No Parking

“The original image for the mural ‘No Parking’ came from a small encaustic painting on board. The original was thickly textured and intensely worked with pallet knives and intermittently melted with a heat gun. The challenge was to take this small image and translate it to the larger format while using a different medium, acrylic, which does not have the workability of oil encaustic. Using the original as a first step, I painted some larger paintings in acrylic with the intention of capturing the rhythmic feel of the original. Quick, direct brush strokes helped maintain the energy of the piece. The title, ‘No Parking’ was an afterthought but given the dominance of shapes that suggest cars and the location of the piece, I found it humorously appropriate and possibly socially relevant. It was great working with a very diverse team of artists. Everybody involved seemed to have fun and I had the opportunity, by letting go of rigid expectation, of allowing the piece to come about spontaneously. It wasn’t really my piece but the result of a collaborative energy.”

—Ted Fontaine