A month ago, I painted a water barrel that is part of a conservation project for Chicago. Primary website is www.recycletheraindrops.com. My barrel (the one shown above) will be on exhibit @ Columbia College's GreenTown Chicago Conference on October 14/15 at 1104 S. Wabash. Conference website is www.greentownconference.com. The conference is not open to the public, however my barrel will eventually be placed somewhere in Chicago, so stay tuned, I will post the location when it is official!
Barrel is about 4ft tall and painted with acrylic paint. I was given the opportunity to paint whatever I wanted as long as it was appropriate for public viewing and the imagery covered the whole barrel—while this type of creative freedom doesn't come along often, I wanted to create something that would make me smile if I were walking down a street in Chicago and spotted it on the corner. They requested that I submit a statement regarding my self-assigned theme, this is my summary:
The general theme of the rain barrel is that we all share the same home (Earth) and we are all in this together. Water conservation is a serious topic that I wanted to rewrite as approachable with a playful depiction of animals tucked in a life saver floating elbow-to-elbow in water. A sun is at the top of the barrel circling the opening to symbolized water, life, and hope.
Labels: ILLUSTRATION, PUBLIC ART
