It’s called ‘Bryant Park’ but my kids refer to it as ‘the beach at the end of our street.’ It’s a 7 minute walk from our house and guaranteed to be 10 degrees cooler. Knowing you’re only 7 minutes away from a dip in the lake gives you the mental toughness required to live in a house without AC all summer. Stopping at Bardon’s ice cream on the way home is a very sweet cherry on top.
Over the past couple years, I’ve been interviewed about my process and the mural has been mentioned in several local publications1. The Northern Express article reminded me of this fun fact:
In a fitting twist, Corden was listening to an audiobook during the project: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. For those who haven’t read it, the novel is set on a northern Michigan cherry farm and references the very land and water that Corden was looking out over every day.
“It was crazy because I was literally standing on scaffolding at the base of Old Mission Peninsula while I’m listening to Meryl Streep talk about cherry picking on her [character’s] family’s cherry farm on the peninsula,” she recalls. “They’re driving back and forth between Old Mission Peninsula and Interlochen and they’re performing and it’s about the arts. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m living in this book!”
Only recently though did I document the process from start to finish.
In celebration of the Traverse City Arts Commission’s Mural Fest this month, I was invited by the curators at the Alluvion to participate in an install featuring my process.
Below is the statement I wrote to accompany the installation, followed by some notes on the art business side of the project (budget, paint colors, etc!) I’m happy to answer additional questions in the comments.
Bryant Park Mural Process
I love painting figures. In every attempt to capture the ever changing poses and body shapes there’s something to learn. They’re the perfect subject to practice weight, movement, light and shadow. I’m particularly interested in the light and shadow elements. I often simplify my subjects into values and then use that study to inform a new color palette.
It’s not surprising then, that I often paint the beach. Yes, the beach is a wonderful escape for both recreation and relaxation. The beach is also the perfect setting to study the human figure. Nearly nude subjects are aplenty, creating their own sort of still life composition - with some standing, some sitting, some sprawled out fast asleep. The sand collects the loveliest wonky shadow forms in its dips and grooves. And of course, the sun! Our natural light source. The surfaces reflecting light and hidden by shadows create limitless shapes to experiment with color.
Nevertheless, my work is still representational, and I’ve never imagined it translating to a mural. But when I saw the call for art at Bryant Park, the opportunity felt kismet. I immediately envisioned one of my beach scapes wrapped around the building. I imagined taking a perspective that appears as though you’re looking through it - a zoomed in lens showcasing the enjoyment happening down by the waters edge - an invitation to join.
I was thrilled when I landed the job. My family and I live just a few blocks away and we feel lucky to have the beach (and Bardon’s ice cream) within walking distance. It’s our go-to spot for spontaneous beach hangs with friends and neighbors.
I took this into account when creating my reference images. I wanted to include the local community that frequents Bryant Park so it felt just as special for them as it did for me. In June of 2023 I sent out my own call - for beach models. Friends, followers, and families met me at the park to enjoy a morning on the bay while I snapped pictures. They donned sun hats (great shade makers), tossed beach toys (pops of color), and shook out striped towels (movement and patterns galore).
I then started the creation process.
The first order of business was accurately measuring and photographing the building. The long rectangular side is roughly 7.5’x 35’, and the trapezoid shaped sides are 14’ at their highest and 24’ wide to give you an idea of scale. I then uploaded the site photos to the Procreate app on my iPad. I outlined all the structures, including windows and utility boxes, erased the background image, and laid down a square grid scaled to 1’x1’ for future application on the building.
I then sifted through my photos, picking out a diverse collection of poses and objects to scatter across the walls. This phase was a bit of a puzzle - moving figures around until the composition felt satisfying.
And then the biggest puzzle of all was creating a color scheme. I wanted to choose complementary colors to the surrounding nature while also bringing interest to the building. I knew in order to efficiently cover the square footage I needed to simplify my palette. I limited myself to 20 colors and repurposed them frequently (I ended up using less, slightly simplifying the palette and composition while painting.) For instance, a ‘persimmon’ sun kissed shoulder could also be the sun hitting the wooden arm of a beach chair, and the shadow on a sunhat. The ‘orchid’ shadows hitting the sand could also be someone’s cool skin tones shaded under an umbrella. I carefully arranged the palette so colors too similar in value were never sitting next to each other. That way, from a distance, the image would still be clear for people driving by.
Once the city primed the building and I had my final color sketch, I started the onsite work. I first roughly painted the sand, water and sky as much as possible to establish my background. I then used sidewalk chalk to grid out 1’x1’ squares. The one silver lining of painting on brick is the straight lines help with grid accuracy. I then zoomed in on my sketch and outlined in chalk each small half inch square into a 1’x1’ square. I drew several squares at a time, and then painted that section before starting more squares.
I enlisted some help from my husband and parents to paint larger areas of color. My toddlers applied some paint, and even my studio landlord helped. He generously lent me scaffolding for the 14’ walls, and helped finish painting part of the sky.
2025 was the first full summer the mural was up to enjoy all season long. The feedback has been incredibly positive and generous. I hope the care taken to beautify this building inspires visitors to similarly take care of the park and shoreline
It’s been an honor for ‘Our Neighborhood Spot’ to join my portfolio of work, and more so, a true privilege to contribute to our local community through creative placemaking.
Traverse City, thank you for having me.
I never imagined my work extending to the public art space, but this project has really expanded my mindset for this career. I learned a lot! So I’m sharing some learnings and FAQs below:
What paint colors did you use?
I used all pre-mixed colors in an exterior paint finish from Sherwin Williams. All the paint colors I used are linked here.
What was your budget/reimbursement?