I am having such a good time painting. I love meeting people who stop and talk. Every few minutes someone shouts encouragement out their window or slows down to let me know how much they like the mural. It is so encouraging! I am getting close to having all the surface covered but I will be doing touch-ups and re-fining the colors o

Surprisingly the pigeon smell isn't as bad on the West wall. On the East wall when I worked in the centre the smell would get stuck in my nose. I could smell it when I came home at night. On this side I don't really smell them but they are busy building nests so they are gathering sticks and sometimes the sticks fall out of their mouths and onto my head. I laugh when that happens. I am really happy with how speedy this wall is going. I think I am really in the grove now. The some folks have come by that live on the street, one fella that lives in the blue house came by and brought me a popsicle. Thank you! 

Felt good to get some color on the West side. Thanks to the Big Stretch caulking I didn't have to wait long to cover the cracks! Lots of great comments from people passing by!

Street closure and overheading- couldn't have gone smoother!

The West wall is nearly ready for paint! We will continue to pick away at the East wall and make small adjustments while starting work on the West wall. 

This lovely and talented lady - Lisa Landrie - stopped by the mural when it was just in it's infancy and took some great photos. You can find the photos on her blog - http://www.lisalandrie.com/blog/bevin-bradley/menu

Had a nice chat with the folks from CTV today. They came by after they read the article in the StarPhoenix. The interview was aired at 12pm and 6pm and will be on the morning show tomorrow morning. Thanks for the press!

"A community project in City Park is turning an eyesore into art this summer.
The grey concrete walls under the train overpass at 7th Avenue and 33rd Street are slowly turning into a picturesque city street with bright houses as local artists work to create a new mural to liven up the area.
"It's long been an unattractive spot there," said City Park Community Association president Michael Murphy.
"This is beautifying the community at a place which has always been considered an ugly entrance to City Park."
On Monday, Roberta Ross and Bevin Bradley - two artists from the neighbourhood - were painting one side of the overpass and filling in cracks on the other side to prep the wall for the rest of the mural. The houses in the mural are similar to the character homes found in the core neighbourhood.
The community association invited local artists to submit ideas for the mural after its members decided to take on a community project to improve something in the neighbourhood, Murphy said.
Canadian Pacific gave the community association permission to paint the train overpass. Both sides should be done by the end of summer, Murphy said.

"It's a large piece of art, and communities can always use more art," he said.

"People coming and going in City Park will hopefully take pleasure in it for many years."


© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix


Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/travel/City+park+mural+brightens+blight/8633679/story.html#ixzz2YcO7cDeb

I had the pressure-washer fella prep the East side today. I am hoping to have the street closure for Wednesday next week for the overheading of the design. The West side is not yet complete but a couple of good days of work on it and some touch-ups and it should be pretty close. 
A girl came by today with a thank-you card and a gift certificate to Tim Hortons. It made my day! Spending hours painting would not be the same without the encouragement and feed-back from the people walking, driving, or biking by. Thank you.

The caulking I used to fill the cracks is finally dry. I set to the task today of touching up the areas where the cracks were. Next time I will use a product called Big Stretch from Cloverdale paints. I attempted to use it initially but they were out of stock the week I wanted to start. I have been having great conversations with people who stop- and I have my regulars who pass by everyday. One friendly neighbour brings me treats every time he walks by. A stranger stopped and surprised me by giving me $20 today! He just said it was because he like the mural so much!