ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- St. Augustine's 450th birthday is here. 2015 is the year The Old City celebrates as the longest continuously occupied city in America.
Dean Quigley has been painting Florida and St. Augustine scenes for decades, and he has been tapped to paint a mural for St. Augustine's 450th birthday.
Quigley is just as colorful as his paintings. He is also a history re-enactor.
Dressed in 16th century attire, he started the mural Tuesday.
He has already painted two 'rough drafts' that he will blend into one 10x4 mural on canvas.
The mural will show when founder Pedro Menendez arrived in 1565 with his Spanish and African settlers and entourage.
Quigley described it as the "tapestry of all the beginnings of America."
He'll incorporate images of pottery like the artifacts actually found during archaeological digs on the site which became St. Augustine.
Quigley will even paint a bit of surprise or curiosity on the Native Americans' faces.
"Basically these Indians will be reacting to each other of the Spaniards and Europeans as if you and I saw a UFO and aliens come of the ship! I don't know what I would do," Quigley laughed, "but I'd be like, 'Oooh. Look at you!'"
He also plans to add the faces of re-enactors into the painting. It will be a bit of current St. Augustine mixed with the old.
"This was an epic event in world history and in national history as well," Dana Ste. Claire said. He is the Director of the 450th St. Augustine Commemoration.
Ste. Claire said an anonymous donor is funding the mural as a gift to the people of St. Augustine. It will be the centerpiece of the exhibition at the St. Augustine Visitor Information Center called Tapestry: The Cultural Threads of First America, starting in April.
However, Ste. Claire says the mural will also be a legacy gift for decades to come.
Quigley couldn't be more thrilled.
He laughed, "I've waited 450 years to do a painting of this quality and size of a subject I love… St. Augustine, you know!"
