Painting at the Heathman

Last week, I started painting a hallway at the Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland.  This hallway and staircase is the “secret passage” between the hotel and the performing arts center next door, and I have the privilege of making it a little special for the people who get to use this hidden space.

We went through many design revisions until everyone was happy with the final version – a black and white streamlined vision of Portland at night.It is a pretty slow and meticulous process as there are an abundance of straight lines, perfect angles, and type and logo reproductions.  I started with a long day of measuring and drawing, then put the night sky in for the first layer.  Then we (I am assisted by Karen Carman) carefully tape off each successive layer, of buildings, windows, signage,

and more and more detail until we will get to the final few days late next week of putting in all of the words and final finishing touches – there is a lot of work left to do.

Of course, we are enjoying the  delicious muffins and coffee that the waiters deliver to us, and I even got to listen to the symphony practice all day Thursday and Friday – what a splendid treat.  So here is how it looked on Friday afternoon – stay tuned for the finished work in about a week.