Hagler's

This commissioned piece was delivered today & the client is very happy - and so am I!

Hagler's is an old diner that once existed in a neighboring town. It dates back quite some time, and has had many modifications done to it. It was sold a few times and the various owners changed the look to fit their restaurant style. One was Italian which painted the bricks all white & red & green trim. Another painted it entirely brown & yellow. But the client opted to go back - not all the way to the beginning, but to a time when the diner was a popular place to go.

Unfortunately, the building sat vacant for many years. And when buildings sit vacant they surrender to mother nature & the elements. My understanding was that the building could not be salvaged, that it would cost more to upgrade it & bring it up to code. So the corner location on the main street became an empty lot as the old Hagler's building was knocked down.

A bank is being built on the property and my client works for the bank. She is a native to the area & wanted to honor the diner with a painting that will be hung in the banks lobby, along with a plaque that commemorates it. What a wonderful thing to do - to pay homage to the past.

This was one of my tougher paintings to do, as the clients goal was to make it true to it's older style. She was able to send me quite a few old black & white images of the diner. And we worked together to decide on the color scheme. The town historian let me borrow one of the bricks that he took when the building was knocked down - that along with a photo from the knock down gave me the brick colors to work with.

The painting will be framed next - she is choosing a cherry wood frame to match the bank's interior. It should look nice! She believes the bank will be ready to open around the first week of April - and I plan to visit to see my work hanging. (wide smiles here!)

Here's one of the black & whites - showing you the bricks. This was taken during the knock-down. They had discovered the original brick wall inside (an addition had been built that blocked it until the demolition happened) - along with the sign that was once painted on an outside wall as advertising. Just a small reminder of the good old days.