Scraping his way to the top of the art world

I had the pleasure of meeting RC Bailey at his opening party at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery on Saturday night. He took me around the gallery and explained a lot of his art. It's done in an unusual fashion, he scrapes the paint away to create an image. "I am a turn-of-the-Century Post Raphaelite," says RC. He has been a professional artist for over fifty years. 

As we walked around the gallery, he carried his tools with him, these are the actual tools that created this beautiful art.


The art is very intricate and he gets the colors by scraping off the top paint and revealing what's under it. Usually the white Masonite which he paints on. He first covers the canvas with Kilz of all things. Then he goes one section at a time, putting a paint color on, letting it dry then covering it with another color, which he scrapes off to show the color below it. It's tedious work, but I can see how it may be very relaxing. We joked about him falling asleep while he's painting.


You can see the detail here and imagine the hours that goes into ever piece.

RC has murals on most of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships, and most of the Grand Casinos. His works can be seen locally at the Port of Miami, Mayfair House and various other locals. He works very well with designers and is able to come up with the image they desire for certain settings.

Stop by the Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery daily from 10 am to 5 pm. The gallery is at the Mayfair Atrium, next to the bull sculpture.