Seattle, WA
Greetings from Seattle, WA. We arrived in the state of Washington marking our first time crossing the country in the RV from coast to coast! We rolled around the city, getting ourselves acquainted to the lush, sunny Pacific Northwest in the summertime. Our local friends got us setup with a few wall options and we decided on this downtown location in Belltown. We painted on the side of Bedlam Coffee on 2nd Ave. between Bell and Blachard. Thank you Joe Nix for helping us get the wall in Belltown, Seattle. Thanks to Liz Suman and family for your amazing hospitality of allowing us to park in your driveway and the awesome welcome party! One more thank you to Bedlam Coffee for waking us up with coffee and breakfast every morning!
We were able to park in the empty lot next to the mural during the week of painting. It was quite interesting living in the middle of such a busy strip of bars and restaurants in Belltown. We had some prime real estate but the crowds got pretty rowdy on the weekends! The block that we painted on had a lot of history in the grunge scene of the 90’s. You could probably catch Kurt Cobain hanging out there back in the day. We also met all kinds of interesting neighborhood characters when painting this Seattle mural.
One of our favorite things about the location of the Seattle mural is being able to walk to Pike Place Market for fresh Rainier cherries and some turkish delights. As touristy as it was, it was a cool experience to get some inspiration for our mural. The wall we were working on was pretty large. However, we wanted to focus the artwork in the center of the wall so that it could still fit within a photo without stepping back too far. Therefore, we decided to extend the background across the entire wall so that it didn’t feel like a boxed in floating postcard. We picked up some latex paint from a local paint shop and got started with the mural during the July 4th holiday of 2015.
Once again, Montana Cans helped support us with spray paint for this project. We picked up some paint from the local University art store and got some additional ideas form the students to incorporate into the mural. It’s refreshing to be able to take community ideas in real time and incorporate them into a piece of public art that will live long after we are gone. We hope that locals see their input in the final artwork and feel a sense of pride and ownership.
In the big “S”, we decided to paint the iconic Space Needle & skyline. You can’t tell in the photos but the folks at Bedlam gave us a battery powered LED light to stick on top of the spire in the image. It was a pretty cool interactive concept for anyone looking at the artwork at night. Little did we know that we would be back to paint another mural at the base of the Space Needle during the Bumbershoot Festival years later. Next, in the first “E” we painted the Pike Place Market sign and created an actual section of a gum wall. We literally chewed through a lot of gum and stuck it on the wall. In addition, we invited the public to join in. As creative and fun as this was, it quickly got pretty gross and uncontrollable. As a result, we replaced this section with the Rainier Beer logo later on. In the “A” we had to pay tribute to the local sports teams, the Seahawks and the Mariners!
Other elements that we incorporated into the mural include: Coffee Beans, Totem Poles (Native Tribute), Gasworks Park, Pink Elephant Car Wash Sign, Fremont Troll, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and Sir Mix-A-Lot. All of this content was suggested the the locals that we worked with on this project. We had a lot of fun as tourists going to all of these locations to photograph the landmarks as references for our artwork.
With our mobile lifestyle, we try to conserve as much as possible. We also don’t have too much room for storage on board a 24’ ft RV. Therefore, we try to reuse whatever we can in our mobile studio and home. Plastic bags serve as roller brush holders and food containers are used to mix paints. The customers of the coffee shop had some free entertainment as they watched us paint everyday. All of the locals were very friendly and we got to know people on a first name basis throughout the week.
The Greetings from Seattle mural turned out to be one of our favorite pieces. There was so much community involvement in this piece and we were happy to create a new local landmark while serving as a sign of Seattle pride!
Greg manages the lot we parked in. He greeted us every morning with a smile and a piece of wisdom.
Dan Temkin, the owner of the property, took us out for a boat ride and out to dinner to celebrate the mural. He shared his plans with us to open a future business in the lot where the mural was painted. Two years after the mural completion, he officially opened a private event space called Block 41 and built a beautiful deck and gate featuring our Greetings from Seattle mural. In 2017, they borught us back to Seattle to touch up minor adjustments after construction was completed.
Marlon & Ailene visiting from LA.
“From music to sports, quirky to classic, cultural touches to iconic structures—the subjects featured in the ‘Greetings from Seattle’ mural were so carefully selected and truly represent the fabric of our city. Visitors are delighted to find it and locals take pride in recognizing its many parts. Its location encourages exploration, drawing foot traffic from the nearby Pike Place Market into the Belltown neighborhood. We love watching people share their photos of this mural on social media, spreading the Seattle love well beyond our city limits.”
“The Greetings from Seattle mural painted a few years back became and instant landmark mural in our neighborhood of Belltown. People come from all over to get their photos in front of it as we are close to the Pike Place market which is a tourist destination in Seattle. Everyone in the neighborhood loves the different Seattle elements in each letter and their seems to be a sense of pride in the neighborhood over it. ”
SEATTLE MURAL ART PRINT
Official museum quality prints are now available in our online shop. Thank you for your support!
Press:
Visit Seattle - Murals Aplenty
Letter Guide:
S - Space Needle
E - Pike Place & The Gum Wall
A - The Mariners & The Seahawks
T - Pioneer Square Totem Pole, The Hammering Man, University of Washington & Coffee beans
T - Gas Works
L - Elephant Car Wash & Fremont Troll
E - Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana & Sir Mix-A-Lot
Background - Blue Angels, Mount Rainier
Year: 2015
Mural Size: 15'H x 35'W
Location: 115 Bell St, Seattle, WA 98121
Please check hours at Block 41 before visiting.