Homegrown Artwork: First Mural of 2012 Going Up in Edmonds

John Osgood grew up in Edmonds. His fanciful, larger-than-life murals dot Puget Sound area, and recently the artist was among a handful invited to the UK’s Urban Mural Art festival called “Upfest.”

Now, the local resident made good (who runs a studio in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle with his wife, Michele) is creating his first mural for his hometown, which is now in progress on the west wall of Girardi's Osteria, facing Walnut Street Coffee.

Of course, the mural—which is untitled but will feature our well-known greeting and state of mind, "It's an Edmonds Kind of Day"—features a Washington State ferry.

From the artist's Web site:

I paint idiosyncratic characters with a bold palette in an urban contemporary art style mainly utilizing the mediums of acrylic and aerosol. I’m a people watcher and I enjoy spending time following the emotions that flicker throughout a person’s face during an interaction. I feel my art is the expression of these every day emotions and my collection of colorful & odd characters are inspired by life and the uncomfortable, forlorn and many times humorous circumstances that happen within it.

Osgood's mural is the first of three to be mounted this year.

Here's where the others will be:

• Ellen Clark: Edmonds "Entertains" (313 Main St., side of Edward Jones)
• Susan Babcock: "Winter Walk" (104 Fifth Ave. N., near Edmonds Historical Museum)

The Edmonds Mural Society has raised eleven murals to date——all in downtown Edmonds. The Mural Society funds the murals completely through membership dues and donations.