Up Fest is going to change the face of downtown (2 photos)

The now-completed project features a surreal image of a man and a woman who appear to be clapping along while a tiny man dances on a tree stump that's been set with cups and saucer to serve tea.

Lovegates told NorthernLife.ca he doesn't plan his murals before he begins them; he finds inspiration in the work.

“I'll starting painting, and it comes out of my subconscious,” said Lovegates, who travels throughout North America during the summer, painting murals.

He said real people's faces are often the inspiration for his public art. The YMCA mural features a woman he met here in Sudbury, as well as a man he photographed in San Francisco.

Lovegates said he loves the interactive nature of public art, given that being an artist can sometimes be a lonely profession.

“It's great to be in a community,” he said. “Sometimes you can get a bit heckled, but most of the time you're praised and in conversation with people, which is amazing.”

Up Fest organizers Andrew Knapp and Christian Pelletier — who have created some public art themselves through their We Live Up Here project — said they're looking to create a permanent mark on the city.

Besides the YMCA, murals will also be created over the next few weeks on the Old Rock building on Minto, at 84 Station Cafe and walls near the Speakeasy and Eat Local Sudbury.

During the festival itself, a Rainbow Concrete cement truck will be painted in the middle of Durham Street, creating a moving mural.

“They'll be there for decades to come,” Knapp said. “We look forward in the future. Say if we make seven new murals every time (we hold Up Fest), then after we have four festivals, there'll be 28 new murals.

“I'd like to see Sudbury become a mural capital, and when people come to Sudbury, they learn to expect to see public art everywhere by world-renowned artists like the ones we've brought in for this.”

Learn more about what's happening at Up Fest at upfest.ca.