Last week, I showed you the five comps Lisa did for the watertower. The client, Mesa del Sol, chose the very cool white oak illustrations. The colors were slightly changed, as you can see. Here we witness the amazing beginning of the painting of the funnel-shape. Once the painting is completed, it will be lifted up to the top of the tower.

Ok, Part 4. So Lisa DeJohn took her sketches of flora and created these amazing comps. Which do you think the client will choose? You’ll find out next Wednesday.
Yes, these are just the comps. Don’t they look incredible? It’s always important to present well to help sell your concept. When it’s hard to envision a sketch vis a vis the finished installation, a photo comp is an excellent solution.

Last week I showed you photos of Lisa DeJohn gathering reference from the natural flora of New Mexico. Her next step is to create sketches for art for the 175′ watertower for Mesa del Sol. There are design limitations which include the fabrication onto the water tower itself, which is concrete, so the imagery needs to be simple & graphic, not much detail. No shading. Additionally, there are color limitations; that is, there are a limited number of colors that may be used. Third, the imagery must read well from many, many miles away.

Here are Lisa’s designs. She sends them to the client, and one will be chosen. Stay tuned.

How does one begin to think about how to design art for maybe one of the largest public art commissions? The tower is 175 feet tall, and Lisa DeJohn has been asked to design art for the tank; that’s that circular donut thing on top. Mesa del Sol is a a community that will have 37,000 homes, 3,000 acres of parks and open space with outdoor art and sculputure; there will be schools, and bike paths, and all kinds of great things for a semi-sustainable, amazing planned community. Since the water tower will be so visible, the visionary Amy Coburn, Director of Residential Development, insisted upon commissioning art for it and as a way to enliven the community.

The first step for Lisa is getting reference, so Susan McCabe and I take Lisa to a garden nursery and the Pertroglyph National Monument where Lisa can take photos for inspiration.

I’m thinking that probably one of the most prestigious illustration commissions would be the cover of the highly-regarded Land of Nod catalog. Lisa has been invited to do a series of covers, which I will show you as they come off the press. Previous illustrators of the covers include MK Mabry and Calef Brown, one of my favorite illustrators.

I’ve seen Lisa’s art for the second cover and I can tell you that I’m pretty sure that you’ll love it. I’ll post it when it’s out.

Check out Helen’s scrapbooking pieces now available from Creative Imaginations.

What would the wildest illustration job be? Lisa has been commissioned to do art for a 175-foot watertower. Yes. This is true. The adventure starts with us flying out to Albuquerque this past February to meet with the great folks at Mesa del Sol. Amy Coburn, the very cool Director of Residential Development, brings us to view the site.

We will be updating the blog with watertower news every Wednesday.

Here’s Lisa looking at the plans and the local flora.

Here’s the beginning of the building of the tower and the site (aerial view).

Stay tuned to see the research Lisa does, and the limitations and delights of doing art for such a mammoth public art project.