Rồng gặp mây": "Dragon meets clouds"

This 42’ x 23’ mural design is location on the Right Wall of the Parking Lot E entrance to Building 1 at Skyline, next to the Art Gallery. The mural area consists of 20 two-tiered vertical section/s of concrete panels that average 2' wide by 23' high.

The mural uses an abstracted form of a Vietnamese Dragon as a starting point for its design, and the Dragon's body is filled with textile patterns from many cultures, representing the diversity of the Skyline College Community. The Dragon image is set against a light blue background with a pale yellow at the top. The Vietnamese Dragon is a Sky dragon, and the blue represents the Sky – the Dragon's abode. The yellow represents moonlight. 

full view of completed dragon mural

Photograph by David Evans

The mural location is ideally suited for a Dragon image. Revered all over Asia, Dragons are seen as benevolent, omniscient, and bring blessings and good fortune. They are commonly located to the right of an entrance to a room or building- this orientation is said to bring good luck to those who pass by. To flow the energy of the image into the entrance to Building 1, the following poem by Song Dynasty Master Xuedou Zhongxian will be painted above the adjcacent doorway:

One, seven, three, five-
The truth you search for cannot be grasped
As night advances, a bright moon
illuminates the whole ocean;
The dragon's jewels are found in every wave.
Looking for the moon, it is here,
in this wave, in the next.

-Xuedou Zhongxian

view of the mural with the accompanying poem visible on the side wall
Poem: One, seven, three, five - the truth you search for cannot be grasped. as night advances, a bright moon illuminates the whole ocean; the dragon's jewels are found in every wave. Looking for the moon, it is here, in one wave, in the next. Poet is Xuedou Zhongxian

One of the design challenges for this location was to create an image that tied into the existing gallery mural thematically and visually, yet allowed the new mural room for conceptual expansion. The design is specifically related to the location, and works around existing architectural features. The mural image was designed to be seen primarily from an oblique, foreshortened angle, ‘squishing’ the image into a more compressed form. Note that unlike the first art gallery mural, there is no ‘long-shot’ opportunity for viewing this mural head-on, it can only be viewed from an oblique angle.

Work on the mural began on Thursday, July 15, 2010. The website was updated with weekly posts documenting the painting progression. The Mural was designed and painted by Paul Bridenbaugh, with many thanks to the following volunteer artists for their help with drawing and painting the mural: Art Sato, Teena Makapugay, Alan Ceccarelli, Victoria Maung, Denise Wilkie, Aya Artola, Kim Centeno, Iat-Seng Lam, Elizabeth Wong, Beth Braunstein, Anna-Marie Vargas, Jamie Weinstock, Jessica Daniel, Lone Wang, Wasan Hasan , Olivia Asis, Phil Harris, Gaby Gerson, Qing Liu. Many thanks as well to Vicki Morrow and Donna Bestock for making this project possible.

Mural Progress

November 15 progress of the middle of the dragon

November 15

November 15 progress on the hind claw of the dragon

November 15

July 20 progress of the mural's outline beginning

July 20

July 21 progress, with an artist stepping down from sketching outlines

July 21

July 22 progress with more gold outline of the dragon

July 22

july 22 progress of the dragon's front outline in gold

July 22

July 22 closeup on front claw outlines developing

July 22

July 22 view of the whole mural area from farther back

July 22

July 26 painters working on the  outlines of the mural

July 26

July 26, painters work on the mural. Machinery used to get higher up the wall is visible.

July 26

July 26 progress on the mural with much more of the gold outline and the beginning of a hind foot filled in

July 26

July 26 progress on the mural, including green leaves on the front claw

July 26

July 26 progress includes more outline on top of the dragon and hind claw decoration

July 26

July 29 progress shows the bottom and top left of the outline finished and more filled in at the bottom of the dragon

July 27

July 27 view of mural progress with beginning of the front filling in

July 27

July 27 progress on the back of the dragon with blue striped designs

July 27

July 28 progress includes panels of yellow, green, and orange designs

July 29

Closeup of the colorful panels added to the back of the dragon on July 29

July 29

Closeup of the red, white, green and navy designs added to a hind claw on July 29

July 29

Painters add to the bottom of the dragon on a foggy day on August 19

August 19

Painters stand on a raised machine to paint the top of the dragon's body on August 19

August 19

Full view of the painter standing on the machinery to add to the top of the dragon on August 19

August 19

An artist sits on the ground to add details to the front of the dragon on August 19

August 19

The back third of the dragon is now filled with panels of colorful designs on August 19

August 19

An artist sits to clean up details on the back of the dragon on August 19

August 19

Far-off shot of an artist siting by the front bottom of the dragon on August 19

August 19

August 26- Construction/ of a level platform was completed this week, which will allow us to develop painting in the main body of the mural over the next few weeks. A big thank you to Alan Ceccarelli and his theater crew for their assistance in building this platform.

A wooden platform is constructed at the bottom to help artists reach higher up the wall

August 26

View of the finished back third of the dragon's body above the entry doors

August 26

Closeup of the green, white and gold designs on one of the dragon's hind claws

August 26

A ladder is set up on the wooden platform to reach higher up the body of the dragon on August 29

August 29

Another angle of the ladder on hte wooden platform on August 29

August 29

A closeup of the machinery and ladder that will be used on August 29

August 29

An artist heads toward the platform on August 30

August 30

The back third of the dragon and parts of the front bottom third are filled in by August 30

August 30

The bottom half of the dragon is filled with colorful panels in green, blue, orange, yellow and white by September 8

September 8

Only the top half of the front two-thirds of the dragon is still blank on September 8

September 8

A view of the gold completely filled around the dragon and the back half almost finished on September 8

September 8

Closeup of the progress on the bottom back half of the dragon on September 8

September 8

The dragon's head is blank but fully outlined in detail on September 8

September 8

On September 13 the dragon's body is mostly filled with colorful panels and surrounded by a gold background

September 13

A closeup on September 13 of the rich colors and detail in the dragon's body panels

September 13

On September 13 the back half is fully finished with colorful designs except one panel in the middle

September 13

On September 14 the missing panel in the back is fully filled in and only the head remains blank

September 14

A view of the colorful purple, blue, black, red, orange, green and yellow panels on September 14

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September 21

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September 22. This morning the undepainting phase of the mural is completed. The last part of this phase is underpainting the Jewel in the Dragon's mouth. Now we proceed to the final painting phase. The mural is now approximately halfway completed.

September 22

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September 29

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November 2 progress

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The poem painted on the wall and the back of the dragon

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November 15

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Closeup of the red-striped hind claw on November 15

November 15

Angled view of the middle of the dragon on November 15

November 15

Outline for the dragon trailing across the door is painted on November 15

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