The saga of this mural wall has a few more twists and turns than the usual. I come on the scene from the wings as the ‘Option B’, after the clients first direction flamed out for various reasons, including breaking the budget. The standing concept was to do a giant rope weaving sculpture, a Paul Bunyan scale macrame made from hefty nautical poly-pro hawser lengths. Like, lots of lengths. The company even had some industrial-sized spools of the stuff sitting in a nearby warehouse gathering dust and ready to macrame action. Then the price came in - approx $100K, and it turned out that the the giant ropey, spools had mysteriously vanished. So then comes the Option B phone call - ‘… Robert, could you paint a mural of a rope sculpture?’ Answer was ‘sure’, of course. I soon drew up some renderings of what this might look like, but still, the client just couldn’t visualize the final effect. I found that quite understandable, it seemed like an odd thing to paint. 

Shannon McNutt, of MesherShingMcNutt, the project designer, suggesting a giant octopus. The gargantuan, menacing type, that would be busy messing with various nearby Seattle landmarks - the Space Needle, seaplanes, espresso carts. The pivot seemed like a no brainer for the nautical themed eatery where the two story mural wall was located within the office building. The client has wanted to reference local touchstones. But the immense scale of a Godzilla-like octopus filling a wall that’s 22 feet tall did not set the mood that they had in mind. 

Backing up from the mega-fauna idea, but keeping the octopus as a promising subject, I started doodling with various watercraft inspired by the assortment at the nearby Center for Wooden Boats, a hands-on non-profit right across the street on the shore of Lake Union. Each skippered by a poker-faced octopus sporting a different nautical hat or cap. And in the sky zone near the ceiling, several vintage seaplanes too, including ‘BlueBill’. Boeing’s very first product completed in a nearby boathouse hanger in 1909, BlueBill was the namesake of the venues first floor, while Mallard was the name of the smaller venue on the mezzanine. Mallard was their second seaplane. A rendering of this approach was presented and got the thumbs up. The whimsey was deemed a good fit with company culture. 

Nice to have a final go-ahead, but then with a three week deadline looming to complete a wall that is 65 feet wide by 22 feet all, with the year-end holiday thrown in the timeline, there was no time to waste. The completed project has proved to be a crowd pleaser. In retrospect Itook this approach in large part because of the time constraints, but as often happens that very limitation drove a simple solution that also plays well with the other elements in the design. This is one of the few times that a mural I’ve done is essentially a giant drawing that’s been painted, as distinct from a painted painting which would typically have more color, tone, and modeling. The simple line reads as whimsical, unpretentious, and not very demanding of the viewer. Instead it’s easy, light, approachable, but rewards with a few details and relationships if the viewer is in the mood to explore. 

The project also serves to underline a point that I like to remind my designer collaborators - that a painted solution can often deliver the biggest custom bang-per-buck. The flexibility is offers when addressing a signature wall is limited only by imagination. Certainly a case where being the Option B was the place to be.