Portfolio
A collection of past work and experiences by wander
Thailand Murals
In 2022 I spent a year traveling in South East Asia, and a friend I met while traveling invited me to come and paint at a yoga retreat in Thailand. I spent a month volunteering and filling the place with art and finding my zen. The largest mural was a fun challenge of working with complicated spaces.
Canvas Painting for The Little Hostel in Huay Xai, Laos
This was a great experience staying in the little town of Huay Xai, which borders Thailand and Laos along the Mekong river. I stayed a week on a goose berry winery owned by the hostel owners family, and painted this painting. Materials were so hard to come by that it required a two day journey into Thailand for some basic paints.
Live Spray Painting for Festivals
Creative Play Zone
Scratch the Squirrel
This is quick spray paint character I did for a live painting demo at a festival in Northern Arizona call June Jam. The Creative Play Zone (CPZ) is known for setting up temporary, well lit walls for everyone to paint on - day and night. This wall was repainted four to five times over the course of three days. I call it it a zen practice of letting go, allowing yourself to create without the anxiety of perfection.
The Bigger the Better
Deep Sea to Deep Space
An exciting new venture! In 2023 CPZ was invited to do a live mural on a 40ft shipping container over the course of 48 hours at South West Flow Fest (SWFF). Armed with only some vague references, we sat down and started designing on site. After some long days and late nights, sore backs and lots of cashed cans we were ecstatic at our creation. This live mural earned us an invite back in 2024.
Get some art 2023
The Bear
Every year The Collective Play Zone (CPZ) throws a party called Get Some Art. It's a four day party with the focus of creating a fun and safe place for people to explore their craft. Be it painting, flow arts, mixing on the decks, or dance. I wanted to use the opportunity to play with color layering.
Chalk Murals
First chalk mural
Open Mic Night!
This was one of my first chalk murals done at the local beer garden, Mountain Top Tap Room In Flagstaff, AZ. The owner and close friend of mine gave me artistic freedom to highlight their new pop-corn machine and promote the new Open Mic night. It has since become one of the most popular open mic locations in town, and the character has become the iconic face of @flagstaffopenmics
Second chalk mural
Beautifying the path to the ladies room
After finishing the first mural, the owner of Mountain Top Tap Room was so pleased he offered this second panel, which was previously covered in scribbles from drunken visitors. This project allowed me to explore different techniques in blending and saturation with chalk.
being invited back
Stags in Fall
After the original open mic mural had been on display for over a year and started showing the smears of many ecstatic musical performances, I returned to update the mural for the changing seasons and lend my flair to the artistic expression that happens here every Monday night
Earlier Murals
Small mural at Aspen sports Flagstaff
Raven in the Aspens
When I was working at a small outdoor gear shop during college, my boss discovered that I was a muralist, and had me fill in an oddly shaped space left blank on a mural on the side of the shop. he gave me artistic freedom, and ravens are one of my favorite animals!
first commissioned mural 2017
Route 66 Themed mini golf cours
This project taught me a lot about murals, bidding, working with challenging materials and clients. This job consisted of three separate walls, with different Route 66 themes.
more then meets the eye
UV Reactive layers
Each of the walls for this project also had a mixture of UV reactive paint which was difficult to work with in achieving the opacity I wanted.
we all have to start somewhere