Before completing the Nitro campus mural, Amazon invited me to create a complimentary Global Moth of Volunteering mural on the steps outside the Doppler campus a block away.
The steps mural design incorporated the same color palette and the earth image as Nitro, but differed in that it included three pairs of hands at the bottom holding seeds. Those seeds sprout, wrap around and radiate out and up from the earth.
The Doppler mural’s last day is September 18, 2022
I was just about to catch a flight to Alaska (for my first time) when I got an invitation to create a large chalk mural on the sidewalk outside Amazon’s Nitro location. The mural design was going to celebrate Amazon’s Global Month of Volunteering.
Photo credit: Rachael Sage
As I completed the sidewalk mural, I chatted with people nearby and found out there’s a Mary’s Place on the same block. Two young residents, who are brothers, watched me carve my colorful brush around the cement so intently that I invited them to paint. They looked to be 8 and 11 and as we painted the green continents together I found out they both like to draw. I told them to keep creating and thanked them for helping me.
The Nitro sidewalk mural’s last day is September 5, 2022.
The brief was “Urban Oasis” so immediately I thought, PLANTS and COLOR and SUNSHINE. The gig was perfect and the location was ideal. It was to be the steps outside the Amazon Day 1 Spheres, which is quite a bustling area. The night we traced the outline there was a new swing installation by Creos for the public to enjoy. My design included blue waves in the foreground, two shades of green in the middle ground and a blend of red, orange and yellow in the background. They were contrasted with a series of plants in white lines as well as a few birds, clouds and a radiating sun. Below is my mock-up.
So, I hadn’t worked with chalk paste before (chalk paste is crushed chalk mixed with water) but let me tell you something…. if I had known about chalk paste as a kid my life as a professional artist would have started at age 9. I would have painted my entire neighborhood! I would have found my love for murals long before I found my love for anything else. But, i’s ok, I digress.
I was provided chalk supplies by Urban Artworks, the amazing org that hooked me up with this gig, and while I mixed a lot of the chalk at their studio I did more fine tuning of colors at home outside on the patio.
Once the sun set on the first day, we knocked out the outline of the color blocks and the white detailed lines. One of our amazing volunteers, Natalia, almost completed filling in the orange that night! She saved us so much time. On the second day, Taeheon, Duffy and Bella painted the red and greens while Lis knocked out the yellow. I focused on the blue because as a Sagittarius (fire sign) I need to be close to water... any other Sags with me on that?
By the time 6pm rolled around, we were putting the final touches on the white lines and cleaning up the residual chalk dust so pedestrians wouldn’t track it into the buildings. I was elated every time I stepped back to inspect the design and see it come to life. It was an incredible day with lots of chats with friendly people and kids.