Famous Artist Wyland is in Ft. Lauderdale

Hi All,

This past Friday I went to see Wyland the famous Marine Life artist paint a huge Mural on McNab Road, just west of Rock Island Road. I am posting this because this is rare occurrence. It like seeing Dali painting. Wyland has a huge gallery on Las Olas in fact.

This is the last mural he is going to paint in North America. This is mural 99 and plans to stop with mural 100 that he plans to paint in China this year before the Olympics. When I got there, there were hardly any onlooker yet but they were prepared for many to arrive. They had many trucks with staff and materials, viewing stands and podium for announcements. So they were planning on a big affair.

I rushed around to see where Wyland was. I asked and there he was right in front of me. He was in the process of sketching out his design for the mural on a piece of paper. From what I have read, he never plans his mural. Only on the day of the murals, he designs the mural and then implement the design.

When I saw him, I introduced myself to him and mentioned that I stayed at his hotel, the Wyland Waikiki this past month. It brought a smile to him. He was gracious and said to me "hey, you want to take a photo with me". "Of coarse",I said, I obliged him and had a photo with him. He was really chatty and nice. He said "stick around I am about to start my work".

I did not get to see the design but I hope he gets lots of dolphin swimming around in his mural, because these are my favorite marine animal. But I will have to wait till next Saturday to see the final outcome of his work.

Here are some photos of what I saw the other day.



Wyland's Truck with All His Supplies

Wyland taking a photo with me

Wyland getting ready to start his Mural

Base coat done and Wyland letting the airbrush fly

They said he will be finished in 1 week, Saturday, June 14th, so hopefully I will be there by Wednesday or Thurdsday to see the 1/2 way point to report to you all.

I have to say I was pretty excited to see and meet him. He seems to be doing a lot to help promote sealife awareness. You may want to check out his Wyland Fondation to see what he is into and stand for.

Do you like what Wyland is doing for the Ocean and Marine life?

God Bless,

John