Military art by muralist Paul Barker

A portfolio of images from the Airborne Special Ops Museum, the Cantigny First Division Museum (exhibits for Battle of the Bulge, WW1 and Vietnam III Corps Map), and my military paintings. I haven’t included images from the Marine Corps Museum. To view the whole collection in sequence, click the first image, then use arrows on the left and right to advance or retrace.

III Corps Vietnam Map for Cantigny First Division Museum, Wheaton IL

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Where Technology Gets Us

This morning was a fine, sunny morning. I sat out on the front porch swing watching the world go by across our front lawn while enjoying a healthy breakfast. Organic nuts, seeds and berries with organic soy milk in an organic bowl.

I was smugly content that I was getting my minimum daily requirement of organic riboflavin, bioflavinoids, vitamin F, phyto-nutrients, proto-miscreants and other essential, important sounding stuff.

Tasted like the box it came in. Good roughage, I guess.

Like many minds, mine tends to wax philosophical before I’m completely awake.

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Philadelphia Zoo Aviary, Philadelphia PA

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SportZone

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Brookfield Zoo Tropic World, Brookfield IL


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Tryon Palace, New Bern NC

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Rainforest Café

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Museum of Science and Industry Temporary Exhibits, Chicago IL

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Henry Vilas Zoo Visitor Center, Madison WI

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Greek Restaurant Ceiling

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Pennypack Environmental Center, Philadelphia PA

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Wissahickon Environmental Center, Philadelphia PA

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National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, Casper WY

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Lake Superior Zoo Australian Exhibit, Duluth MN

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Pirate Tree House

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Trompe L’oeil and Faux Finishes

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Henry Vilas Zoo Creature Corner & Giraffes, Madison WI

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Website launch

After months of hard work, we launched this website officially today, July 24, 2014, which I note for the sake of historians who will surely want to record the date for posterity. We used Constant Contact to send an email to everyone in my email contacts, both business contacts and friends, and so far have heard back many friendly congratulations. Continue reading

News at Eleven

I’ve been interviewed for local TV newscasts on a number of jobs. As I mentioned in my Mostly True Tale, Why They Call It Windows, I’ve recently been editing some of these videos for this website. Here are the news interviews uploaded so far gathered together in one place. Continue reading

Como Park Zoo, Saint Paul MN

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Henry Vilas Zoo Anacondas & Classroom

Anaconda-wanting-to-help-Paul-paint-at-Henry-Vilas-ZooOne of my most consistent and enjoyable clients is the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin. The director, now retired, was a Viet vet like myself, and a former Green Beret, so we hit it off instantly, trading War stories. My most recent job for Henry Vilas was in 2012, some rainforest walls in the Education building which included an Anaconda exhibit. The two huge snakes, on the other side of a plexiglass sliding door, made no secret of their desire to help me paint. At least I think that’s what they wanted. Continue reading

Brookfield Zoo Aviary Free-Flight Room, Brookfield IL

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St. Lucie County Aquarium Smithsonian Exhibit, Fort Pierce FL

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Smithsonian Institution, Duck Stamp exhibit, Washington DC

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National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, Port of Dubuque IA

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Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Coloma CA


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Lincoln Park Zoo Australian exhibit, Chicago IL

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Kansas City Zoo, Kansas City MO

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Model Train Layout Surround

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Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina KS

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Charity Gala Booth Backdrops

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Painting Rudolf

Muralist-Paul-Barker-paints-Rudolph-the-reindeerA brief informal video of Santa Claus, his sleigh, and his reindeer I painted late fall 2013 (including Rudolph, his nose not yet painted red) for a residential client in the Chicago suburbs to install on his rooftop in time for Christmas. Continue reading

What Not To Do at the Zoo

Some of my earliest memories are of the Audubon Park Zoo in New Orleans. My family lived in my Grandfather’s big house within hearing distance of it. As a toddler I knew when it was noon because the lions would start calling for lunch. I still love the quaint WPA zoo buildings with animals carved into the brick, the formal fountains and statuary. But in retrospect I realized that the zoo in the early 50s was actually an animal prison with iron bars whose tops curved down into spikes aimed at the animals. The inmates lived out their life sentences in small cells. Given the spirit-crushing boredom, I can’t help sympathizing with an inmate taking the opportunity to fling something at the gawking bipeds outside. Continue reading

Jesus Was a Plumber?

A long time ago, when I was working as a custom cabinetmaker and doing murals as a sideline, I was hired to paint a religious scene in the lunchroom at a Catholic hospital in a rural Illinois town. Supervising me would be the half-dozen-or-so nuns from the order that had founded the hospital. Continue reading

Bird Brains

Shorebirds exhibit murals in the Aviary at Milwaukee County ZooI was painting a beach scene for a flightless shore bird exhibit for the renovation of the aviary at the Milwaukee County Zoo in 1993. The Zoo folks seemed pleased with what they were seeing, commenting on how realistic the sand dunes looked. “Like you could just run up them,” they said. Continue reading

Where’s Pauldo?

It all started while on my first zoo job at the Milwaukee County Zoo. They asked me to paint lichen on a tree trunk in a rhino hornbill exhibit in the aviary. While I was making the green-and-gray blobs, I realized one of them looked sort of like a silhouette of a person, so I added a tall collar and a pompadour and, voila — Elvis! Continue reading

Science City at Union Station, Kansas City MO

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Philadelphia Zoo Rare Animals, Philadelphia PA

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Philadelphia Zoo Primates, Philadelphia PA

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Milwaukee County Zoo Lion House, Milwaukee WI

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Milwaukee County Zoo Australian Building, Milwaukee WI

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Milwaukee County Zoo Apes of Africa, Milwaukee WI

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Henry Vilas Zoo Small Mammals, Madison WI

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Henry Vilas Zoo Train Tunnel, Madison WI

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Henry Vilas Zoo Aviary, Madison WI

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Henry Vilas Zoo Carousel Building, Madison WI

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Erie Children’s Zoo, Erie PA

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Erie Zoo Kiboka Tree House TV Studio

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Denver Zoo Primate Panorama, Denver CO

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Columbus Zoo Manatees, Powell OH

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