Jobs with Insufficient Access to the Wall

On various jobs over the years, I’ve had to improvise when there wasn’t sufficient access to the mural surface. One that stands out in my mind was a midwestern zoo job featuring an artificial mangrove swamp.

The theme company I was subcontracting for had to install the mangrove plants before I could get the background painted. This meant painting the scene through the tangle of mangrove branches, where there was often insufficient space to get in a hand with a brush, let alone a spray gun. To aggravate matters, the back side of the artificial branches often contained rusty, razor-like barbs from steel mesh poking through the epoxy putty.

I solved the problem by cutting the bottoms out of tall plastic cups and wearing the cups like armor secured to my forearms with duct tape. The end result was acceptable but nothing like I envisioned if I had been allowed adequate access to the wall.

Brookfield Zoo Tropic World, Brookfield IL


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Key Lime Cove Water Park

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Museum of Science and Industry Space Center, Chicago IL

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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

Shedd Aquarium, Chicago IL

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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

Henry Vilas Zoo Train Tunnel, Madison WI

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Airplanes

The first commercial flight I took in 1957 was as a boy with my family, from New Orleans to Los Angeles. All of the men on the plane wore suits, I wore a coat and tie. My sisters wore frilly dresses. We checked our luggage and walked from the terminal at Moisant Field (now Louis Armstrong International Airport), across the open tarmac and climbed the rolling staircase into the fuselage. Continue reading

Milwaukee County Zoo Aviary, Milwaukee WI

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