Fine Art Gallery, Art Restoration, & Picture Framing
Illustration: R. Michelson Galleries Mural Process
R. Michelson Galleries has a lot of people to thank for this beautiful mural. Brian Foote and the Northampton Arts Council, with their enthusiasm in enriching our city with art, helped fund this project. Kim Carlino and Ramiro Davaro-Comas were commissioned by the council to complete the four-story painting in two weeks. They completed the project in one week, despite a massive heat wave and treacherous weather conditions.
Listen to Kim, Ramiro, and Meghan discuss the mural on WHMP Radio, August 23rd, 2024.
Design Process
How to begin the process of creating a four-story mural depicting our dedication to children’s book illustration? It certainly was a learning process. The final mural includes 30 children’s book characters, and 39 book spines. Although the mural is complete, our job isn’t yet finished; stay tuned for a mural key letting you know exactly who’s who on this massive painting.
Initial image of the south-east facing wall.
Perspective cropped and greyed out in photoshop for a flat surface to draw on.
Puzzle-piecing together a cohesive composition with a focus on inclusion.
Initial rough draft with pencil and ink on top of building image.
Second draft moving into digital, sans books spines. Each spines was recreated with four different fonts and 12 colors for simplicity.
Final Digital Image of Mural, including edits, book spines, and some detailing.
Digital Image Superimposed on the Wall
Painting Process
On Friday June 21st, Kim and Ramiro started the task of painting the original untouched brick wall from when Northampton National Bank completed the building’s addition in the 1950’s (the front of the gallery was built in 1913). Beginning with a white basecoat to help seal and protect the wall, they moved on to block out the blue sky, shelves, and books, before projecting the mural’s characters one night. Please enjoy these process photographs below.
Kim and Ramiro starting off with a sealing base layer of paint.
Next, floor by floor, they added the blue sky gradient.
Our muralists, Kim and Ramiro from inside the fourth floor of the gallery.
First layer one the wall. (Barbara McClintock’s Annie from Vroom was the first character on the wall!)
Beginning to block in the book spines.
Dancers attending Salsa in the Plaza every Monday as Kim and Ramiro work on.
In the evening, Ramiro and Kim projected characters onto the wall to make sure proportions were correct.
Projecting our pals Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems.
Photo from the top of the parking garage. Ramiro is setting up the projection for Matthew Cordell’s character from Wolf in the Snow, as Kim draws the outlines on the wall with white chalk.
Meghan looks on as the projection continues.
High school apprentices working on the book spines.
Ramiro is sketching out our beloved Paddington as Gossie supervises.
King of Wild Things Max (created by Maurice Sendak) raises his scepter and looks over his new reign.
Kim organizing the stencils for the book spines.
Our characters are coming together!
Ramiro adding the final touch- the top banner reading R. Michelson Galleries!
Our boom lift staring longingly at the famous steam shovel, Marry Anne of “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel”. Love at first sight?
The final mural, completed in just ONE WEEK by muralists Kim Carlino and Ramiro Davaro-Comas. We are SO thrilled to represent 30 different characters, 39 book spines, 2 muralists, and illustration art in the valley. It truly does take a village.
Our brave muralists, working four floors up.
A view of the final mural straight on.
Muralist Ramiro Davaro-Comas, Designer Meghan Zaremba, and Muralists Kim Carlino standing in front of the four floor mural featuring children’s book characters.
