In 2020 when Covid first shut down most of the economy, businesses started boarding up their windows in my neighbourhood. Seeing this was saddening and so I reached out to a local business and proposed a mural on the 18’ stretch of plywood. Not knowing how long places would be boarded up, within the week I had designed and executed this surf mural to brighten up the neighbourhood.
April 2020. Covid shuts down the economy
Businesses started to board up their shops for fear of looting and rioting
if things got desperate.
Below is the plan for the mural. Because I hadn’t painted a mural in about a decade and I wouldn’t be paid for it, I opted for a rather simple design that would have very large blocks of bright colour with minimal amounts of blending. The plan was to have each colour pre-mixed by the paint supplier. This technique allowed me to paint the mural in just 2 stress free days while still making an impact.
…and the final mural. Happy to say that it brightened up the ‘hood and actually inspired me to keep making surf art. Not everything about the pandemic was bad.
