Church Project - Overview (a.k.a. "The Sistine Chapel Project 21st Century style!")

This wonderful Rockford, Illinois church has undergone major work recently. We are proud to have been a part of it, producing some large religious murals and some smaller paintings for inclusion in the redecoration project. The artists enjoyed working on a project for a church, and the blend of tradition (hence our internal nickname for the case!) and technology was particularly interesting, with the actual work on the paintings being done many thousands of miles away from their destination!

Early Days

An initial quote was sought for a painting to measure 90 by 157 inches (7 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 1 inch). Naturally, such a large piece is time consuming to produce, and after some discussion it was agreed that we'd first create a smaller version - 24 by 36 inches - to confirm color and quality details. This was commissioned in early September 2005 and delivered by the end of the month. The client was pleased with the painting and was ready to begin ordering the other required canvases. However, for the two large key pieces some details had to be clarified first as other redecoration work was ongoing in the church. We therefore tackled other parts of the project first.

Work Proceeds

Our second painting was a replacement of a mural that had previously hung in the church but had been damaged. You can see two pictures below, one showing the mural in place before the redecoration began, and then the picture of how it looked after being removed. Detail had been lost, and it was up us to use our a little creativity to "extend" the new painting.

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  The Church. Note the top right corner, you can see where the original painting was located.

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  Original Painting that had become damaged.

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  Ocean's Bridge recreated a new masterpiece measuring 90 by 157 inches (7'6" by 13'1"). This is a process shot sent to the project director to show what had been done up to date.

In the run up to creating the large murals, other pieces were commissioned. Naturally these all had a religious theme, and were often copies of centuries old oil paintings first created by Old Masters.

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  St Patrick (186 inches tall by 90 inches wide with an additional 8 inch painted border)

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  St. Patrick hanging in the church.

And finally the murals

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  Each mural measured 100 inches by 114 inches

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  Each mural measured 100 inches by 114 inches

Church Interior Painting

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  This painting measured 36 by 30 inches. Working from photos, we created this painting that shows the interior of the church as it will be when completed in March 2007.

To summarize, we successfully produced a series of paintings that feature prominently in the church. Throughout the 14 months that the project lasted we worked closely with Friar Brodeski, who was overseeing the redecoration and passing on the recommendations of the design company. We hope you agree that the results reflect well on the designer, church staff and the artists!