Over the period of two months, I was assigned to complete two different murals in Ballard Coffee Works. This post focuses on the first mural, which can be found in the community room.
Ultimately, the mural had to follow a theme that would best represent Ethiopian coffee culture. Using photos from a recent trip that an employee had made to Ethiopia, I was able to recreate the presentation of the Jebena, pots, cups, and basket, which are commonly used during coffee ceremonies.
Knowing that wainscoting would be added, I decided to use the bottom half of the wall differently, using a style that would contrast nicely with the top half of the wall. Without being a distraction, the coffee bean decals tie the image together, presenting coffee in its natural habitat, alongside with one of the oldest coffee traditions in the world.
During the planning stage, while putting ideas onto paper, I was under the impression that I would be working with three colors; however, I would later discover it would only be two colors, and white. It was quite challenging, as I’d never painted with just two colors- especially using tones that were similar (both had an earthy quality). I would eventually use white as shading to make the foreground pop out.
Due to the nature of the piece, this was the first mural in which I had to draw according to scale. This was one of the toughest challenges of the project, as I was using rope and a tape measurer to create the grid. The rope rarely stayed straight, always wanting to coil back up, so I had to work quickly. Number crunching and converting from fraction to decimal was a headache, and at some point I couldn’t have cared less if I was .083 of an inch off. Needless to say, it gave me perspective as to what artists might’ve had to go through before the age of technology. Me thinks I’ll use a laser next time.
