You know when you’re not busy doing your usual projects, great opportunities just keep knocking on your door? I think that’s because this time, I am more open to a lot of possibilities compared before that I was too pre-occupied with business projects than personal ones.
If you’ve been reading along, I decided to be on a sabbatical leave when this year started. I stopped accepting custom design projects and any related to paper and print. After the first quarter of the year, a great opportunity came in which was the instax endorsement.
Then followed by another fun collab. This time, to draw on a big wall on one of the local burger shop here in Davao called Burger Chef.
Few months ago, Yves, the french owner of Burger Chef, mentioned about promoting local artists by making art on the wall of his bistro. And I felt so honoured when he asked me if I can be their featured artist for June. Oh! Such music to my ears.
When I knew about this, I was already visualizing what exactly to draw. Yves, gave every artists the liberty to draw whatever their style is. And I’ve thought to myself, what is my style? Honestly, that is still a mystery to me. But I do know, I enjoy botanicals and I love the simplicity of black and white. So I went for that because for now, that’s what I think my style is.
As always, I would go to my handy dandy trustee sketchbook and make a draft of my idea. And here it was. A banner in the middle for the Burger Chef’s name surrounded with florals.
So last week, it’s drawing time… I went to Burger Chef and saw this beautiful chalk artwork by Lucille Marnelli, the previous artist.
The tradition here was, you have to erase the previous artwork to make way for your own. When I saw Lucille’s work, seriously, I couldn’t erase it. Seeing her design, the time and effort she put into this was not easy for me to just rub it off with a cloth. It was a sign of respect.
But I had to do it and so I did… and left with a big black board to myself.
I used uni white chalk pen instead of real chalk. I like how this pen gives the same effect of the chalk but less the dust that makes me react to my allergies.
I started off with the banner to get the center of the black board. Next, I started drawing one flower on the upper left part. Then, I was just jumping from one side to another to cover up the big space.
This was the very first time I did mural and I learned so many things. First, you need to be open to the idea that you might need to do some changes from the original plan. As you would noticed, the placement of the florals were not the same anymore from my sketchpad. That’s because, the space I had in my sketchpad was smaller compared to the board. So I have to make some adjustments to fill-in the negative space.
At first, I was planning to draw from up to down direction. And again, I changed my mind because the position I had to deal wasn’t easy. Good thing, the design I made had no specific positioning. It’s just more of a pattern. So every time I’m done with one flower, I just moved anywhere.
Here’s the funny part. I totally forgot that I needed to use a ladder for this. And I never really realized how big the board was that it already reached the ceiling until I finally saw how tall the ladder was. I’m only 5’2 tall {or short}, even with a 5-step ladder. I had a hard time reaching the top. And and of course, I don’t want to leave the top with nothing.
But that’s not all, I am very much afraid of heights. Yup! And so, with this collab, I think I was able to conquer that one for awhile. Woohoo for that.
I was laughing on my own the whole time while I was on this part. I cannot believe how short I was until I was put in this situation, hahaha. Gladly, when Yves dropped by, he gave me a hard box to stepped on. 
And here it was… the whole artwork without the name yet. I actually liked how it turned out. I just adore black and white for some reason. The simplicity and elegance it brings.
Although, not all can see that. I have a friend who asked me after she saw this on facebook, if this was up for coloring because she wanted to help. Apparently, that’s about it. Just purely line art with white ink on black board.
It took me almost 5-hours to finish the whole thing. Imagine if I used paint and added more colors? And I was working alone. Thanks to their staff, for they were so helpful and very accommodating.
After this, I have so much respect for mural painters. This was really something. Something new to me and I’m actually proud of. I seriously have, not just the respect but adoration would be the best word for Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. And for the artists who does mural. 
That night, I was actually thinking if I should change something about their name, since I wasn’t satisfied with it yet. Then, Yves messaged me on the same night if I can redo their name in a different color. Boom! There’s my confirmation that I should redo it. The next day, I came back and added red for their name and changed the font too.
This time, I used a real chalk because it’s easier to shade the whole letter with it. Photos from Burger Chef FB Page.
Now, here’s what Burger Chef looked like…
Having to draw on their wall and being featured as the artist of the month was just an icing of the cake. What I really love about this collab was for every ephemeral artwork, they donate P1000.00 to support Tagum City Food Bank aside from P1 for every burger sold. The fun of putting my artwork was just nothing, but to draw with the purpose of feeding someone somewhere was priceless.
Just recently, Adi, a friend of mine, messaged me with the mural’s photo. Silly me, I forgot to signed it. Then yesterday, another friend of mine, Chiche and her boyfriend Pat also told me that ate there few days ago because they wanted to see the mural…
Oh, I’m so touched with their gestures. Not to mention they get to donate P1 for every burger sold.
I really hope you’ll visit Burger Chef anytime this month. Try their Three Cheese Burger. That is what I usually order. And also, I would love it if you’ll tag me in case you’ll take a picture of it. Instagram/Twitter: @iam_artisan.
Thank you again Yves and Rosalie for letting me draw on your board… I truly enjoyed it and it’s a stepping stone for me to try more mural…
Burger Chef :: Plaza del Carmen, Loyola Street; (082) 300 8317; 11am-10pm
