Painting Plains

Paint the town red has taken up a new meaning in Plains, although it will include a variety of other colors, now that Rick Harter and Ilene Paulsen are doing large murals on the outside wall of the Garden Gift & Floral. They might even be giving the term starving artists a new meaning because they're doing it for free.

The two Plains residents are painting murals on four 180-square foot spaces on the west side of the flower shop concrete wall in an effort to help beautify the town. The two started their wall murals just over a week ago and already have more than 120 hours into the project. Harter is painting a mountainous landscape and Paulsen is painting a bighorn sheep, compete with a full ram curl.

"I think it's an artist's responsibility to do something for the community," said Harter, a professional artist for 35 years. The idea came to Harter about 12 years ago, but he never pursued it. "I wondered why no one else did this. I saw the wall – it's perfect for this – and decided I was going to do it," said 72-year-old Harter, who added that the owner of the flower shop was excited about having a mural done on her building. In addition, Harter liked that each panel had arches that framed the murals.

"I think it's just fantastic. I like everything I'm seeing and they're so talented," said Patty Coe, the flower shop owner. "They could do the whole building if they want to," said Coe, who believes it might cause tourists to stop and possibly shop at her business or at Dog Hill Bistro or McGowan Grocery.

Harter said he had seen Paulsen's work and asked if she'd be interested in doing the murals with him. They will do two panels each. Harter plans to do a water otter scene for his second scene and Paulsen will be doing a Texas "Montana" Longhorn painting. "They're a real colorful animal and we have a lot of them around here," said the 57-year-old Paulsen.

The artists are not getting paid for the work and purchased the materials themselves, although Gambles Hardware in Plains gave them a discount on the paint and primer. Harter said a passerby donated $20 to the project.

This is the largest piece that Harter has ever done, but not Paulsen. Recently, she painted a 21-by-45-foot mural in Wasilla, Alaska, for a community playhouse that eatured "Mary Poppins." Paulsen has been a professional artist since 2002 and paints landscapes, wildlife and flowers in watercolor and acrylic.

Harter also works in acrylic and watercolor, doing mostly landscapes and has participated in the Sanders County Art Council's Art on the Walls and Art Out and About programs. Both have been participants in the annual Artists in Paradise event, held at the Paradise Center each July.

Harter and Paulsen both painted smaller versions of their murals on canvas to use as a guide. Before they could start their murals, they had to power wash the walls. Kenny Benson of Plains helped apply the primer, which Harter said took about five hours.

They are using an acrylic exterior house paint, which dries very quickly. Harter said they had to use artist acrylic paint for some of the colors. Harter and Paulsen work on the murals on an average of five to eight hours a day, weather permitting.

Harter is about halfway done with his first mural. He had hoped to get all four finished before Plains Days, but he said he probably won't start on his second one until after the annual festival. Paulsen is further along with her ram piece and believes she might be done with both by Plains Days.