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SCHLIEFKEVISIONdotcom |
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The online chronicles of a
painter living in Austin, Texas |
DISCOUNT ELECTRONICS
MY WORK ON A MURALSeptember
11, 2005 - Just a couple days removed from the opening reception of
my solo painting show, I started work on a large project - helping
paint the mural designed by
Nathan Jensen
My week long love affair with the walls at the new Discount
Electronics It all began a couple days after the big
opening and exhaustion from the run-up to my solo painting show.
Still exhausted, lacking sleep and keeping the home fires burning, I
started out helping flesh out Nathan Jensen's design and painting
broad strokes on some gigantic walls. |
Nathan gets dreamy and works on some clouds. |
| The week sped by - with
teams of workers bricking walls, cutting metal, building counters,
handrails, using tablesaws and chopping wood to provide a
cacophonous backdrop to the daunting work at hand - finishing three
walls before the store opened in seven short days. Slowly but
surely, the work around us was getting finished, and the mural came
together pretty well. Seemingly inspired by
Chirico and some of Picasso's more plastic cubist moments, the
mural played off the architecture and weight of the brickwork well.
As the store came together, the shelves, countertops and displays
all seemed to tie the space up together pretty well, and aonly left
the front north wall to be painted.
Using a design based off one of
Chris Chappell's paintings, I fleshed out a giant orb and with
Chris at my side, we banged out the mural in a marathon Saturady
affair with the UT-Ohio State game blaring off the big screen TV in
the back of the store. Our work, punctuated by the up and down
cheers of the workers stocking the store, slid along nicely, and
around eleven o'clock, I headed home, exhausted from an intense
week's worth of work and ready to start my summer vacation.
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The northern part of the east wall |
The southern part of the east wall |
The west wall. |
The interior of the store. |
the last ground element - a doorway with arches designed by yours
truly. |
Nathan added in some of his women cutouts into the mural. |
An exhausted Michael Schliefke. |
The west wall rounded out pretty well.
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The layout of the arched sky in the north wall. |
Progress on the north wall. |
Nathan and Chris work on the north wall. |
A look at the north wall from across the way. |
Chris' children make an appearance. |
Chris points out his work on the fountain I painted on the mural. |
Hudi runs free from city hall (upper left) |
An even more exhausted Michael Schliefke. |
A view of the finished mural on the southeast wall. |
A view of the finished mural's northeast wall. |
The western wall, from above. |
A look at the northern wall. |
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