Artist nearing completion of downtown mural

A Florahome artist leaned back to monitor the progress of his latest mural before shifting back to add in some more details.

Luke Taft said Monday he hopes to have the new downtown Palatka mural finished by the end of the week.

He is repainting the mural depicting the Putnam House Hotel, a famous Palatka building that was erected over 89 days in 1885 but razed in 1922, according to the book “Our Place in Time, A Chronology of Putnam County.”

The mural, on which Taft began working in July, is on the 100 block of Second Street, according to a social media post.

“I’ve been told by a lot of people that The Putnam House mural was one of their favorites in town, so I am happy to be able to revitalize it with my own similar, but original, composition,” Taft said in a statement.

He said the mural has “completely absorbed” him for the past month and, at 20 feet tall, is the biggest piece he has ever tackled.

Palatka has had no shortage of rain and thunderstorms lately, but Taft has managed to paint the mural most days before the rain begins. Still, Taft said, his work doesn’t even stop for the rain.

“When I get rained or sunned out, I come home and work on my daily photo of it in Photoshop so I know exactly what I need to do when I can get back to work at the site,” Taft said.

Taft said the Conlee Snyder Mural Committee commissioned him to work on the mural, which is his second piece in downtown Palatka and his sixth mural throughout the city. He also painted the Mug Race mural behind Riverfront Nutrition on North Third Street. His other murals are in the South Palatka Historic District, on two closed businesses, in one residence and on the side of the 3-D Saloon, he said.

The artist hopes to work on other murals around town after he finishes this new addition.

“I hope that people like it as much (as) the first one,” Taft said. “I am working hard to try to live up to that.”

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