LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington artist just completed his biggest project yet, designing for the University of Kentucky’s men’s basketball tipoff, Big Blue Madness.
Lexington native, Wylie Caudill, has been painting as long as he can remember.
“I’ve been painting my whole life,” Caudill said.
He’s turned that hobby into a full-time career. His following began while studying broadcasting at Eastern Kentucky University. At the time, Caudill didn’t even imagine he’d be painting full time.
“I was in college, and I had gotten to be known for painting or drawing chalk art around campus and it gave me a bit of a following on social media,” Caudill said.
Caudill took that following and began painting murals for towns across Kentucky, including Augusta, Lexington and Paris. He even created the artwork for the Derby 150 Woodford Reserve bottle. This past month, UK commissioned Caudill to design something for one of the state’s biggest annual events, UK basketball’s Big Blue Madness.
“We want you to create something hand-painted that we can then photograph and put onto the court. We want to showcase more than graphic design we want to highlight local artists,” Caudill said.
Caudill had two weeks to design and paint before the big celebration. Eventually settling on this design which came to life at a sold-out Rupp Arena.
“Just having a big crowd of people witness it was a completely new experience and overwhelming in the best way,” Caudill said.
It’s a moment he’ll never forget.
“I made a bunch of prints and tee shirts to preserve the artwork, but yeah, that was all for one special night at UK, so pretty cool,” Caudill said.
He said he’s never really followed sports but says now he bleeds UK blue.