The big picture

Kathleen Kresa stands next to the mural's first phase. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Drive by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) building where U.S. Highway 101 intersects Northcrest Drive and you’ll notice a scene from what it might have looked like when the highway was being constructed 80-some years ago.

The first phase of the two-part mural is already finished, depicting the early highway system in Del Norte County. The second phase, now under way, will depict work Caltrans is doing today. Kresa has a mock-up of what the finished mural will look like on her Web site, www.kkmurals.com.

“It’s the history of transportation,” said Helga Burns, president of the Redwood Mural Society, who is sponsoring the mural. “Del Norte County was very isolated before roads and bridges. The other side is color and more modern.”

The project started when Kresa told her neighbor, who works for Caltrans, that she would “like to get ahold of that wall” with clear visibility from the highway. Burns said the mural society wanted to help Kresa do the ambitious project on two walls and provide artists and supplies from Ace Hardware.

Kresa has done several murals around town, including the one of Mary Adams Peacock on the corner of 3rd and I streets, and helped paint the recently completed mural inside Fred Endert Municipal Pool.

A Caltrans worker takes photographs of mural painter Doug Minty. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

So far, she has been working primarily with two other local artists Doug Minty and Wanda Kirkpatrick. Others will join the group to help on the multi-colored wall.

“They’ve done a bang-up job,” Kresa said recently as the crew was finishing up for the day.

“If she wasn’t here to tell us what to do ...” Kirkpatrick responded, implying Kresa’s supervision was the key.

“Baloney,” Kresa said, giving the last word.

Kresa gave into her passion of painting murals after a long career in the 9-to-5 world.

“I used to be an accountant for the state,” she explained. “I was miserable for 20 years.”

When she moved to Del Norte five years ago she asked local businesses if she could paint their walls.

“I started painting the town,” she said.

Caltrans worker Jamie Camden stands next to her likeness in the mural. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

A city ordinance states that a mural cannot be advertising for a business, so the RE/MAX ballon had to be whited out and remains that way today. Kresa said the mural will be redone this summer to feature Castle Rock and Aleutian geese.

“I’m just a dumb artist,” she said with a smile. “The Redwood Mural Society keeps me in a line.”

It’s all for the better, she said, because working on a mural “takes a team.”

“Crescent City is full of artists that are very talented,” Kresa said, adding that more people will be working on the color portion of the mural.

Kirkpatrick explained that she usually paints on windows and saw blades, but said it’s more fun and challenging to work on such a big space.

“It expands everything, the knowledge you get working on something so big.”

For these artists, it’s partially about the experience of painting a mural and  beautifying the city.

They said they have received a lot of positive comments as people drive by and notice the work being done.

“At 40 miles per hour, you don’t get to be critical,” Minty said.

Knowing that they’re doing something that people enjoy is inspiring.

“It keeps you going because people like it,” Kirkpatrick said.

The local artists volunteer their time and energy to put up murals for local residents and anyone driving by to appreciate. Kresa said the mural society has several projects in the works for this summer.

“This is what we can do,” Kresa said, about their contribution to the community. “To take a corner of a wall and turn it into a thing of beauty.”