Mural Details and Live Painting Projects

Creating a public art piece that captures the spirit and meaning of Batavia, IL includes elements of history, landmarks, public activities (the 4th of July Fireworks) and recreational opportunities. This popular bulldog sits in front of an historic windmill next to City Hall in Batavia.

Creating murals in collaboration with clients including businesses, developers, commercial projects, residential and organizations including non-profits and arts councils.

Christopher Cudworth collaborates with businesses, municipalities, organizations and individuals to produce meaningful murals on-site. From restaurants to pet boarding centers, public walls and public art for inspiration and community, Christopher Cudworth does it all!

Creating an interior space that felt like being outdoors was the goal at Santa Fe Restaurant. This expansion on a hacienda theme fills the main wall in the second room of the restaurant.

Sometimes murals call for an extra dose of false reality. Here I integrated the “real” roofing with the painted version to give an illusion of additional space.

When the Santa Fe restaurant in Glen Ellyn, Illinois was informed that a giant parking garage was to be built within a couple feet of the south side of the establishment, plans were quickly made to board up the windows facing that direction. But they still wanted a “view” for patrons. Artist Christopher Cudworth painted the boarded up windows, each 96” X 54” with scenes from Mexico.

Here’s an excerpt from the Santa Fe window murals, a San Miguel Balloon Man

What would a San Miguel, Mexico Street Scene be without a high-spirited Mariachi band? Loved painting this as part of the murals for Santa Fe Restaurant.

One of the value-added benefits of working with Christopher Cudworth as a muralist is his experience in generating public relations associated with the project. This article in the Daily Herald ran in both print and digital versions. Here’s the story by Kaitlyn Smith, Daily Herald Reporter:

The views out of a downtown Glen Ellyn restaurant seem to go on forever.

Looking through the windows, diners are transported to the street life of Mexico. People dance to a mariachi band. A vendor sells balloons -- all under a blue sky as far as the eye can see.

Muralist Christopher Cudworth worked his magic with a paintbrush to create those scenes and cover up what's really on the other side of the windows: A hulking concrete wall.

The Apex 400 development, a new apartment building, is rising next door to the Santa Fe Mexican Restaurant along Main Street. A parking garage that's still under construction stands almost right up against the exterior wall of the popular dining spot, blocking its southern-facing windows.

Stuck staring out at concrete, the family owners of the restaurant -- serving Glen Ellyn for nearly 40 years -- sought to give their customers new views.

"It was all about creating some perspective and some feeling of space," said Cudworth, a North Aurora resident.

Diana Martinez, a lifelong Glen Ellyn resident, came up with the creative solution to help the restaurant and asked her Facebook friends in January if there was an artist in the area who could compensate for the window closures.

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Cudworth knew he could do the job.

"I just have great respect for the people who run these businesses, because one of the other things you see while you're doing this is how hard they work," he said.

"And that to me was the enormous motivation to do something that's reflective of their reputation and their history and yet provides some visual excitement for their customers."

The mural project became a collaboration between Cudworth and the second-generation owners of Santa Fe, siblings Reyna and Olga Jiménez. Their parents, Irineo and Teresa Jimenez, opened the restaurant and raised six children.

"It's a local institution," Cudworth said.

He first expanded an existing hacienda mural in the back of the restaurant to 22 feet wide. In the front, he stretched canvas over the two boarded-up, framed windows and painted from photographs that he was given and researched of San Miguel, Mexico.

"San Miguel is this beautiful city," he said. "And it has these big boulevards and these cathedrals, and then the street life is very busy."

Cudworth gave the sisters creative license so the murals would reflect their personalities and the mood of the restaurant. He also was willing to make changes as his work unfolded. Reyna Jiménez, for instance, wanted more blue sky.

"She was able to tell me really clearly, quite often, what was in her mind, and bringing that to life is a blast," Cudworth said.

He would arrive at the restaurant to paint before business hours, often at 7 a.m.

"Their cooks are already there," Cudworth said.

During the project, he was painting four to six hours at a stretch. He's a runner, a cyclist and a triathlete, but the work was still tiring.

"You're climbing up and down on the ladder a lot and moving things around and bending and stretching," he said. "I'm very fit, but I was tired mentally and physically tired."

Cudworth wasn't going to rush the process, but he had deadlines. The Jiménez sisters wanted the murals ready for the Frida Kahlo retrospective at the College of DuPage and the influx of exhibition visitors coming to the downtown. "Frida Kahlo: Timeless" was just extended an extra week to run through Sept. 12.

"Now, of course, there are banners along the ceiling like in the Mexican markets, and so it creates collectively a whole atmosphere in the restaurant," Cudworth said.

The murals create the effect of late afternoon sunlight, bringing the outside in and a sense of depth.

"I wasn't after absolute perfection because I didn't want it to look stiff," he said.

He's developed his style over a lifetime of painting. Cudworth first picked up a brush at about 12 years old.

He's built a career in marketing and writing. In the art world, Cudworth, an avid bird watcher, has sold roughly 1,000 bird paintings over his career.

"I've tried to do some evocative work that's more emotional and a little less literal the last five or 10 years because I was all about the detail with the birds and accuracy," Cudworth said.

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He also wound up painting a mural for Sylvia Jiménez, another sister of the Santa Fe owners, in her restaurant, Bat 17, in Lombard. He's pleased with the finished work.

"It was both fun and rewarding," he said.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20210809/muralist-gives-new-views-for-glen-ellyn-restaurant-dwarfed-by-downtown-development

Working with businesses and organizations to enhance their space and bring branding to life is one of my favorite things to do.

Collaborating to create a 96” x 48” mural, artist Christopher Cudworth depicted local landmarks and supported organizations to depict the practice’s commitment to community.

One of thirteen murals at Ruffner’s Luxury Pet Boarding. This one is a testimonial to the incredibly intricate work of Gustav Klimit

This segment of the full wall mural shows the lively colors and activity on the main mural.

Being creative with presentations of dogs for Ruffner’s was one of the main goals of this project. In the kennel devoted to Pablo Picasso’s work, I rendered these playful images of pups and the famous Blue Guitarist painting

Here’s a closeup from one of the Ruffner’s murals featuring a take on a Winslow Homer painting of a sailboat, this time with a dog added on crew. Keep with the theme!

After completing the thirteen dog kennels, Ruffner’s Luxury Pet Boarding wanted to spice up the Cat room too! This mural plays on the idea that cats love aquariums!

Seeking to add dimension to a cat kennel area, Christopher Cudworth created the feel of space with cats on tables, chairs and on top of an aquarium.

Creating variety between kennel murals was a goal. This testimony to the work of Botticelli plays with the ethereal them of everlasting love. For Dogs.

The restaurant owners wanted to create a connection between their Chicago roots and their new Lombard location. Christopher Cudworth created this iconic postcard image to kick off the mural.

Working in collaboration with metalworkers and construction crews, Christ painted the metal sculpture and the background image highlighted by colored lights.

One of the value-added services I provide is the excitement of painting along with a professional artist and muralist. These events are great for team-building or just great fun with friends or family. With a background in many fields of art, Chris helps groups choose the image they’d like to paint and guides the group from A to Z. Catering options available. Corporate rates too.

I help organizations fund raised by doing live painting events on-site. This draws attention and gives a focal point for event. Great publicity too!

When businesses collaborate with artist Christopher Cudworth, the outcome usually includes great publicity in local, regional and even national media.

Two painting night students that swore “it can’t be done” hold their renditions of the Andrew Wyeth painting “Christina’s World.”

Here the artist Christopher Cudworth does a live pastel painting at the Heritage Prairie Farm fund raising even for Mutual Ground, an agency dedicated to assisting abused women. The piece was auctioned and raised $500.

Working with organizations to create buzz or raise money is one of my favorite things to do. This live painting demonstration at Heritage Prairie Farm led to the original being given away is fund-raising raffle.

While working in live situations, the artist excels in bringing people into the process so that they feel a sense of connection and ownership. Educating people about art and the processes is one of the many attributes Chris brings to every project.

This city scene of Aurora, Illinois was painted live in two hours by Christopher Cudworth during a fundraising event and auction for Mutual Ground in 2022.

During the second year of live painting for the Mutual Ground fundraiser, I created a pastel of sandhill cranes. This work also took two hours to produce, with event patrons watching and asking questions. I love sharing the artistic process with people. The painting raised $400.

Jenn Brauner (pictured with puppy) and Hannah Mika of Ruffners

"We hired Christopher Cudworth as a muralist for Ruffner's Luxury Pet Boarding after he painted our fire hydrant outside our entrance. Our clients liked the new art so much, we commissioned Chris to produce a large mural at the front of our kennel area. That 30' x 8" mural shows a variety of dogs in natural settings. The colors are great and that got us thinking about our dog kennels. Chris collaborated with us to come up with a theme of using famous artists and artworks for each of the kennels. Now we have kennels painted with the work of Vincent Van Gogh (Starry Night) Gustav Klimt (The Kiss and others) as well as artists Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Andrew Wyeth, Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, Georgia O'Keefe, and others. These murals have really sparked up our workplace and our dog guests have a stimulating environment for daycare and boarding. Chris works quickly and was great at accepting suggestions, so we added a mural in our cat room too! He's really creative and shares concept drawings for work so we can see how it might look. Now our staff has interesting images to look at every day! He's also produced videos so that we can share the project with our customers on our website and social media. Working with Chris has been a fun, collaborative process. We can recommend him for murals of many types."

Here is the Bulldog on site in front of City Hall. It’s a favorite of families visiting the downtown.