(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Painting a Rainforest
Written By: Donna Rhodes | Issue: May 2024
The busy (just-this-side-of-hectic) life of artist Jeanie Edwards has enriched her creative capabilities and given the world a showstopping mural in Missouri.
The Jeanie Edwards Fine Arts Gallery in Highlands is merely one of a myriad of Jeanie Edwards’ dreams that came true. It’s hard to tell if she’s super lucky or if she just works like crazy to make things happen.
Chances are, it’s a bit of both.
She lives by a quote her dad taught her: Never do something for a living you wouldn’t be willing to do on your day off.
That motto recently took her to the middle of United States in Branson, Missouri. It’s there, decades ago, a branch of her family tree settled. They acquired acres of land, interesting land, with formations of underground caves and portions of the Ozark range. A sizable family parcel became Silver Dollar City, which is still in the family. One of her cousins, Bruce Herschend, designed and established The Butterfly Palace along with several other attractions in the region.
The interior of the Butterfly Palace had a huge white dome. It desperately needed a forest feel. Bruce asked Jeanie if she knew an artist who could paint a Costa Rican Rainforest on its walls. Jeanie gawked, laughed, and said, “Well, I highly recommend me!”
And so it was. Jeanie set about planning a gigantic mural, so huge, it required several long visits to complete. It’s about ¾ done now. Dedicating the months of January and half of February in 2025 will hopefully complete the project.
Jeanie and her art buddy/assistant Amanda Clark are a formidable painting duo.
Jeanie says, “I’ve known Amanda eight years. Since she earned her art degree from Western, she often helps manage my painting excursions. She paints the flora, fungi, and flowers and I paint the animals.”
Just to get an idea of how large this mural is and how much effort is going into it, here are some stats: Jeanie and Amanda’s first painting session was 6.5 weeks, 5 days/week, 6-7 hours a day (per person) covering 107’x45’.
Their second session took 8 weeks, 6 days/week, 8 hours a day, 122’x40’. Their final session in 2025 will approximate an average of the first two. It’s tremendous, in so many ways.
When Jeanie asked Bruce if she were going too far with the color, texture, character, he said, “It’s just enough over the top!”
Jeanie Edwards
Jeanie lives at the top, where every workday is a happy day off. And as her cuz concurs, it’s not too toppish, it’s perfectly Jeanie.
Visit Jeanie’s website: jedwardsfineart.com; Amanda’s at amandaclarkart.com; and The Butterfly Palace at thebutterflypalace.com.
