Started adding in a few people from our military representing those from our town who served.

Here are some more progress photos of other parts of the mural. This older gentleman is Judge Richard Rice. In the 1850’s he and some other ingenious folks built the first steam powered car in Maine–built right here in Hallowell. Here I show Judge Rice on his triumphant trip across town on the first car. […]

Martha Ballard was a midwife and caregiver for most of the residents of Hallowell in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She delivered close to 1000 babies, in a region with a population of only several thousand. She was supremely important to the origins of our town. She kept a diary of her doctoring. […]

Spent the day refining some of the figures and roughing in a few more. This is Dr. Benjamin Vaughan, a notable patriot, a well read man with a library only rivaled by that of Harvard of the time. Here he is penning a letter to President Thomas Jefferson, one of the many important people with […]

Hallowell was a major seaport back in the days of sail. Ships and seamen from Hallowell were known in the ports of the world. The upper left of the mural is devoted to the seamen of the area. Here I am developing a man climbing the ratlines.

a Hallowell Mural pencil study from this morning for the figurehead I will be working on today. Captain Drew was a well known sea captain from our bend in the river. As with many men from our town Captain Drew sailed to all ports of the world. As well as a sea town, Hallowell was […]

Work is progressing well on the Hallowell Mural Project. Had several visitors on yesterday’s open mural studio Thursday. Here are some photos of progress. Some initial block-ins of figures. I am working on the top of the mural—adding in some key historical figures. You will see these scenes come into focus over the next days. […]

Here are a few details of various parts of the Hallowell Mural. I’ve been working on the upper third of the 28 foot (vertical) mural. The upper left will deal with Hallowell’s maritime history—shipping, ship building. And on the upper right I’ve been blocking in the 6 foot head of the statue for National Monument […]

This is a color study of one of the figures who might go in the mural, but more importantly, he is my paint and canvas test to see how the materials will hold up on the wall. The method I am using for this mural was developed by the Philadelphia Mural Arts program, for their, […]

Yesterday, Jen, ever faithful and super talented mural assistant, started priming my mural canvas at the Firehouse studio. This is not canvas in the normal ‘artist’ canvas sense. This material is super tough, Polytab, which is a non-woven synthetic fabric—tough as nails⁠—or rather, tough as a wall. For primer we are using top of the […]

I put together this little video time-lapse of our mural efforts yesterday—Jen and I built the temporary wall/easel in the old Hallowell Firehouse–this is the wall that will hold the mural canvas while I work this summer on the Hallowell Mural Project. Well, actually this wall only holds about one third of the entire mural–but […]

Exciting day, we started building the mural studio. Yesterday, finally, Jen and I moved all the fascinating stuff in my new, temporary, Firehouse Mural Studio. The City of Hallowell has allowed me to work in the large second floor room in the old Firehouse. This gives me an 11 x 30+ foot wall to work […]

This mural will have over 70 figures, some contemporary, some historical. I have been nailing down poses, stances, finding nuance in the gestures I want. This starts with sketches and scribbles in the drawings pad and moves on to more finished drawings. I am arranging with models to pose for some people, as stand ins […]

This year and a half since I started working on the big Hallowell Mural Project, I have learned much about our town on the river, many fascinating bits and pieces of our history, parts of the various stories that have made our community. I have drawn dozens upon dozens of scenes and people, ships, granite […]