Thanks for your inspiration
From Jim and Karen:
I just wanted to thank you guys for your inspirational walls in Del Mar and Solana Beach that we used to make our own mosaic wall in our front yard. The wall is 45′ long and 5′ high at the starting point. We used a combination of fossils, rocks, ceramics, shells, beads, copper, stained glass, etc. along with 15 different shades of grout. We are located in Carmel Valley and just wanted you to know that we love your work! I have included some before and after pictures.
Answer from Pat:
Your kind email and striking photos touched my heart to the core. I loved the way you did buildings and your various colors of grout. Your creation exudes originality, design sense and good taste. Please may we post your kind letter and photos on my blog? For those readers of this blog who don’t know the story, Betsy Schulz and I met in 2002, and Betsy instantly threw her heart over the jump. She agreed to partner with me and 80 volunteers in creating a mural that began as a chance inspiration that had popped in my head when I drove past a wall in Del Mar. In my minds eye I saw it covered with a multi-media mural like one I had just finished in my garden. When Betsy and I and our volunteers finished the job a year later, it was 92-feet long in entirety and 4-feet tall and contained over 30 original terra-cotta sculptures and infinite pieces of memorabilia contributed by townspeople and friends. It stands in front of the Del Mar Public Library on Camino Del Mar (Old Highway 101) at 13th Street in Del Mar. My book, the Magic Mural, tells the story and folks can learn more about the building process from my website. After creating this one great mural with Betsy and volunteers, I had to quit. I still paint in oils and watercolors but right now I’m concentrating on my blog and on writing more books.
Betsy Schulz, however, has continued on her inspiringly artistic path creating many murals and other public art scattered throughout San Diego County, including her fabulous arch and murals in Solana Beach. After we worked together, her career took off even more rapidly than before and her work is beyond compare. I never cease to be amazed and delighted at her abundant skills and talent without which I could never have put together my dream and made it come true. Betsy is an amazingly accomplished and versatile artist and it’s mind boggling to think of all she has done since. I wish I could have continued my partnership with her but I’m not up to it physically any more, and anyway one can’t do everything, much as one wishes one could—or at least I do. I now plan to continue writing books until I’m 90 and then switch to painting full time, mostly in oils. I’ve been offered a one-woman show in a San Diego art gallery, Art Expressions, and I have said, “Thank you but not now. When I’m 90 that would be great!”
You are not the only people who’ve been inspired by our murals to make some of their own, but yours are among the finest examples I’ve seen. I gasped also at the beauty of your gardens which enhance the total look.
Again many, many thanks for sharing these photos and your delightful story with Betsy and me.
I just wanted to thank you guys for your inspirational walls in Del Mar and Solana Beach that we used to make our own mosaic wall in our front yard. The wall is 45′ long and 5′ high at the starting point. We used a combination of fossils, rocks, ceramics, shells, beads, copper, stained glass, etc. along with 15 different shades of grout. We are located in Carmel Valley and just wanted you to know that we love your work! I have included some before and after pictures.
Your kind email and striking photos touched my heart to the core. I loved the way you did buildings and your various colors of grout. Your creation exudes originality, design sense and good taste. Please may we post your kind letter and photos on my blog? For those readers of this blog who don’t know the story, Betsy Schulz and I met in 2002, and Betsy instantly threw her heart over the jump. She agreed to partner with me and 80 volunteers in creating a mural that began as a chance inspiration that had popped in my head when I drove past a wall in Del Mar. In my minds eye I saw it covered with a multi-media mural like one I had just finished in my garden. When Betsy and I and our volunteers finished the job a year later, it was 92-feet long in entirety and 4-feet tall and contained over 30 original terra-cotta sculptures and infinite pieces of memorabilia contributed by townspeople and friends. It stands in front of the Del Mar Public Library on Camino Del Mar (Old Highway 101) at 13th Street in Del Mar. My book, the Magic Mural, tells the story and folks can learn more about the building process from my website. After creating this one great mural with Betsy and volunteers, I had to quit. I still paint in oils and watercolors but right now I’m concentrating on my blog and on writing more books.
Betsy Schulz, however, has continued on her inspiringly artistic path creating many murals and other public art scattered throughout San Diego County, including her fabulous arch and murals in Solana Beach. After we worked together, her career took off even more rapidly than before and her work is beyond compare. I never cease to be amazed and delighted at her abundant skills and talent without which I could never have put together my dream and made it come true. Betsy is an amazingly accomplished and versatile artist and it’s mind boggling to think of all she has done since. I wish I could have continued my partnership with her but I’m not up to it physically any more, and anyway one can’t do everything, much as one wishes one could—or at least I do. I now plan to continue writing books until I’m 90 and then switch to painting full time, mostly in oils. I’ve been offered a one-woman show in a San Diego art gallery, Art Expressions, and I have said, “Thank you but not now. When I’m 90 that would be great!”
You are not the only people who’ve been inspired by our murals to make some of their own, but yours are among the finest examples I’ve seen. I gasped also at the beauty of your gardens which enhance the total look.
Again many, many thanks for sharing these photos and your delightful story with Betsy and me.
Please feel free to post the letter/pics. We appreciate your comments as this was our first mosaic. All the items other than the ceramics we either found on our travels or made. I am now completing a copper fountain to go in the middle of the stream bed that will incorporate stained glass and enameled copper along with the typical copper leaves. I will also include chasing and repousse techniques in the copper. Since we are also local, we would love to have you over sometime to share more of your experiences so that we can do a better job in the future. Thanks again!
I would just love to come and see you and your wall to meet you and have a chat, but right now I am gung ho writing a new book—I’m half way through. I November I plan to have another shoulder replacement. At that time while I’m recovering from it. I’d love to come for a visit. Until then, good luck with the copper fountain and all your creative endeavors.
Where are the pictures? I want to see these additional mosaic walls. I will stop to see the one at the library the next time I am in town.
Patricia
I do not do the posting on my website. I have a partner who does that, so I am sorry the photos were not posted and do not know why they were not. If you wish to see photos of the Del Mar Library mural, please Google patwelsh.com, then go to “gallery”, then click on “next” and later click on the interactive mural photo that you can scroll through to see the whole thing. This year, ten years after building the mural we restored it, a massive job, including taking off and putting back most of it and having the back dug out and installing French drains. The problem is the sloping ground above and the wet conditions caused by irrigation and rainfall building pressure behind the wall. A bronze plaque to thank the large donors towards the restoration project is currently being made. We thanked donors of $250.00 by having their names engraved on bricks that can be seen on top of the south front staircase.