It’s been one of my dreams to paint murals. And in 2018 I had the pleasure of painting two murals. One in Chiang Mai, Thailand at the artist residency MaiSpace that I attended, and the second was at Metropolink Urban Art Festival here in Heidelberg Germany in the summer. I love painting large scale paintings on canvas, so I was so excited to bring my painting to walls. Metropolink has been a wonderful addition to Heidelberg, bringing beautiful art to the public all around town.

I love the large scale, the challenge. Translating my style and technique into vertical and large work is a fun and rewarding undertaking. I love making work of different sizes (scales). Usually I begin paintings with them lying horizontally on the floor, using very fluid paints and water, but I had to adjust my style to work on vertical walls.

In 2018, Metropolink took over one street in a former US army barracks here in Heidelberg. The homes have been abandoned for 5 years and have become overgrown and we artists occupied the street and brought it to life for a week of art and music. I was asked to paint the interior of an officer’s garage.

Metropolink recently published this catalogue of the last two years of festivals. It is avaiable locally at several cafes in heidelberg and it can be purchased by contacting orga@metropolink-festival.de. The zine is a large A3 size with full page spreads of artist portraits and photographs of the murals that were painted. A beautiful portrait of me was taken in the catalogue. You can see all my wrinkles and freckles, it was taken on one of the hottest days of the year but it captured me really well.

This coming year’s Metropolink Urban Art Festival goes from Jul 5 - Jul 21.

Mark your calendars. It will be another wonderful year!

Thanks for reading lovelies,

Anna (Olive Green Anna)