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Lincoln Highway mural number 22 - Park Forest, IL

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Jay Allen
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:32 am

Lincoln Highway mural number 22 - Park Forest, IL

Post by Jay Allen »

Number 22 is about to be installed in Park Forest, IL

This one tells the story of why the Lincoln Highway was named after the former President . . .

Seeing as how automobiles weren't around in Lincoln's day (if I have my history correct), the only real option was to paint a portrait - and tell the story. Since the official document was a "Proclamation", we were asked to somehow feature the original document in the design.

Sadly, the 'official' document was boring and uninspired. So we opted for a scroll-look on parchment . . . and symmetrical since we always have to tell the story and use the town's name. We used the exact wording from the original document - but punched up the design only moderately. I found a colored image of Lincoln as I was asked to do a colored mural this time - not another monochromatic paint.

But I have never painted a true, blended color portrait before so this one proved to be a real challenge. Color mixing and finding the right combination took a long time due to my inexperience with flesh tones. But as with all things, determination got me pretty close. Beginner's luck, to some degree, since it turned out OK considering my relative inexperience.

40 hours to paint the the flag background, scrolls, fades and the pictorial - including cleaning of the brushes.
As always, mural panel engineering and border work by the stellar Joe Marshall . . . my design and paint.

The design is the first slide . . . I should have done that on the others so you could make a comparison . . .

Step-by-step link here:
http://s442.photobucket.com/albums/qq14 ... =slideshow

Number 23 is for the town of New Lenox, IL . . . Project ends March 30, 2013 - 33 murals in all.
Mark Summers
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2009 4:03 pm
Location: Frisco, Co
Contact:

Re: Lincoln Highway mural number 22 - Park Forest, IL

Post by Mark Summers »

You nailed it once again Jay. Can't hide behind 'it's only values' painting
this time. Hue, Chroma, Values were all present here. Your designs I would
say really have been stellar. Thanks for sharing. You've graduated!

Mark



** a little Abe Lincoln humor. A man accusing Abe of being two faced, Abe said;
"if I was two faced do you think I would have gone with this face?"
Jay Allen
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:32 am

Re: Lincoln Highway mural number 22 - Park Forest, IL

Post by Jay Allen »

Well, you sort of have me there, Mark. It wasn't just painting values this time around . . .!! Thank you for your kind words again. Most appreciated!!

But, to be brutally honest, the truth is that I was painting a painting of a painting . . . so someone else kinda did the 'heavy lifting' by establishing the color palette first. It was not the brushwork so much that I would struggle with - but the color mixing that proved to be the most difficult. So I simply made 'values' of a flesh tone as established by the original artist - and went from there.

Bill Hueg and i were talking (just before he left for Barcelona) and he said I was "insane" for tackling something with 'so much color going on' in the original art - but also suggested I may well find success with 'beginner's luck' . . . and he clearly was correct. His feeling was that he couldn't paint in that style - so he wasn't sure how I would fare.

But I felt pretty confident since I was essentially imitating . . . Besides, I can't fail. The totality of the project won't allow for it - so even if it took me 200 hours, I simply had to keep working to get it right . . .
(or wait until Hueg gets back from Spain!! ;)

A lot of positive reaction to this one . . . must be the bright colors.

In hindsight, you really take a chance painting a recognizable figure . . . the murals previously have all had people who have passed away on them - so no comparisons can be made . . . I feel very fortunate to not have had to spend too much time trying to get it right.
Mike Simpson
Posts: 35
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:33 pm
Location: Montrose, CO
Contact:

Re: Lincoln Highway mural number 22 - Park Forest, IL

Post by Mike Simpson »

Another good one Jay! Actually, another great one!! The portrait is right on. All together it is well done. Good job! Not this summer but maybe next I'm going to take a Lincoln Hwy ride on the Harley just to take these in and see them all first hand. Will they all be done by then?

just read the end of your post and I see they will be done by then.
Mike Simpson
picture framemaker and artist
http://www.mikesimpsonart.com
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