeholders in order to come up with an authorized design. Once this happens, the rough sketches are upgraded to a scale drawing that is suitable to be replicated as a limited edition print. The print can then be marketed in order to raise funds for the mural. This is a formula for success."

The mural "forever YOUNG" faces the busy #2 highway just south of Young, SK.

The "forever YOUNG" mural features thirty-one images in a "montage" style design. All of these scenes and people are recognizable. They are sourced from the Young history book and also from private photograph collections from the community. In the coming days, a "legend" will appear on the left-hand side of the mural. This legend will feature an outline of every aspect of the mural that will have a number designating its meaning. Below this will be a list of all the pictures that will allow viewers to identify all of the images.

"This huge mural was very challenging to paint," continues the artist. "Not only was it a lot of physical work, at one-thousand six-hundred square feet, but the images themselves were very detailed and rigorous painting. My technique calls for about fifteen glazes over the entire surface, so in all, the painting entailed about twenty-four thousand square feet of application to finish. That's a lot."

Plans are underway to celebrate the completion of the "forever YOUNG" mural with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 26th, 2017. Everyone is invited to attend. Come out to lend your support to this astonishing accomplishment, inspired by the never-quit attitude of the planning committee. 

About the Artist/Author:

Taking a pause for the cause while working on the "forever YOUNG" mural.

Please visit www.mrgaudet.com to read more and to purchase a copy of "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality".

Book 2 Getting Closer to Publication

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About the Artist:

A Very Positive Reception at Queen's House Retreat

Yesterday I attended a meeting at Queen's House Retreat Center in Saskatoon.

Last week a couple of ladies dropped in to see us here at "G-G's Gallery & Gifts" at Manitou Beach. For those of you that have been following, you will know that this is the seasonal business that my wife Sharon and I have been running for 9 years now. The ladies were excited to meet us and shared the germ of an idea... that I should rekindle my connection with Queen's House Retreat... just to see what might happen.

I started to think about that and decided that yes, I would set up a meeting.

Well! It was a wonderful, inspiring half an hour!

I guided the Director and the Program Director through my mural-painting portfolio and also read a few select passages from my 1st book "Dancing with Rejection: A Beginner's Guide to Immortality".

I was informed that Queen's House is especially dedicated to the "Trinity" and also to the stewardship of the Earth. These two salient fact sat very well with me, as the themes have loomed large in my artistic journey.

"Earth Angel" is my gift to all my fellow humans...

Suffice to say, my meeting at Queen's House was "pregnant with possibility". In the meantime, I have another large (100' x 12') mural to paint this summer...so that means I will be busy with that (and life in general) until the fall of '17. 

Stay posted, the creative fun is still going full-steam!

About the Artist:                       

To Read More, Please Visit www.mrgaudet.com

"World's Largest Business Card"

Timeline: July 5th, 2017...

After waiting for  almost five years for the Young Centennial Committee to get their ducks in a row, my patience has been richly rewarded. I was on site to capture stunning images of the massive mural installation.

A scissor lift capable of ascending 40' into the air was pressed into service.

A combination electric and hydraulic lift was brought on-site. The large working platform, in tandem with a tractor with fork-lift, made ideal equipment to lift the heavy panels into their respective positions on the massive frame.

This shot gives a good impression of the scale of the frame.

The scissor lift requires outriggers when extended high up in the air.

In the above picture, you can see the huge ( 16" diameter) steel posts that were deemed necessary to hold the 20' x 80' expanse of painted panels. The structure was engineered to withstand very brisk winds. Also, considering the predominant (prevailing) winds come from the northwest, the infrastructure is oriented to "slice" into the wind, rather than face it like huge sail.

The aforementioned tractor and fork lift can be seen to the left, carrying the next panel.

Now that you have seen some of the (later) highlights of the installation, here is the finished product...for your viewing pleasure:

The finished installation of "forever YOUNG" at Young, SK.

Once the "forever YOUNG" mural was completely installed, I decided to create a quick video, on my phone. I posted the video on Facebook that afternoon and within about 24 hours, 9,700 viewers partook of the great fun.

About the Artist/Author:    

  Please Visit www.mrgaudet.com

        

Getting It Up...The "forever YOUNG" Mural Installation

After patiently waiting for over 5 years for the Young Centennial Mural Committee to get their ducks in a row, I am excited to announce...that the gigantic
(20' high x 80' in length) mural "forever YOUNG" has been installed in the past two days.

We brought in the "big guns" aka equipment to do the job...

 This is a huge project in every way. Not only was the painting a big undertaking, obviously, but also the gigantic frame and now, the installation. As you can see, the mural panels were lifted up 10 feet in the air and then soar an additional 20 feet up on the awaiting frame. The mural is 80 running feet in length!

My methodology is to paint a series of 4' x 8' panels...of an exterior-grade material with professional-quality artists' acrylics. This is all considerably costly, but it ensures incredible longevity. 

The men on the scissor lift reinforce the massive scale of the mural. As you can see, they are a bit "dwarfed" by the panels.

Just about ready to lift another panel into position!

Altogether there are 50 (4'x8') panels that need to be lifted up and positioned on the massive frame. As you can imagine, there are a lot of moving parts here, literally. All of the men needed to be available at one time...in the middle of a very busy farming season!...plus the equipment needed to be lined up, all to correspond with perfect weather. This is not a job that could be undertaken in high winds and certainly not rain. Luckily and happily, all of these favorable incidents lined up for this ambitious project to come to fruition!

Stay posted, I will continue to chronicle this project in this space over the coming weeks.

About the artist:              

To read more, please visit www.mrgaudet.com