Originally intended as a response to Crowley ’s
mural’s at the Temple of Thelema in Sicily ,
I soon realized that the constraints of time, space and audience were important
contributory factors in its realization.
The mural was executed at a bar/restaurant called “La Campania ” in the Church Square of a village called Los Montesinos
on the Costa Blanca in Spain .
The space given to me was approximately one metre square,
not as large as I had hoped but definitely achievable in the time I had to
realize the project. It was an excellent creative feeling to know that I had
free reign to do anything I wanted in the space but I also understood that it
had to be suitable for the owner “Stacy Burnett” and his clientele
I began by whiting over the space with emulsion, after two
coats, the surface held none of its original colour and we were good to go.
The painting was executed over three days and I worked on it
for about three hours on each of those days. I worked steadily, applying the
paint in patterned formations until a subject seemed to will itself out of the
foundations. This was the point when my creativity really started to take hold
and its subject matter achieved dominance.
The resulting picture is an example of a Shamanic avatar;
the project shows an arcane preacher complete with Medicine Hat and third eye. It used patterned
motifs to build up the picture and fills the space nicely. I used all the
skills taught to me in my academic career at the University of Lincoln
and I am more than happy with the result.
It was great working with the people in the bar; they were
all very inquisitive and more than happy to give their opinion. There was a
point when I realized that I had actually got to pull the project off and it
made me feel very nervous indeed what with everyone standing around watching me
paint. Thankfully I had no problems and everything went well. A great
experience.