Location

This hidden gem is located in the parking lot (between 1st and 2nd, and just off E. Custer Street, in Laramie, WY ... see Clue Me! Map). The Laramie Mural Project has turned a bunch of drab and dreary downtown walls into art. One of those is now a weekly gem. It may be December, but these flowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing.

Look at the nicely done shadows. Although the painting is a view from due south, the shadows are coming from sun shining at about quittin' time in August. The shadows aren't just offset from the bees and flowers, but their shapes are silhouettes (with some stretching due to the angle) that you'd see if looking from up and to the left, i.e. the direction of the late afternoon sun.

It's a little thing, but nicely done.

And I'll bet it gives some people a little extra warmth as they trudge through the snow from their car to the office. And back.

.........

Here's the hidden gem entry from our Clue Me! map.

Clue

Blooming and buzzing all year long!

Description

The "Hollyhock Haven" mural

Why It's Interesting

The artist apparently liked the hollyhocks that were planted along the wall, their afternoon shadows and buzzing bumblebees. But at over 7,000 feet elevation, they were here and gone too soon. So Travis Ivey painted giant sized versions of the flowers and insects, with shadows that position them a foot or two away from the wall, exactly where the real flowers are growing.

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