Another street art project for the Fall…

For the month of September I’ve been working on a second street mural (Located at 713 Somerest Street W. Phuket Royal Restaurant) in Ottawa’s Chinatown. It is a collaborative work between Ottawa artist, Kimberly Edgar and myself. Kimberly had designed and painted the initial panels, but due to recent renovations there were 2 panels left blank. This is where I was brought in to fill in the rest.

Initially I had a very hard time pitching an idea. I was thinking of how I could put new artwork on those panels without it being odd looking next to another artist’s painting. In the end I did not want to disregard Kim’s design, but honour it. After messaging her, I had the go ahead to try to replicate her style so my work would blend with hers.

I did want to add something extra, so I designed 3 elephants with floating flower petals and drop shadows. Below is an image from my initial design pitch for the client:

The restaurant liked it! Thank-fully there wasn’t a lot of back and forth regarding the design. They did ask that I paint their trunks going more upwards (like the middle elephant). This was an easy adjustment for me to make. The proposal process this time around was a lot quicker! (Click here to see my posts on my previous street-art project)

I started painting in mid-September. Here are my in progress photos. Click on a photo to start a slideshow view, with captions.

Primer and background colour layer

Elephant under painting underway

Painting bubbles

Lilly pad and flower layer

Lilly pad and flower layer

Developing flower

Close up, initial painting layer for elephants

Adding lights and darks

Lastly painted in the drop shadows. Sun starting to go down at this point

It took me 3 visits to the site to finish painting. I ended up painting in the dark on the last day so I could finish. I did not want to risk missing out on the great weather conditions.