TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hudson Artist Ready To Take On A Wall

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: November 11, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - It's a scene that repeated itself countless times in Brooksville's history.

A mule and horse-drawn cart laden with tangerines pulls away from a livery stable.

The stable workers are already back to their tasks: One man minds a glowing piece of iron in an open flame, while another swings away to shape another hunk.

In 19th century Brooksville, livery stables helped keep the horses on the road, and that assured that the wheels of commerce kept rolling.

Soon the scene will grace the side of a historic building in downtown Brooksville.

The Brooksville Mural Society has selected artist L.D. Hunter of Hudson to paint the scene on the south side of Antique Sampler Mall at 31 N. Main St., just north of Liberty Street.

"I can't wait," Hunter told mural society chairwoman Mary Alice Queiros during a visit to City Hall. "I'm so proud to be able to do this."

The mural society picked Hunter's sketch out of eight entries. The mural will be roughly 26 feet wide and 11 feet high.

"From the pictures I've seen of old Brooksville, that to me is what Brooksville looked like," said Mary Jane Russell, the mural society's secretary.
Mural society members met each artist before making the choice, Queiros said.

Hunter, she said, showed "a willingness to listen and a willingness to try new things."

Hunter was born in Kentucky and raised on a farm in Ohio. His father was a logger and truck driver; his mother minded the homestead.

"Shoot, I've been drawing pictures ever since I could hold a pencil," said Hunter, whose initials stand for Lucian David.

In school, Hunter became the go-to artist for sports banners and other decorations.

He turned the passion into a career, and now does commission work in a variety of media.

Hunter has painted murals for a couple of Port Richey parks, including Brasher Park, where he created an aquatic scene. He has won awards for custom auto painting.

He carves animals from wood using a chain saw, and was asked to create animal carvings for a state Division of Forestry anniversary celebration in Ocala next year.

Despite his long artistic history, Hunter almost didn't submit an entry for the Brooksville mural.

An acquaintance saw the society's advertisement calling for artists to submit sketches, dialed the number and handed the phone to Hunter. It was Queiros on the other end, and she helped convince him to give it shot.

"I didn't think I was good enough yet," Hunter said. "I guess I was wrong, and thank God for that."

The livery stable will be the society's sixth mural. Perhaps the most well-known and most visible is "The Brooksville Raid," a Civil War mural by Spring Hill artist Tony Caparello on the side of Patricia's Boutique at the corner of Broad and Main streets.

The society has asked Caparello to paint a market scene on the other side of the Antique Sampler Mall and had planned to get that completed before the livery stable. The group decided instead to do the stable first, because it's smaller and will cost less, Queiros said.

The order of the murals is less important than the content, Queiros said. The two murals will be a fitting pair, because it will be as if the tangerine-laden cart driver in Hunter's painting is on the way to the bustling market on the other side of the building.

"We're trying to tell the history and the story of Hernando County and Brooksville, so this has all got to tie together," Queiros said.

Queiros still must negotiate a price with Hunter. She expects Hunter to get under way in about a month.

He will tweak the sketch to incorporate suggestions by the mural society, and the society must also get approval from the city council.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT