Phone photo 3133

Gordon's Grocery, McCleary, Washington

Apparently there is some big football game coming up, involving the Seattle Seahawks, and people seem happy and excited. I don't know who they are playing, when the game is supposed to be taking place, etc. But I do like seeing my neighbors feeling celebratory. Those are helium filled Seattle Seahawks football helmet-shaped balloons in the background. I like the fact this display is over the fruit section and not above the beer locker, but somehow I don't think the fans are going to be peeling oranges while watching the game!

Breaking News! Abbott Mural in McCleary is Gone! Demon Child Defeated!

Just today I see the huge James Abbott mural in McCleary at Gordon's Grocery is no more! The Demon Child has been obliterated!

Phone photo 2818

James Abbott mural deterioration detail

McCleary, Washington

Phone photo 2817

Oddly, the least weather-damaged panel in this James Abbott mural in McCleary is the one that includes the DEMON CHILD surrounded by adults who look resigned to an eternity of terror with the little guy.

Phone photo 2816

More environmental damage to an aging James Abbott mural. Unfortunately, this particular image faces west, the direction from where the Pacific Ocean weather hits us hardest here in McCleary.

I am sure the cost of restoring an Abbott mural would be prohibitive. Since the murals of James Abbott are all over eastern Grays Harbor County, many business owners around here are going to be forced into making a hard choice about these pieces. A few of them already have, pro and con.

Superb landscape work on this mural panel. Typically, Abbott's backgrounds display more artistry than his foregrounds. But the more I document the existing work of Mr. Abbott the more I am impressed by his prolific and creative drive.

Phone photo 2815

James Abbott mural in rough shape

McCleary, Washington

Phone photo 2762

Of all the faces on all the work by James Abbott, none have so much power as the Demon Child on the mural on Gordon's Grocery in McCleary, Washington. This painting is actually sentient, and has the ability to sway us mere mortals to do his evil bidding.

Here he is instructing me to go in the store, buy some Pringles Potato Chips, go home and eat the whole package in one sitting while watching reruns of Petticoat Junction. Fortunately, his spell was broken but only after I exerted a tremendous amount of willpower.

What I want to know is how Mr. Abbott, who seemed like a nice enough fellow, could create such a little monster.

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Gordon's Grocery parking lot, McCleary, Washington

A nice way to personalize a blah asphalt area, and it is very McCleary.

[This is post # 4000 in Morty the Blog, and somehow seems fitting] 

Phone photo 1327

James Abbott mural detail. He was much better at landscapes than people.

James Abbott, McCleary Muralist

There used to be a very interesting artist around this area named James Abbott who delighted in creating historical murals throughout eastern Grays Harbor County in the 1990s. Much of his work remains to this day, although the ravages of time are already starting to show on his handiwork. Such is the condition of outdoor painting.

Two of his most public works in our town can be seen alongside our main grocery store staffed by great people, Gordon's, and on the old Rhode's Grocery building, now a personal storage business.

Art is subjective, and some have called his work "downright spooky" or "creepy," while others have described his art as "fascinating" and "splendid."

Personally, I enjoyed watching him in the act of creating his work more than viewing the result of his labors. He wore a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses and sported a stereotypical artist's goatee, while making his act of painting a public performance. It brought to mind Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil character, Go Man Van Gogh. He seemed to totally enjoy the attention as he painted the side of Gordon's.

I think I read Mr. Abbott's obituary within the last few years. More sooner than later these building owners across eastern Grays Harbor County (McCleary, Elma, Montesano) will have to decide whether to paint over his work or try to restore it.

Exactly what the TBTG acronym meant after his signature, I can't say for sure, except that I recall it was Christian in nature. Probably "Thanks Be To God."

Several of his images have already appeared in my phone photo series and I'll collect them here. Also some new images. In addition, I'm including three news articles about him from 1991-1998.

James Abbott, McCleary Muralist