Manny Arechiga’s Honeybee Mural at Old Blue Raw Honey

We have a rad new mural on the honey house at Old Blue Raw Honey painted by artist Manny Arechiga, and we could not be more pleased with how it turned out. Manny is a friend who has been helping us out with beekeeping and honey extraction since early June, but last week he used a different set of talents to transform our shop door into a work of art. Manny is a California native who’s worked for a few different beekeeping operations the last five years or so, but (obviously) his true calling is in painting and drawing.

Manny and I had a couple conversations and looked through some photos together before he began painting, but all the mural artwork was done free-hand without any prior sketches on paper or on the garage door. As someone entirely non-gifted in the visual arts, it was pretty awe-inspiring to watch the mural take shape from nothing over the course of about 15 hours across four days.

I’m going to go out on a limb and claim that we now have the best mural in Philomath. (Consider that more of a challenge than a brag, fellow Philomathians.) The mural is visible from Highway 34 just outside Philomath city limits, but we are also hosting a honey tasting and new mural celebration on Sunday, November 19 from noon to 4 if you want to see it up close. Manny will be on hand to talk about his art and his experience as a beekeeper. More details about the event here.

Mural season in Oregon is coming to a close with the turn in the weather, and Manny’s headed back to California in a couple weeks, but he is taking on future commissioned art projects here, in California, and elsewhere. We’re also hoping to get some of his original art on Old Blue Raw Honey T-shirts before Christmas. If you want to talk to Manny about his muraling and artist services, get in touch with him at arechigamanny@gmail.com and/or follow him on Instagram @goawayfatman (where he has a great time-lapse video of this whole project).