"Mija, Moya" Mural at The High Rise Show

Wednesday was the final presentations for Ignite, the classes I teach for C4 Atlanta. The presentations were bomba cache, but that’s not what this post is about. One of the panel reviewer was Alex Francombe, who told me Miya Bailey was still looking for muralists for the third floor of The High Rise show at 34 Peachtree.

Now, I actually had a meeting scheduled Thursday that got rescheduled, a sign the Universe was co-conspiring with me. Getting in the show last minute involved sending pictures of 4 work samples, which I did at 11 at night after class and then painting the mural in a single day because the show opens today.

“I need you to think "COLLAGE" and flow off the artists next to you...” —@miyabailey

The entire piece was composed on site, day of. I didn’t go into this piece with a plan, because I had no idea what kind of space I would find. Amazingly, the space around @cfluxsing wasn’t taken, but it looked done to me. I had this idea that I would do my typical style of abstract realism, with a picture of Moya painting, as if she was responsible for some of the abstract marks around her.

The original photo I used as a reference for this interior mural

It was just the right amount of space for a life-sized toddler with a lot of enthusiasm for painting, and a flowing, messy expressive abstract piece. I composed, sketched and painted this in one day — that means no projector, no sketch, no stencil, nada.

I love doing events like this because I had a lot of fun painting alongside the many other muralists who were there at the same time. We may have or not taken a break to watch the Savage X Fenty fashion show... You don’t get that unique experience working at home, so I’m really glad I was able to be a part of it.

The full finished mural featuring pop art portrait painting by C.flux Sing in the center

And because I’m always trying out new things when I have the freedom to, I used a printmaking squeegee to create some of the abstract marks this time. Like the Mop head, it makes some satisfying marks that look exactly like my ink on paper work. Of course; you can’t tell in the final piece because I’ve built up the layers but they inspire me and are fun to make.

And, I never think to warn people around me ahead of time, but my painting process, especially in the beginning is Quite Physical & sometimes alarming to other painters who don’t know what going on but suddenly hear a lot of hitting the wall... it’s action painting. Jump painting, slapping the wall, these are all strategies for good marks.

Beyond this, the experience of being absolutely ready to make my next mark, was so good for my self confidence. I love painting murals, and this is it for me.