Raining Cats and Dogs

It’s been a very wet few weeks here in Texas, so this week’s installation was fitting. We were fortunate to have an ace installer, Lisa Speairs, to lead the application of this fantastic mural painted by artist John Wehrle.

Wallpaper installer Lisa Speairs and artist John Wehrle line up the second panel.

“Schrodinger’s Cat” is modeled after our own kitty, Pingu.

Artist John Wehrle, post-install.

The finished mural. Part One of a multi-faceted project for the Fort Worth Animal Services North Campus.

On the work table now:

Here’s the current long-term project, which will be installed on the façade of a local fire station. The image, designed in cooperation with and painted by Texas native and current CA resident John Wehrle, features two fire fighters, dynamically fighting the flames that rise behind the station’s logo. Here’s a sneak peek.

I love this painting, created by John Wehrle of Trout in Hand Studio.

The fire fighters’ knees, emerging from the tall grass.

We’re using vintage Italian smalti, which I purchased from a historic collection once owned by California mosaic muralist, Millard Sheets. The colors are rich and so varied. We have our choice of over 500 unique colors to create this mosaic (if we so choose!).

This is how far we’ve come after a month of diligent work. The paper-faced method means we create the pattern in reverse on heavy duty paper, then apply the tesserae with a water-soluble glue. The final mosaic will be 12 x 12 feet. We divided the pattern vertically and horizontally in a puzzle-like grid. There are 49 sections.