My first concrete sculpture project, I was the painter on. The frames were made of plywood, similar to how one would fashion a boat with ribs and stays. The surface had a 1” square chicken fencing over it to hold the concrete. We then covered everything with a sandier concrete to acquire the smoothness. They were interesting sculptures to paint as they look symmetrical but were not really when it came to painting. Horizontal lines and getting the scales organized to have the image look correct were very interesting. All had to be drawn walking to and from the unit to get it correct.

We used two sorts of paints, the purple and Eagle vases used One-Shot Lettering enamels as I knew they would be outstanding in their durability. The Purple vase we used Latex and a clear overtop and it seems to have lasted quite well.

Many of the benches have the colour right in the concrete to avoid any “peeling” issues.

The benches were made with homemade forms or freehand. The benches had to live up to the public manhandling them and the weather attacking them. We also build them to be as safe as possible.