Drawing turns into Erath High mural on football field

ERATH — What began as a vision in Paul Harrington’s head has now turned into a piece of art work that is the width of the Erath High football field.
Since Tuesday, a group of Erath volunteers and Harrington have been busy painting an image at mid field.
The image is a hand made into a fist. The arm extends through the eye of the Bobcat at mid field and stops next to the Bobcat sideline.
The arm is also wearing a bracelet with the letters, WUPKAR. The letters stand for, “Wake Up Pray Kick Ass Repeat”
It was a saying that Ross Granger followed. In the last year, the community distributed the blue bracelets with the letters printed in white .
Granger died Friday after a two-year illness. He was only 19.
Harrington, who is a relative of the Granger family, lives in Indiana. His family traveled to Erath last week to attend a wedding that weekend.
Harrington, a 1987 EHS graduate, wanted to draw something and send it to Ross for encouragement. This was last Friday around the same time Ross passed away.
“I was sitting around and an image kept coming in my head,” said Harrington. “I decided to sketch it out.”
He sent it to Ross and posted it on his Facebook wall around 8:45 p.m. Not long after that, he learned Ross had passed away.
He went to take it off the internet, but by then, others were taking the picture and posting it on the internet.
They thought Harrington had drawn the photo knowing Ross had passed away. But he drew it not knowing anything.
After the weekend wedding, Harrington decided he and his family would stay in Erath for the game.
Harrington, who is a professional air brush artist, approached the school Tuesday to see if they needed help to paint the field. He explained he would attempt to paint whatever they wanted.
Everyone agreed that the arm and fist drawing would be perfect for Friday’s playoff game.
Harrington paints murals on buildings but he had never painted on a football field.
He and volunteers began Tuesday and by Thursday night, the image was almost complete.
Throughout the process, he would paint, then run up the stadium and look down at it. He would run back down and continue painting.
“I wanted to paint it so big that Ross could see it from Heaven,” he said.