Lincoln Highway mural number 19. . . Oswego, IL

[Jay Allen]

Number 19 is now installed in Oswego, IL - a tribute to a the Boy Scouts and their installation of 3,300 LH markers along the entire length of the road back in 1925 . . . as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln.

The concrete markers were all installed in one day . . . and work began with a signal from the Boy Scout headquarters to all the crews working across the country. The first photo in the slideshow is the photo I was given - and had to make work in a vertical format.

Not much for pictorial with a vertically oriented mural . . . so Joe Marshall covered the largest area of square footage on this mural . . .

The step-by-step is not so effective here since it was 18 feet high and we only have 12 foot ceilings . . . so use your imagination.

http://s442.photobucket.com/albums/qq14 ... =slideshow

I think #20 will be Frankfort, Illinois . . . and a repeat of the Boy Scout story. I've found the face to be very challenging for a novice pictorial painter like me . . . these 2 boys were as large as Doug Downey so I painted in a bit more detail - but it is tough. The Frankfort mural has 6 faces in it (UGH!) but at least they are smaller . . .

Quite a project . . . 14 more to go - until April 2013 . . . We'd truly like to be done sooner.

[Mike Simpson]

Another good one Jay...as are the previous ones. Quite a project in all I must say. Don't worry about the faces, they turned out well. For those of us coming into the picture a little late can you briefly tell us how this gig came to be?

[Jay Allen]

Mike . . .

My 'network' through my volunteer efforts locally is what brought this job to us. This project - once we got started - actually saved my business from an unknown fate - what with the economic downturn. Sales dried up for everyone, for the most part.

Karma is a loooong train coming sometimes - and when we hosted the International Letterhead meet in Belvidere in 1997 (which pretty much turned into the largest Walldog meet instead thanks to Kent Smith and Mark Oatis!!) I met a woman with the Northern Illinois Tourism Development Office. As time went on - and due to the fact that their offices were in Belvidere - she became an ally in promoting Belvidere's murals.

When she became a board member of the ILHC (Illinois Lincoln Highway Coalition) she was presented the challenge of finding creative ways to increase traffic on the highway. She chose an Interpretive Gazebo and Mural project, wrote a grant app to the Federal Byways program (part of the DOT) and the state of Illinois. Most grants are 80/20 - Gov't puts up 80% and your alternate funding source (in this case the Illinois Tourism Dept.) puts up the balance.

We did a test series of 3 murals starting in 2005 with one grant applied for through the state - and used that to refine the project to its current look. Eventually, the grant was approved (obviously) and just recently won an award and national recognition for Best Interpetive Byways project (along with one from Detroit, MI)

http://www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/abo ... 9/08/1773/

The project also might be featured in an upcoming article in the New York Times due to the relationship the NYT has with the Byways people, as I understand it. I offered commentary - but hard telling if it ever sees print. Doesn't matter to me - but Mom sure would be proud . . .

So that's where we're at . . . and 14 more murals to go, Mike . . . and very, very happy it is being so well received.

[erik winkler]

Seems like you desirve it Jay.
Maybe just because they made beautifully.

[Mike Simpson]

Thanks, Jay, for taking the time to explain the project and congrats on landing it. You're sure doing a good job on them. Makes me want to go back and start at the begining. Are the murals all recorded in one place or should I just do a search here for them?

[Jay Allen]

I've posted each one here since the first . . . though I can't recall if the first few were actual step-by-step's . . .

Thanks for the kind words, Mike. It's been a challenge . . .

[Danny Baronian]

Blatant self promotion....

You had a good teacher. Bill had a good student. Some of that 'talent' must have been inside all along. The only thing I would have done different would have to made the boy scout on the left look like he was awake!

Nice work.

If the NY Times does an article of your work, will your workflow increase dramatically?

Danny

[Jay Allen]

Baronian . . . YOU BET this is shameless self-promotion!! Who else has deep enough pockets than other talented sign men and women to afford us and our work?

My best clients are found here on this message board . . . so that's why I post this stuff!!!

To be truthful, as the original photo shows, the ... kid on the left had his eyes closed - or almost closed - due to the sunshine. In fact, both boys did - but I couldn't justify two kids with closed eyes . . . Hueg is a literalist - and taught me to paint what's really there since that what was shown to the clients. But I just couldn't with the shorter kid. I found an oil portrait in a book that had the same angle, turned it to a sepia tone, popped in the face in Photoshop with OPEN eyes and painted THAT face instead of two 'eyes closed Boy Scouts' . . .

Shadowed faces look funny when you don't know what you're doing. Bill's coming in 2 weeks and we're doing a tutorial on faces . . . What a guy - what a friend . . . Maybe next time I can do better . . . No, I WILL do better. (Faster at least!!)