Katie Fitzgeralds Mural
I was approached by Eddy and Trina who run the legendary Katie Fitzgeralds on Enville street in Stourbridge, to paint a mural on the side of their Building. Trina told me that when she was young and growing up in Erdington, one of the greatest landmarks was ‘The man up a ladder’, which was there for over 60 years and, strangely, there was also a similar one in Clonakilty.
After discussing some ideas, i said well . . its got to be Eddy on the ladder hasn’t it really. He is frequently seen up a ladder outside Katies doing various painting and DIY jobs, so it would be fun to paint this using a Trompe-l’oeil technique to create the illusion of Eddy actually being up a ladder. This was achieved by painting in his shadow and the shadow of the Ladder, and continuing the ladder over the black border around the bottom of the building and the shadow over the small alcove.
Eddy is renowned for wearing shorts and Red socks with black boots, so these additions would help make the figure look recognisable. It took me over six hours to draw out this mural freehand using a 2H pencil, a small ruler and a 4ft long straight edge. The mural was then painted over 2 long days using acrylic paints mixed with masonry paint, brushes and paint rollers.
