Clint Eastwood_ My First Love

Having finally finished the last three projects of 2008, namely Burrishoole GAA CLub, Newport, Mayo, Fifth Avenue, Oranmore, Galway and the Tourist Office Achill Island, (See End 2008) it is with much anticipation that I have got round to actually beginning the work on "The Country Club", Pub mural in Mayo. [Sigh, little happy dance :)]

I will post up the prepartion photographs very soon to keep you all updated on the progress. I have had very few mishaps so far (trigger fingers crossed), and the prepartion went pretty well. I began to find images for this mural about five years ago but never saw a time that it would come to pass. I drew the sketch from an amalgamation of all of these "bits and pieces" I had collected to piece together my "Wild West in the Wild West scene!" The sketch as per usual began with my cup of green tea ,a roll of masking tape and my trustee markers. What would I do without them? I drew the sketch with relative ease although the wall was tricky to navigate. Freshly painted and plastered it was in the perfect condition to begin but, it is the lay of the wall that was the challenge on this particular occasion. Measuring 20ft by 18ft it has many breaks with a window to one side with deep reveals, a bar counter to the other side and many other "irredeemable nuances", I like to refer to them as. But. There is nothing like a challenge eh? :)

The theme for this project was, as I said the Wild West. Of course no one springs to mind more often when thinking on this idea than Clint Eastwood. And Clint Eastwood was... am, let's say, easy on the eye in his famed 1966 Western, "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" days. So what a better era to choose from than his time spent in the Almeria desert in Spain (its on my list of places to visit!). He was filming for this epic spaghetti Western, the third in the series of his triolgy. The other two films he shot were; A Fist full of Dollars and A Few Dollars More.(The Man with No Name is name of box set, not to be confused with such similar titles. I reviewed a film one season in Film Studies at National College of Art and Design called The Man who wasn't There. Good. It is a gritty film Noir and the great BillyBob Thornton. Anyway. I like Fim Noir and Spaghetti Westerns you'll understand). I love everything Cowboy and always have growing up. I grew up in a liscensed premises and there were quite a few cowboys on the scene even that time! Its been a dream to get round to painting it.

And so the time has come. I finished the sketch in good time and went about masking my prized areas before mixing the appropriate paint for the skyline as you will see from the progress shots. I am in the fourth day now.

I am painting Clint. He is beautiful like my boy and so I will make him thus.

Watch this space.

I have the majority of the base coat up on the wall as yet but I have yet to begin any detail. The masking tape I used was a good quality durabond which worked very well as sometimes you find with cheaper alternatives that they will be so tacky they may remove the paint baser from the wall when you remove them. Everyone take a deep breath and relax because that did not happen!

You may be able to see this from my image. I have chosen to put my most recent pictures to the beginning of my post as each time you log in progress is right there for you to see instead of scrolling through counless paragraphs of my processes. A customer in the premises came and gave me and Ennio Morricone Movie Hits Compilation this morning. He did a huge amount of Sergio Leones Scores and of course was also involved with The Good The Bad and the Ugly. I've been enveloped in mystic and haunting orchestral tones by Ennio all morning and I'm feeling all romantic and nostalgic. I love to become familiar with a theme in every way possible when painting. Be it the particular movie soundtrack. A book version of the film that I can read in the evening after my work. If it be a musical backdrop I am painting or a particular period in culture and history I will firstly comes to terms with that era and become informed of the atmosphere, people and conditions related. This is the only true way to make a painting look realistic other than just regurgitating a visual.

Tell me what you think of the work so far :) xk