amazing

That is how I would describe, overall, this public art project I've just about completed (finished shots coming soon). I have had so many incredible encounters with people over the past month, and for me, that is very life-giving. From working professionals to mothers with their children to homeless people to the elderly to...you name it, just about every kind of person has interacted with me over the course of this mural unfolding. It has attracted the attention of other creative professionals, including a girl making a documentary on creativity in LA, people wanting to hire me to paint signs or design their wallpaper or do some other creative task, a college photography student wanting to photograph my process for her class, etc., etc. One of the things I love most about this town is how creativity is hard-wired within it, and the people who live here truly appreciate and pursue creativity in all forms.

Two encounters stand out in particular. One was with a young boy, maybe seven years old, who was completely enthralled by the painting process and kept asking over and over with great excitement, "How are you doing that? How are you doing that?" He told me he wanted to be able to climb into the wall so he could walk all around the design, something only a child's brain would imagine.

The second was with a man who appeared to be homeless and was one of the most interesting people I've talked to in a long time. He used to be a commercial painter in Chicago and was also an artist in his own right. He and I talked about design, various challenges I had with the mural, how one goes about creating, and the merits of different design and artistic approaches. I really benefited from his obvious artistic eye and affirmation and enjoyed his feedback probably more than anyone else's. He's someone who I believe was "sent" to me to tell me things I needed to hear at different points along the way.

So overall, although an incredible amount of work, this project is probably one of the most enriching art experiences I've had to date.