I want to return to Garin Baker again and show what he does for a living. Garin is the guy who painted the portrait of me at my easel, and I enjoyed meeting him at the Cranford "Paint the town" event last week. Garin paints giant murals,including one 200 feet long. I asked if he would send me some "process" photos and that is one above. This is a drawing for a mural about transportation for a building in Washington DC. If you click on it you should get a pretty good size image. These drawings are huge, never mind the murals and need to be seen as large as possible to appreciate the complexity and finish of the drawings.Here is another drawing for the transportation project.
And below, the finished mural for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association in Washington, D.C , it is 15 feet high and 30 feet long.
Garin studied at Pratt and then at the Art Students League. He studied there with David Leffell and Ted Seth Jacobs. He began a career in illustration, but wanted to do his own art for a living as he was painting for himself when not doing his illustration work. In 1990 he moved out of the city to New Winsor, NY. Where he has restored an old post and beam home and turned the barn into a studio equipped for producing enormous mural canvases.
To get the work as a mural painter it is necessary to do a presentation drawing to show the potential client what your completed mural will look like. Here is another of those below for a public mural in Washington called "How We Live".
Here is the wall to be decorated with the scaffolding up and a scissors lift.
Below is Garin with a big brush on that lift.
And below, the finished mural 30 feet by 30 feet.
Here is a detail of the mural.
Below are two other mural designs, you will have to click on them to really see what they look like as these photos are small.Finalist Proposal Rendering, Missouri Department of Transportation. This was done in black & white charcoal on Canson paper, it is 38 inches by 104 inches
The mural below is in Newburgh New York and depicts gang members idling on the left and those same gangbangers restoring a brownstone row house on the right.
Here is a link to a short movie about another of Garins projects called "The Archways".
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22 comments:
That is incredible! I thought the portrait was especially fine but those murals are something else altogether. Garin must be wired in a unique way in order to make work on that scale and detail.
This is beyond amazing. I don't even know what else to say.
Amazing stuff. Something I've wondered with these massive murals is what paint is used. Exterior latex? How are the colors mixed? Given the subtle shifts in tone, it must be an art unto itself to mix colors accurately in that quantity...or are they off-the-shelf premixed?
Stape! You introduced me to Winslow
Homer.
You've commented on Sargent and the lost edge.
Many more artists,many cool stories, and supplies to consider.
You even recomended the take it easel,(thanks again by the way)
So now I'm ready to do the trip and you pour High octain into my tank.
As a signpainter I completly appreciate Garin Baker.
You just keep serving up the best stuff. Please, take a bow!!
Hope I don't blow a gasket!
Garin is the real deal! What great drawings & murals! You never know who you are going to meet at these paint outs...
That's pretty awesome. I bet it took some guts to paint a mural the first time.
It's sad that the Archways mural is falling apart.
I wonder how you would prepare a wall for a mural anyway?
Something else that makes Garin special is his generosity. Last winter I asked Garin if I could bring fellow artist from South Africa Rene Snyman, who was visiting the U.S. to visit his studio. Rene has been working large format for many years but wanted to paint even larger and asked me if I knew someone who could help her understand the process better. I thought immediately of Garin. Even though I had only met him once before he welcomed us both into his studio and spent hours showing Renee his set up and mural drawings and answering her every question as well as reviewing Renee's work online. All-around nice guy and super talent! Thanks for posting Stapleton!
"Cigil" is my son's blogger account, he obviously didn't log out. The "Cigil comment was written by Lili Anne Laurin.
Thank you Stape. Many times work is published so small as to miss seeing the artist's handy work. These day most all artists are working so hard facebooking and blogging, creatively marketing themselves using a great deal of their creative energy beyond their chosen craft just to survive. So it's wonderfully refreshing to meet another artist who offers the most sincerest generosity and stature as you have to me. Wishing you a wonderful father's day, Stape!
COOL.
Well, since you are now 32 feet tall, it only makes sense that Garin should be the one to paint you!
Garin, if you're reading this, very awesome work you do. No way could I get up on that scaffold!!!
Libby Fife;
I think he is wired in an unique way.He thinks BIG.
.........Stape
Stapeliad ;
There is more tonight on the murals.
.................Stape
Steve;
Garin answers those questions himself tonight.
.................Stape
billspaintingmn ;
I keep serving anyway.
.........Stape
Mary Byrom;
I don't do many paint outs. I did meet interesting people.
.............Stape
Brady;
More on that tonight.
.............Stape
Cigil;
Tonight he turns that generosity loose on the blog.
...................Stape
G. Baker;
Thanks Garin!
..............Stape
mariandioguardi.com;
COOL indeed!
...........Stape
Deb ;
He may not have realized just how tall I am.
.............Stape
Brilliant drawings and his command of perspective is second to none.
I love the construction mural.
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