January 14, 2003
Tifton-- An old type of art makes a comeback to the sides of buildings.
You rarely see a mural painter at work, but then you notice their work seems to appear out of nowhere.
Dennis Shannon is one of a few mural painters. “It’s sorta like solving a big puzzle,” he says. “It’s a challenge.”
A puzzle seven feet tall and seven feet wide, where the brick pieces don’t move, only his hand and imagination to make a brick wall into a canvas. “I want it as flat as I can get it.”
A self-taught artist who wanted a bigger challenge than painting billboards, he now moves to a smaller space, where it takes him about 30 hours to paint a mural. "A mistake shows up bigger on something small,” Shannon says.
He has become a magician, perfecting the art of illusion since each painting presents its own set of problems. A once unsightly electrical receptacle became part of the picture. “Keep your lines where you can’t tell the electrical outlet is there,” Shannon says.
Make a hole in a block wall part of a tree. “That way you can hide things.” His exceptional creativity made a window in the wall virtually disappear. It’s the gazebo by the pool. “The window was the most challenging,” Shannon admits.
The artist says he hardest parts are creating the original design and painting all those details.
Dennis Shannon looks at the world a bit differently than most people. “The world is full of inspiring things to commemorate and paint.” He uses only five colors to make just about any color he wants, mixing the colors himself.
He expects the paint to last at least three years, and where he interest in painting murals lasts even longer.
posted at 1:55PM by dave.miller@walb.com
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