Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Art at a higher level in Waverly



Lachermeier is a former resident of Winsted and now
presently lives in Waverly with her husband, Ken Kutz.

There is a first time for everything, even when it comes
to murals.

The storage building next to Pete’s Grocery was like a
blank canvas, just waiting for something to be painted on it. I viewed this
blank wall for two years from our apartment that is above our shop, What
Next?*!, in downtown Waverly.

It all became possible when Pete gave me permission to
paint a mural on his building. I had never painted a mural before, but that
was soon to change.

I presented my idea and designs to the Waverly Lions at
their meeting. The Lions agreed to pick up the tab for paint and the rental
of a scissor lift from United Rentals Aerial Equipment. I would donate the
artwork for the project.

I gave myself a deadline of having it completed by Waverly
Daze. I normally work better knowing I have a deadline. This deadline was
reinforced over some radio spots that were broadcast over KRWC stating that
I promised to have it done by Waverly Daze. That gave me six days to get
this project completed. One of those days I was rained out!

The scissor lift was delivered promptly and made the whole
endeavor possible. I don’t think I would ever do a mural without this nifty
piece of equipment.

The unit is motorized and on wheels. A push of a button
could lift me up 26 feet in the air. Another lever could bring me from one
side of the mural to the other side. It had a large platform for me to spread
out all of my paint supplies and sketches for the mural.

The first time my husband, Ken Kutz, and I went up to the
top of the building, I thought, “What in the world did I get myself
into! I must be crazy to think I could paint up this high and have it done
in six days.”

That was a fleeting thought.

I knew there was no turning back and that I just needed
to get comfortable with the height and accustomed to operating the equipment
by myself.

I will admit that I don’t like heights and I was very grateful
that Ken helped me lay out the perimeter of the painting and grid it out
with tape. By the time we finished the grid, I felt much more comfortable
and confident with the project that I had gotten myself (and Ken) into.

I bought a book on murals that showed me how to lay out
a grid and transfer my picture from paper to the front of the building.
I also checked out a couple of Web sites on painting murals. The Web sites
and book were very helpful when it came to some techniques and the kind
of paint to use.

Ken and I put our first base color of blue on the stucco
wall on the evening of July 4. The next morning, I decided it was too dark
of a blue so we lightened it up with some white paint and rolled the paint
into the stucco surface. That evening, Ken set me up with one of his paint
guns and we painted the clouds in the sky.

The next day I started to paint in the trees, water, and
some of the houses. I had done a preliminary watercolor sketch from the
east side of Big Waverly Lake that I used as reference.

The design changed from the time I presented it to the
Lions Club to the time I started the project. It still had the main subject
items of the Waverly water tower, St. Mary’s steeples and Big Waverly Lake,
but I felt that a larger lake view would allow me to show more of the activities
that Waverly has to offer.

It shows a view of Waterfront Park with skiers, boaters,
swimmers and Pete Chmielewski, owner of Pete’s Grocery, having the time
of his life trying to pull in a big fish.

The sweltering heat and humidity throughout the week was
alleviated some when Jim Thrift set me up with a huge umbrella to shade
me from the sun. This worked out well until a gust of wind would catch the
underside of the umbrella causing it to lift out of its metal base.

I tackled St. Mary’s steeples on Wednesday morning when
I was refreshed from a good night’s sleep. I worked over the picture fine
tuning the details and trying to decide what size fish Pete was going to
catch.

I was rained out on Thursday. At the crack of dawn on Friday
morning, Ken helped me measure and lay out a grid for the lettering, Welcome
To Waverly.

He is such a perfectionist that I let him do all the measuring
and math. The lettering was originally planned to be put in the sky over
the clouds, but with some input from Pete we decided to put the letters
under the picture.

This worked out a lot better because it was easier to paint
on a wood surface than on rough stucco when it came to lettering. It also
didn’t cover up the clouds in the sky, which Pete liked.

Friday consisted of painting letters most of the day and
putting a big fish on the end of Pete’s fishing line. I made Pete wait until
the very end before I let him catch a big fish. I finished the mural and
signed it, just in time to hop into a kangaroo outfit provided by Wright
Cancer Prescription.

Wrighty Roo, the kangaroo made a guest appearance at family
night down at Waterfront Park to hand out coloring sheets to all the kids.

The mural was a wonderful experience and I had a lot of
fun talking to all the people in the community. Many people stopped by everyday
to check on the progress of the mural. I was touched by all the compliments
and words of encouragement offered by everyone from kids on bikes to people
yelling out their car windows as they drove by.

I answered a lot of questions from kids on drawing and
painting.

My advise to them: “Just because you haven’t done
something, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. In other words, there is a first
time for everything.”

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