Lexington artist paints another mural in Cayce
By Natalie Szrajer
Posted 7/11/24
Start with the eyes and paint from there. That’s how Lexington artist Michael Geddings starts his murals and paintings and how he began his latest mural on the side of Mrs. Goodfoot’s …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in
Get 50% of all subscriptions for a limited time. Subscribe today.
You can cancel anytime.
Please log in to continue |
Lexington artist paints another mural in Cayce
PROVIDED
Posted
Start with the eyes and paint from there. That’s how Lexington artist Michael Geddings starts his murals and paintings and how he began his latest mural on the side of Mrs. Goodfoot’s business in Cayce.
“I start with the eyes. If you don’t get the eyes right, it would be messed up,” said Geddings as he paints the mural on Knox Abbott Drive. The mural was completed about a week ago depicting the fable of the mouse helping take the thorn out of the lion’s paw. He started the mural towards the end of June.
Geddings describes this particular mural as a simple mural and one that was the brainchild of Mrs. Goodfoot’s owner Donna Muszynski. He says she had the idea so he used his artistic expression to bring a vision to life.
Geddings worked on the mural in the early morning hours to beat the heat saying it averaged to about 30 hours of work on the 12 by 20-foot wall.
Before he began to paint the mural he came out to the blank slate to measure and sketch it out on paper.
“I come out and measure the building by counting bricks or cinderblocks. Then I take dimensions and take a large sheet of paper and scale it with an eight-inch ruler,” Geddings said. “I use a gridded technique.”
There’s a lot of decisions he makes while he’s out painting such as being careful with brush strokes, mixing colors and tones, color blocking and smoothing the edges of the lines.
Geddings is not new to murals or art in general. He’s completed murals in schools as well as a couple on State Street in Cayce. He’s also got ideas up his sleeve but nothing to speak of publicly yet.
As far as schools he’s painted in, he’s completed murals in Richland School District 2, Lexington School District 2 and Lake Murray Elementary School. He’s also done interactive murals on sidewalks.
Geddings considers himself a “traditionalist in the art world,” but murals aren’t the only paintings he pursues.
“I’m primarily a portrait artist but I do murals too. Murals are a simplified version of what I do,” said Geddings who did his first mural in 1986 at his high school. He grew up in the St. Andrews part of town.
As for doing portraits, people come to him asking for portraits for a variety of reasons. It’s definitely a lot more personal. Portraits are done in his studio.
“When doing portraits, people trust me. It’s really a ministry of using my gift to help people heal. When people meet with me it’s like a group therapy. It gives them inspiration and hope,” he said.
As for why he paints portraits and murals, he describes it as a “purpose.”
“If I’m not producing or creating, it gets the better of me… no purpose,” he said.
Geddings said he’s been creating since he was just a young kid.
“I knew what I wanted to do when I was three. I started with a pencil in my hand,” he said. “I came from a poor family and my mom got copy paper from work and I started drawing. I just wanted to draw. ... I won my first art show in 1978 in first grade. I got first place in the state fair for my elephant drawing."
He still does plenty of creating as can be seen on Facebook and Instagram under Michael Geddings Art. As for his next creation, people will just have to stay tuned.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here