My Train Mural

They tell us that spring is here, and the dedication of the new Belmar train station mural is scheduled for  later this month.  Of course that is dependent on the mural actually being on the wall.  It's been painted on special cloth that will be adhered to the station wall, onto new wood panels that have been attached to the building.  The muralist has been up in the area over the past week making preparations, and today was planned as the first day of the installation. As one of the town's established muralists, I was asked to help out and agreed to afternoon shifts today and tomorrow.  Upon awaking today, I found a chilly, gray, damp day, but no actual rain falling.  Walked to the store and back with no problems.  Back home, checked my e-mails and found no messages of changes, so around mid day I headed to Belmar to start my first shift.

I found the station to be as empty as I've ever seen it, no waiting passengers, and no muralists, who were scheduled to start hours before.  Called the Boatworks and was told that they decided to postpone it because of the weather and the scheduled volunteers had been notified this morning.  No word had found me.  I couldn't leave right away, as I had told my woodcut students that I would be there if they wanted to stop by and pick up the woodcut tools they had ordered and I had finally received on Wednesday.  Luckily I had the phone numbers with me and was able to reach them, and let them know I wouldn't be hanging around there much longer.  We're hoping for better luck tomorrow with the mural installation.

However, another train mural is there for now.  The small structure (above) across the tracks from the platform where the new mural will be going has had some abstract pieces done by the BAC years ago.  Hanging across those right now is a 10 foot banner, printed with a familiar design.  The BAC has been producing these of late, typically hanging one on the outside of the Boatworks to promote the shows.  An extra one was made for this show to hang at the train station, since there could be an overlap of interest from people in both locations, plus the official dedication will be during the time our show is on display.  So even though my design wasn't chosen for the big permanent commission, for today anyway, there's one railroad themed mural at the train station, and it's mine.