Tails Are Wagging For New Rumson Mural

8938
Mary Gaynor with Ben, her standard poodle, in front of her mural on Rumson’s Washington Street. Emily Billington Photo

By Adrienne Fleming 

RUMSON – Over the course of 144 hours between late spring and early October, local artist Mary Connell Gaynor spent early mornings perched atop a kneeling pad on the sidewalk where West River Road meets Washington Street. An array of acrylic paints and brushes by her side, Gaynor worked painstakingly as the sun crept up the exterior wall of Rumson Wine & Spirits, the setting of her latest project. Beginning just after sunrise and painting until the noon sun made the wall too reflective to continue, Gaynor brought to life a mural featuring striking portraits of 12 dogs and cats – and a bird – that is already a beloved landmark of Rumson’s business district.

“Every morning as I painted, I saw the same people walking their dogs and riding bikes,” said Gaynor. “They always stopped to chat and told me they couldn’t wait to come see what had been added to the mural that day. It made me smile every morning. I’ve lived in Rumson for 50 years. This is such a great community and this experience really reinforced that for me.”

Gaynor’s first few days on the extensive project left her so sore she could barely walk. “I had been kneeling on a hard rubber pad until one day, my friend Max Matern jumped out of his truck and handed me a kneeling pad he made for me out of bubble wrap and foil. It made such a difference. It saved my knees!”

Each of the 13 pets illustrated in the mural belong to the Mulheren family, the owners of Rumson Wine & Spirits, which recently reopened after a complete interior and exterior renovation that includes a new wine tasting room and beer cave. What began as a commission to paint one or two dogs on the Washington Street exterior wall of the shop turned into a large-scale project that includes many of the Mulheren family pets. “They wanted to do this for the community just to spread a little joy and make people smile,” Gaynor said. 

In 2005, Gaynor painted a bicycle on the back wall of Savoury Fare, a gourmet shop that was formerly attached to the liquor store. During the recent remodel, Rumson Wine & Spirits took over that space and the bicycle was painted over, so Gaynor repainted it as part of the new mural. Inside the basket of the blue beach cruiser sits a striped towel and a bottle of rosé, puppy Bernedoodle (a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle) Chewie standing guard in the foreground.

The wall is divided into three sections, two of which Gaynor has completed. She plans to start the third wall in the spring when the weather warms. The first wall features Gucci, a Pomeranian; Chewie; Simba, a great white Pyrenees; Molly, a miniature schnauzer; Hope, a Labrador retriever; and Snickers, a Shiba Inu.

The second wall features Andre, a Great Dane; Purrcy, a tabby cat; Mavis, a tuxedo cat; Brigitte, a Newfoundland; Sparky, a green cheeked conure; Misty, an Old English/French bulldog mix; and Hammer, an Australian cattle dog. Gaynor applied a spray called Mural Shield to her finished work, which will seal and protect her art through 20 to 30 years of harsh outdoor elements.

Gaynor’s portrayal of Andre the Great Dane has become one of her favorites. “He’s really quite striking,” she said. “I just really love him.” For Andre, Gaynor took inspiration from famed “New York Times” illustrator Al Hirschfeld’s “Nina” caricatures. “Hirschfeld used a unique scratch drawing style and he was famous for hiding his daughter Nina’s name throughout his work. Next to his signature, he would write how many times Nina’s name could be found. On Andre’s collar, I drew a heart and the number 37 because 37 hearts can be found in his coat.”

Gaynor spent much of her childhood living in Rumson and returned to raise her own family in town after studying at Moore College of Art and earning her Bachelor of Fina Arts from Monmouth University. As a budding portrait painter, she placed an ad in the “Red Bank Register” featuring a black-and-white pencil drawing of her then 1-year-old son. As a result, she landed 30 portrait jobs and met friends whom she remains close with to this day.

Gaynor never advertised again and relies exclusively on word-of-mouth and her stellar reputation as a leading portrait artist in the Two River area and beyond. She now has the joy of painting portraits of children whose parents she painted decades ago when they were children. “I feel strongly that growing as an artist is a lifelong process and I credit the many parents and grandparents who have seen in me a portrait painter,” she said.

Gaynor has a keen ability to capture not just the physical likeness of her subjects, but their very essence, and finds it easier to do so when she works from photographs she takes herself. “I love the challenge of bringing that special something that is behind the eyes of every living thing to life in my art,” said Gaynor. “There is always something that takes hold of me and won’t let go until I communicate it back in my painting.”

There was something comforting in its simplicity, and fitting for today’s reality, to see Gaynor work on the mural in the midst of a worldwide lockdown. Local residents often stopped to thank her for giving them something to look forward to on daily walks during months of quarantine. “I think people found it refreshing to see someone outside enjoying what they do and creating art at a time that seemed so dark,” said Gaynor. “At first I felt so nonessential that it was hard to motivate. For me, this experience has been very special.” 

The article originally appeared in the October 29 – November 4, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.