As the old brick on the south side of the H-B Saloon building in the heart of Oakdale receives a much talked about face lift thanks to OakdaleArts and generous donors, another update of sorts is happening to the north of the historic building.
Now 36 years since its first inception, painter and former community member Alan Whitcomb has returned to update the small mural he originally painted on the street side of the well-known area saloon.
According to Whitcomb, who now resides in Winton, he was first commissioned by Mike Bacigalupi 36 years ago to add some art to the front of the building.
“I like Mike, he’s a good guy,” Whitcomb said of returning on his own time to refurbish his work a bit. “Mike’s been a buddy for many years. I don’t mind doing it.”
Three decades of wear had taken their toll.
“The thing was looking terrible,” he continued. “After all these years with all this traffic, so I’ve kind of added to it as I’m going along.”
While he really doesn’t remember what inspired him to create the current painting, it was inspired by one of his favorite artists, Charles Russell, a famous Western artist. The H-B rendition is a reproduction of Russell’s famous piece, ‘In Without Knocking.’
A true contrast to the large mural on the back side of the building, handcrafted by a young artist with spray paint, Whitcomb has penciled in his touch ups and hand painted his work. A labor of love he estimates at about 100 hours once finished.
“This particular one I’ve done on three bars, this one and two others,” he said of ‘In Without Knocking.’ “One was down in Texas and the other one was over in Ventura. I don’t know if they’re still there or not, but this is one of my favorites.”
Now at retirement age, with many stories of travel and life adventures Whitcomb loves painting now just as much as he did when he first started at the young age of seven.
“I started when I was about seven years old that I can remember I started getting into it,” he said. “I did my first professional job for the Ford Motor Company in Milpitas. I was 12 years old at the time. They paid me $75 and I took all my buddies out for soda and candy.”
As for returning on his own time to refresh and enhance his now tired work, Whitcomb’s reasoning is quite simple.
“I love to paint, I love Mike and I love this bar.”
