Old Tyme Fair Mural....WIP

[Hairbag]

now that the sun is out and shining in calgary i will be working on this for the next week or two.

digital mock up of my design will go on 6 - 8' x 4' panels and will all be done with 100% rosco paints.

projected the cow last night and just finished plotting out all the vinyl mask for the lettering on my plotter

more pics to come

[Norm]

Great mockup Hairbag! keep the pics a comin!

[sharonsstudio]

How big of a sign is it going to be??

[Hairbag]

thanks norm

sharon it is 24 feet wide 8 feet high- 6 sheets of plywood, each coated with a gallon of rosco tough prime. took 6 gallons of primer to seal them up to last. will post a few more pics tomorrow eve after i get all the vinyl mask laid out for the lettering.

[sharonsstudio]

Wow that quite a job.. can't wait to see it finished.. do some steps for us PLEASE!!!! :)

[redanner]

Should be a great job! vacuum hairbag! Like the other work you've posted!

[JimmyG]

sharon it is 24 feet wide 8 feet high- 6 sheets of plywood, each coated with a gallon of rosco tough prime. took 6 gallons of primer to seal them up to last.
will post a few more pics tomorrow eve after i get all the vinyl mask laid out for the lettering.

Your digital layout doesn't look to me to be scaled to 24x8 Len, just from another signman looksee....perhaps I need a wide screen monitor....

May I ask what plywood you are using to use 6 gallons of Roscoe primer?.....Do y'all have MDO plywood? How much finish paint do you expect to use and how many (what type) gallons of that?

Also wondering how you are "staging" or "tiling" the plywood sheets for graphics painting, as far as vertical or horizontal joints, and your installation regards.....?

What would really be major cool, is IF you would show us some step by step pictures of your layout and painting process.....
Work in Progress pictures speak thousands of visual words showing artist "adeptness" or better put, "the painter alchemist claiming to have arrived at the philosopher's stone"....

Looking forward to more sign mural discussion !!!

[Hairbag]

your right jimmy, now that i look at it that is the 4 panel version of the mock up...your eyes and monitor are good. :)

the reason for the panels is i just don't have room to park a trailer anywhere and its a lot cheaper and easier than having to rent extra gear to work on a trailer, not to mention traveling back and forth to the place the trailer is parked at, hauling gear...etc etc. plus they can always take the panels off easily and put them else where.

i could have gotten away with 3-4 gallons on the plywood but the clients asked me to give it a bit extra cuz its going on the side of a 48' transport trailer and will be parked on the trans canada highway for the next few years. both sides and the edges are sealed very very well. i was amazed how much the plywood soaked up. not sure of the type of plywood but its supposed to be safe for outside use.

painted the good sides of 3 of the panels yesterday with rosco gold and took less than 1/3 of a gallon to get flawless coverage on the 3 panels using an airless. the airbrush half will use a few ounces of each color to do the cow and background.

once finished i expect it will take at least a gallon of clear maybe two to give both sides a goad coat. we shall see...painting a big mural like this on plywood panels is a first for me so its a learning experience. would have preferred sheet metal but would have cost near $1200CAD for the panels instead of just over $400CAD for the primer and plywood option.

[JimmyG]

Thanks much for the elaboration and the works pictures Len......sure does better the discussion thereof.....
Upon first look, ya had me worried about sheeting plywood sign panels on a semi trailer but then I read that it's gonna be parked for advertizement only....
From what I can see it looks like your plywood might be MDO (medium density overlay) plywood that has a smooth resin paper laminated to the surface and therefore no wood grain exposed....
Here in the states we have a relatively new substrate called "polymetal" which is .015 aluminum laminated both sides to a plastic core....Polymetal (several brands thereof) comes 3mm thickness, baked enamel finish, and perfect lightweight substrate for such as you are doing there.....Information for another future job of which I can drop some info links if you wish......Polymetal here is cheaper than MDO plywood and much easier to handle....

The only other thing that I see to comment on is that I can feel your pain way down here in south Georgia as you work your graphics paintings with panel laying flat on the floor....I have to stand my panels upright vertical to paint on, or I'd be a creaked back gnome in 5 minutes time.....

[Hairbag]

no problem jimmy i am happy to contribute to the nice shiny new mural section.

i cant wait till i get to costa rica. down there i will be doing 2 full theme rooms, a huge wall mural 12 feet off the ground and 12 feet high 30 something feet long, and a jeep. opportunity of a lifetime and absolutely nothing is going to f it up. plus the guy who is hiring me says his boss wants to put me to work in his house too. may be there for a while...

i got the fair committee to give it to me in writing that the trailer is not to be moved while the panels are on the side... they promised it wont move from the spot once they are up. i have a class 1 drivers (drive anything with wheels) from my days of working on the drilling rigs so i am completely aware of the legal ramifications and dangers of driving with wooden panels on the side.

my damn shop ceiling is 3 inches too short to stand them up :( so they are on the floor until i can get all my lines and masks laid out. if its nice out for the next week or so i may bolt them mofo's to the fence and have my way with em ;)

[AndyW]

Big project, thanks for the explains and pictures.

[Hairbag]

few more pics, if the weather holds out should have this done within a few days.

[JimmyG]

Looking Good Len....big signs are FUN !!!

[AndyW]

You forget how big this is at times, until you catch something to refference to, looks great.

[airartista]

awesomely large!!!!Funny... when it is small before you click on the images... I first thougt it was a nose ring in the cow! What a tongue!!! LOL really great image! I think working big is kinda freeing! Has its issues, but it's a way of making us look differently at an image. So cool.

[Hairbag]

one giant nostril licking cow completed .

just needs a few coats of clear and its off to get installed this weekend.

[JimmyG]

I gotta say Len, ya got some nice detail on those large sign panels just waiting for some fabulous up close "lick see's" when viewers happen close by......

Most excellent sign mural work !!!

[Cameron Arts]

Holy Cow, what a cool project! (Sorry, just had to.) :D
Seriously, though... This is turning out great. Always enjoy seeing your work.

[airartista]

so cool.... I love BIG!!!!!! Really would be great to see this IRL!!! Are you onto greener pastures?!!!

: )

[Hairbag]

hey you guys are punny...

thanks for the compliments and it does look pretty cool in real life...the rosco paints are sooooo nice to work with and to look at before you clear over them. still nice after clear but i just love how matte they are even in direct sunlight. they are sooo easy on the eyes to work with for long periods of time.

greener pastures are definitely over the horizon. i've got a monster of a theme room starting up in the next week or so...round room 50' across with 20 foot high dome ceiling. going to need to hire a few other artists with mural experience to help out if any one around calgary wants some work, email me some samples of your work and i'll take a look.

also just started a full custom paint job on the craziest chopper i have ever seen and i am also restoring a life size fiberglass cow.

[Margret]

The cow looks great! You did an awesome job Len :). Looks like 'greener pastures' for you ahead with those other jobs lined up too.

[Norm]

Excellent job Len! Great detail on the cow.

[Hairbag]

thanks guys... this was a fun project to do. should have some pics of it installed within a few days.

tee hee silly cow :P

[Kevin Gallagher]

Thats a big Job, But it will look Great.

[air_fx]

Terrific job on the sign.....i'm very interested to see what you do in the round room....please keep us posted on that project.

[XZOTIC INK]

awesome