Mural starting to take shape

After taking almost a week to prime the west wall of the Masonic Lodge on the corner of Scott Street and Portage Avenue, mural artist John Hood now is moving along quickly painting his project–a glimpse at turn-of-the-century Fort Frances.
“It took about two days longer on the priming than I hoped but more or less, it’s on schedule,” Hood said while taking a break in the hot afternoon sun Tuesday.
“I started the painting on Sunday. At this point, I’m looking at getting it done by the last day of September. I can’t see doing much past that,” he noted.
So far, much of the work on the central “panel” is shaping up, including a blue tugboat and a sepia-toned group photo of early settlers.
The finished mural will feature an additional steamboat in front of the falls, an inset featuring the falls, people fishing, the Couchiching Hotel, and a “shoreline effect” across the second-storey of the building.
Hood noted this work already has been turning heads.
“I’ve had a terrific response already from the people downtown,” he said. “I’m pretty confident if they like this rough stage, they’ll love the finished product.”
Hood added traffic literally has been slowing to get a better look. “It’s kind of novel, and that’s the fun of it. Hopefully, nobody gets rear-ended,” he chuckled.
“When I was driving by on my way to work this morning, I saw it. I think it’s coming along very nice,” said Crystal Godbout, co-ordinator of the Chamber of Commerce’s town beautification project.
She also sat on the mural committee which hired Hood for the job.
“When we picked the scene, it was only in black and white–it’s nice to see colour,” she added.
The only downside to his job so far, said Hood, has been the weather.
“I had lost a day there with the storm last week. And it’s been kinda warm, uncomfortably warm,” he noted. “It was over 100 degrees in the sun the other day.”
Hood added he tries his best to beat the heat by taking a break in the mid-afternoon and then return to the site around 4 or 5 p.m. to squeeze in a few more hours of work.
The town’s first historic mural–commemorating lumber baron E.W. Backus–adorns the west wall of the CIBC on Scott Street. It was completed in November, 1999.