My Biggest Painting Yet

Just a little larger than my normal size of 18" x 24" at 10 feet high and 20 feet wide. I had lots of help from friends and family to get it ready for the Alderwood Community Church Christmas program.  It is one of two backdrops used in the play.  This particular one was for the opening scene of a local outdoor shopping area at Christmas time.  The entire backdrop was composed of 5 panels each 10 feet high and 4 feet wide.  On one side was the shopping scene.  On the other side was the interior of a church.

The entire set production was about a week to week and a half behind schedule.  That pushed the backdrop painting out as well.  I was able to enlist some help from friends and family to move things along and for a while I felt like I lived at the church.

I started with a simple sketch to get the basic layout across the 5 panels.  Then did a quick color sketch to figure out what colors of paint I would need.  Mixing colors a half gallon at a time is different than a teaspoon full on my painting palette.

The real trick, and this was brand new to me, how do you get this 8 1/2 x 11 sketch onto a 10 foot by 20 foot backdrop.  My wife, Reine, saved the day with an awesome solution: copy the sketch onto a clear transparency and use an old time overhead projector to project the image onto the backdrop.  Shazam!  We had it laid out in less than two hours and the painting could begin.

It took many hours of getting it all filled in and all the details added.  In the end I was very pleased with the results and glad that I could use my gifts to worship and praise God.