East TN artist uses a giant canvas and an unusual paint brush.
He's an artist with a giant canvas and an unusual paint brush.
An East Tennessee man transformed a field with a lawnmower.
He's a motorcycle enthusiast whose not content to drive around Maryville. Edd Harris has taken this motorcycle to 49 states. Last month he rode one to Alaska and back.
"I've had the motor rebuilt and the cams changed and a lot of work done to it so it runs pretty well," he explained.
He prefers motorcycles over cars.
"You've got more freedom to be out in the open and nature is closer to you I guess," he said.
He's a longtime biker and welder with a creative streak. And he's found an outlet for it.
"This empty field behind the house has a school right close and the kids go by it and one day I thought, well, I could give the kids something to look at so I rode my mower around and made a smiley face," he said.
Edd Harris uses his other motorized vehicle: a riding lawnmower. It's his paintbrush with wheels.
"I did it for several months before anyone knew who was doing it kind of like the crop circle thing," he said.
He started about two years ago.
The field is behind his house in Maryville near John Sevier School. Students on buses were his target audience.
"I noticed people stopping in cars and taking pictures of it and then I got to seeing people who knew I did it and they were telling me they would drive across town to see what I had out there," he said.
He sketches ideas before he revs up the mower.
"I've done a whale and they associate that with Jonah's whale and at Easter I do the three crosses on a hill and I did a school bus," he said. "Some of them don't turn out exactly the way I planned but it's not a forever thing. Next week you can redo it."
His latest creation turned out just how he planned.
"I've got a man waving and I write out a sign saying hi because he has his hand out and when you go by it's got hi written out there," he said.
Both his mower and his motorcycle are a little loud and a lot of fun.
"Both of them are like a relaxation thing. You get out there and you can relax and it's a stress relief thing," he said.