Paintin' and Spring Breakin'
Another mural is in the books for Philip Bennett Walker! This March he was contracted to paint his Bird of Paradise in the newest Keller Williams office in Ormond Beach, Florida.
Huge thanks to Margaret Sherrill, a long time friend of the Walkers and part of the KW Team, who knew Philip was the perfect artist for this opportunity.
This wasn't just an ordinary office building, either, as it was an old bank that was only partially converted, complete with vault doors, safety deposit boxes, and a tile mosaic clock that serves as the the center of the mural.
The team headed down to Ormond Beach on a Tuesday in our typical caravan with none other than Chick-fil-A to keep us full for the work day ahead.
With his brand new scaffolding in place, Philip was able to get the outline and first layer down on day one. The wall was about 15' x 20' so having the right equipment was imperative to get the scale of the image just right. Since you never know what to expect, it's always better to be prepared, especially when it comes to painting in mid-air with only your team members to (hopefully) break your fall.
Philip freehanded the mural with such ease and style that we knew it was going to be an instant hit and completed quicker than we thought. Wrapping up day one, the team was happy with the progress made and game planned for the next day of work while we overindulged on carbs.
By the way if you don’t know us, our favorite thing to do and unspoken ritual while we're in a new town is to check out the restaurant scene and have our own 5-10 course meal from as many local spots as possible.
After we slept off our food comas, we were refreshed and ready to take on the next day. The mural wasn't the only project on Philips plate, as an old sign needed refurbishing. So Philips wife, Elizabeth, and myself tasked ourselves with that for day 2.
When I signed up to work with Elizabeth 5 years ago I knew I’d be making jewelry, but little did I know I would eventually be working for Philip, too, traveling the country and even putting my own mark on his pieces. Thanks for the heads up guys.
When Philip initially asked if I could help repaint the old sign and work on hundreds of tiny of marks on the individual leaves on the mural, I probably looked like I was going to faint. There's no way I wanted to be remotely responsible for ruining this job. But thanks to him and Elizabeth, and the confidence they had in me, I was excited to contribute to the piece!
As Philip did what he does best, the team really came together to make sure everything was done professionally and in a timely manner. If one of us was waiting for paint to dry, someone was always ready to help prep for the next step.
It may not seem crucial, but cleaning paint brushes and staying on top of social media to engage and create content is totally necessary for our work flow. We literally can't just sit around and wait for paint to dry - there's always something else that can be worked on.
Philip always tries to work smarter and plan a few steps ahead as far as giving sneak peaks of his works on social media to keep you in the loop until he releases the product, idea, or blog.
We finished the final day strong, and by sunset we were done with all the small details like shadowing and filling in the lines that make the Bird of Paradise really come alive.
As we were getting ready for dinner, scrubbing paint off and doing celebratory flips into the freezing hotel pool, the team was stoked on having another completed project under our belt.
Working on this new project brought about great attitudes and fresh energy, even if some of us (me) were a bit out of our comfort zones.
Since it also happened to be spring break we were feelin’ those good vibes as well, as the town had an energetic buzz about it. The timing couldn’t have been better as our friends, Nick and Tyler of the Honey Hounds were playing a set half a block from where we were working.
We finally felt all our hard work was worth it when we got to order some much needed food and drinks, listen to our friends jam, and reminisce over the past two days.
The feeling of accomplishing a new project is something we never take for granted. Philip is always looking for new opportunities and loves to be challenged artistically and work with new concepts.
Do you have a space you'd like to see decked out with Philips art? Reach out to the team and lets make it happen!
