Installation: Friday March 26, 2010

Here is my finished mural Living Earth installed on the wall at COSI! It was exciting to actually see it on the wall at COSI! We had an official installation on Friday March 26, 2010.

This is the plaque that hangs next to my mural. It reads as follows:

Ginny Baughman, Teaching Artist, age 51, Westerville, Ohio, Acrylic Golden Paint over primed Canvas, www.ginnybaughman.com

I decided to participate in the mural project because I wanted to experience working on a large mural. COSI gave me a storeroom to setup my studio in. I worked there for about two months and I enjoyed every minute of it! Check out my Blog that I kept during this time at http://ginnyscosimrual.blogspot.com/

I wanted to make a statement with my mural, about the struggle of our planet to retain its quickly changing environment and our struggle, as inhabitants on this earth, to preserve or plunder the environment. Are the hands pulling the earth apart or putting it back together? I am leaving the final conclusions up to the viewer.

The week after I finished the mural I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. This mural will always remind me of my struggle with this disease. Just as the figure in the painting emerges from the earth, I too have emerged form my diagnosis determined to move on with my new life as a diabetic.

Here I am by my mural.

Me and my mural.

My own kids could not attend the installation, so I invited my extended family. Here we are by the mural (left to right: Tammy Baughman, Isiah Williams, Tessa Baughman, Me, Doug Baughman (my husband) and Becky Baughman). I had a great time enjoying COSI, after the installation, with my niece and nephews.

Here is where my mural actually ended up: right next to the entrance to the Ocean exhibit. This seemed to be to be a very appropriate place for it! Funny thing: I thought of the background as sky, but I suppose that it could be the ocean as well!

Here are the three murals on the first floor, where my mural is, looking down the hallway.

Here is a closer picture looking down the hallway.

Here are the three murals looking up the hallway from my mural.

Before we left COSI that evening I just had to go back to look at my mural one more time. It is so thrilling to have my artwork so prominently displayed!
According to COSI 500,000 people will pass by the murals in one year's time! That is so exciting! I think some day I want just come and sit on the bench across from my mural and watch the reactions of people as they walk by. Wouldn't that be fun?!
I really hope to have to opportunity to do something like this mural again........



If you are visiting my Blog for the first time, please enjoy the following posts that chronicle my work in the Living Earth mural. It was such an exciting experience and this is why I wanted to keep record of the process to share with everyone.

Tuesday Feb. 2, 2010 Mural Comes Down

My finished Mural!

Here I am with my mural.

This is Doug Buchanan and me. I have been working with him throughout the project.

My Mural coming down.

My Mural stretched out on the floor and then being rolled up to be stored until it will be hung on the wall in the hallways of COSI. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks!

This has been an exciting experience. Although relieved to have the mural finished I haven't wanted to see it end. Everyone has been so great to work with at COSI. I am anxious to see the mural actually on the wall at COSI. Hope I get the chance to do another mural sometime soon!

Last Day of Mural Mural Work Tuesday Jan. 20, 2010

This is my finished mural after I finished working on it until about 2:00 Tues. Jan. 20. I think that I could have kept working on it forever. But I needed to call it finished at some point, so this is it. What do you think?

On this day I went over some of my work and added the red flowers into the vines, because it seemed like it needed some different colors besides just green and blue.


It is finished! All is left to do is take the mural off the wall and roll it up for storage. I will come back next week to do this so that I am certain that it is completely dry.
I would love to have some reactions from viewers. Please let me know what you think. Is it truly finished? Should I add anything? Should I subtract anything?

Mural Work Day 8: Tues. Jan. 11, 2010

My mural at the beginning of work day 8.

Can you see the difference in the background color here? One thing I have to do is to even out the background.

I also want to go over the vines, foliage and roots again.

Here I am with my mural at the end of day 8. I think that I might have just a half a day of work left as well as taking the mural off the wall when it is finished and totally dry.

Here is the mural. I think it is almost finished. What do you think?

As I left my storeroom "studio" I looked back and saw my mural. It looked pretty good!

This is what my mural looks like now.

My COSI Mural Progression Photos

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Mural Work Day 7: Wed. Jan. 6, 2010

My family and I visited COSI over the holidays on Dec. 23, 2009 and this is a picture of us in front of my mural.

This is me with my mural on Dec. 23, 2009

My mural at the start of work day 7, Jan. 6, 2010.

I am going to work on the "tree lady", the hands at the bottom, and the vines in the top of the tree. My daughter, Lydia, suggested that I should add roots at the bottom of the globe so I am going to try this.

Here are the changes to the hands.

I added vines to the top of the painting.

I'm working on the tree lady and adding more vines.

Here is a closeup of the vines and the face.

My mural is almost finished so I took down my wall of reference photos today.

This is what my mural looked like at the end of Day 7. I think that it will take just one more day of work to redo the background, because it seems uneven, and do some other touch ups.
I can't believe that my mural is almost finished!