Dogs (cats) and mural painting, that’s what makes my world
go round! So painting a mural about dogs was extra fun! This mural (5 x 3m) was
painted at Veterinary Clinic El Panorama in Antigua Guatemala. The clinic was
opened by fellow Unidos para los Animals volunteers Luis and Noreen and it is
the place we use often to spay/neuter free roaming animals from Antigua and
surroundings.
It's an educational mural meant for kids (and adults too, why
not!). I’ll print banners out of this design and use it during educational activities
we do at the place we go to with our mobile sterilization clinics.
If you’d like to help us sterilizing as many cats and dogs
in Guatemala as possible, please donate through this website:
Off to San
Martín Jilotepeque (Guatemala), yet again. This time to paint a mural on a brand-new
wall at the outskirts of town. It was recently built to protect the well and
public wash basins behind it, half way down a steep trail that leads to a creek.
This well has been an important water source for many neighbours for over a
century. But in the last few years, some nearby homeowners have been tapping
into the well. The basin dried up, it fell in disarray and was completely
destroyed when not too long ago a huge oak tree tumbled down, right on top of
it. The once beautiful public well of San Nicolás turned into a ruin and a
garbage dump.
A group of
concerned citizens want to restore the well and bring back the water for the
use of all, because there are still a lot of families in the area that have no
running water in their homes. They
started by cleaning up the trash and planting trees in the beautiful, lush
area. Next step was to build a retaining wall which was done with part of the
materials and labour provided by the municipality. It will protect the place
and will hopefully stop people from throwing their trash downhill. In order to
make people aware about the well and incite them to protect the place, I was
asked to design a mural for the 20-meter-long wall.
But that
was not all that the project embarked. Telma Calan, former director of the
school for children with special needs and member of the COCODE (Community
Development Counsil) wanted to give a group of children who had recently
participated in a drawing contest (organised by the public library) the chance
to learn more about painting and thus asked me to involve them in the process.
Designing a
mural that involves the participation of children is completely different from
designing one I’ll be painting just by myself. It’s much more difficult in a
way, because the design needs to allow to participants to work more or less
independently even though they have no prior experience. There are several
approaches, but in this case, I opted for a design of simple elements, all
representing water, of which I first drew the outline and then had the kids
colour them in. In the end, I traced all elements with black, and the result
was pretty neat. Of course there was much more to it than just colouring some
pictures. First, we primed the wall, then applied the background colour. Next
we drew a grid with a spirit level, which is not as easy as it looks! At least
not if you have to fill up 20 meters of wall with 25 x 25cm squares, all neatly
levelled out. Then finally the real action, followed by some tedious touch ups
and last but not least, varnishing all. Twice!
The
conditions were tough! The sun was scorching, drying the paint even before
putting it on the wall! Heavy traffic passed behind our backs, lifting up big
clouds of sand and dust. The “water men” of the municipality were nice enough
to drive by and hose down the dirt road, but still, each of us and everything
we brought with us, was covered in a thick layer of dust. Every afternoon, a
chill shadow covered the mural while the wind became stronger. The temperature
dropped and from overheated we went to being cold in no time! But the kids did
great and kept on painting!
Despite it
being at the outskirts of town, it was clear that the people from the community
appreciated the art work. Cars stopped, people cheered us on and even brought
us drinks and snacks. And told us stories about the neighbourhood. Horrible
stories, truly. The civil war in Guatemala seems so far away already, but for
many people it has been a traumatic experience they will never get over. The
road we were painting the mural at was controlled by the military during the
eighties. The high school located on a hill right above the place we were
working, still a school to this day, was at the time a place where people were
held prison and being tortured. The road leads out of town, along many high cliffs.
It became a popular place among the military to make bodies disappear. It was
literally the road to nowhere. Very eerie. It was kind of surreal to hear
people telling their experiences to each other right behind my back while I was
painting happy pictures, surrounded by kids doing the same. I hope they
listened too, because as hard as these stories are to listen to, they should
not be forgotten.
Three days
of hard, hard work and then the mural was done! Very dirty but also very well-watered
and fed, we wrapped it all up. We did a little photo session, unfortunately
with bad lighting for pics, and Telma and Doña Marta of the COCODE gave me and
the kids a diploma and a gift. It was a wonderful experience and I hope the
mural will indeed help to get the restauration of the water project of the
ground. Despite being tired and ready for a break, we’re already planning the
next mural in San Martín Jilotepeque!
This mural
was sponsored by Dutch foundation Uno Más. Thank you very much!
Also many thanks to: Telma Calan for organising it all; Doña Martha for all the
support; the wonderful painters Doris Álvarez, Vicky Cumatzil, Hayden Álvarez,
Gaby Chávez and Luís López. Thanks to my friend Cristy Velasco for the
delicious treats and much needed (unsweetened) coffee! Thanks to Hyden and
Doris’ mum for the delicious lunch; the “Water Men” for keeping us cool; and
the traffic police for lending us their cones. Thanks to the entire community
of San Martín Jilotepeque for your kind words and support! I hope you’ll
treasure your precious water source!
