MURAL ARTS
by Grants Pass Public Art Pioneer and occasional Muralist
 
John Granacki, Master of Space & Time

 

 
Here are a few examples from my mural painting portfolio, beginning with a day-and-night landscape at the [now defunct] Blue Pine Brew Pub in Grants Pass, Oregon:

 

Alas, the photograph doesn't capture the far right edge, but in addition to Sirius (the star from which the prism-bound beam of light originates) there's a sleepy Man-on-the-Moon in the upper corner to complement Mr. Sunshine at far left. The beam of starlight passes through a heart shaped hole in the pinnacle, then between Mars and Venus, and is then scattered a' la Pink Floyd / Dark Side of the Moon by a prism in the hand of an old wizard—but is it Gandalf or is it Saruman?  The artist has never told, so to be safe it's best to keep a close watch on your beer!



A "Creation-Myths" mural, rendered on the east door of the Grants Pass Museum of Art building, opening into what was once the Unitarian-Universalist Community Room, a regular hot spot on the Grants Pass First Friday Art Night itinerary, then and since, only now it is a LEGO™ gallery (REBEL BRICK). The door's imagery includes various heavenly bodies dancing and cavorting above and about in the light of a Lotus Moon, as meanwhile, slimier reptilian things evolve from the deep. The Earth, according to an old Hindu legend, is supported on the back of a giant tortoise. Cradled within the planetary crescent (in this, my version of the tale) I've rendered the Archetypal Garden of Earthly Delights, but there is no serpent in this paradise; not even worms in the apples!

Incidentally, this is almost the original Grants Pass Painted Door. It and my 1996 series of downtown Christmas Murals, with bears), my 2003 "Peace House" (think "Imagination Village"), and my many spacescapes (especially those of Mars!) were just a few of my artistic endeavors to have had an avalanche effect on the Grants Pass Art Scene (most effectively when given a nudge by Brady Adams.)


 

This one was painted on the side of my inlaws' garage.  The watermaster made them take the ornamental paddle wheel out of the irrigation ditch, so we took a few paddles off (to make it look as if submerged in the gravel...) and painted a millhouse beside a stream flowing down to the Rogue River, which you can't quite see from the other side of the house on account of bushes and brambles along the banks, but the view actually looks a lot like this from the other side of their house. Now their neighbor gets to look at it too—well, sort of...

click to supersize




Here's a bedroom ceiling mural that is bright and lively in the daytime, yet surrendering gracefully at twilight to the cosmic glory of the night! Hmmm...  I forgot how many angels are up thereabout a dozen I'd guess. Some are standing or sitting on the edges of the clouds, while others are in full flight. Isn't it comforting to know they're there, keeping watch on the world while you peacefully slumber? 


 



 

Below is the lower half of an upstairs/downstairs—day & night
nature mural  that I painted inside a friend's backyard clubhouse.
click to see MORE!


A sign/mural combo, painted in downtown Grants Pass 
at the Old Town Antique Mall, on 6th between H & I Streets:


Grants ass, Oregon ~ Highest per-capita concentration of Antique Dealers in the entire GALAXY!




Did you ever get to meet my horse?


     

©2007-2016 John Granacki Internet Arts



Accompanied on Bongos, the Crescent Moon keeps Watch over Her Bed