Touring artist paints flag on side of Wichita VFW post

In his two days in Kansas, Scott LoBaido painted the town red – and white and blue.

Just head to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3115, where the 50-year-old artist painted a 25-foot-by-10-foot flag on the front of the building.

LoBaido is on a cross-country tour to paint an Old Glory mural on a veterans post in every state.

“I drive 20 hours straight,” he said. “I love the road.”

But not as much as he loves the American flag, which he has been painting for 25 years.

This isn’t LoBaido’s first all-American tour. In 2006, he painted the flag on a rooftop in each state. In 2011, he went back to touch up each one and repaint any that had been destroyed.

But this tour, intended to honor veterans in every state, has been the most special for him.

“As an artist, the greatest gift I have is to express myself, but that’s only because of the guys who hang out in these buildings,” he said, gesturing to men who sat at tables in the basement of the VFW building at 4801 W. Douglas.

His passion for painting patriotism began in the early ’90s when he said he noticed that the flag had become taboo.

“That’s where I found my calling,” he said. “To change that in a bold, public, vibrant way.”

Bold, public and vibrant. That’s the best way to describe the 3½-acre flag he painted on a Houston rooftop. The four-week project required 900 gallons of paint and set the record for the largest painting of the American flag.

Painted in 2010 when many troops came home from Iraq, the flag is visible to those flying into Houston’s Hobby airport. Many soldiers had layovers in Houston, he said. It was their first taste of being back home.

A lot of LoBaido’s work honors veterans, but he’s also been known to paint a flag at times when the community needs it most.

After a tornado struck Moore, Okla., LoBaido found a lone rooftop that could weather the weight of his paint. He splattered a Boston diner’s wall with the stars and stripes after the Boston bombing.

“I want people to see this and think, ‘We are resilient,’” he said. “‘We are Americans. We will get through this.’”

This year’s tour began Feb. 20 in North Carolina.

The Kansas mural, his 41st, took LoBaido about eight hours in the scorching sun.

“It’s definitely been the hottest day of the tour so far,” he said, then took a gulp from a pitcher of ice water. “This is my fourth pitcher.”

It will only get hotter from here, he said, as he moves on to Oklahoma, Arkansas and several other Southern states. The tour finishes up in Arlington, Va., in about two weeks.

Except for Hawaii, which is getting pushed to December. Not because the Staten Island resident will need a thaw but because he wants to paint the flag on Dec. 7 in remembrance of Pearl Harbor.

He estimates he’s painted 5,000 flags throughout his artistic career.

“And no, I never get tired of it,” he said as he wiped his hands onto his jeans, a smattering of star-spangled colors. “I paint it so many different ways. It’s like each one is a snowflake. But I still try to maintain her integrity.”

LoBaido secured sponsorship from the Home Depot Foundation, Behr Paint, CitiQuiet Windows and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to cover the cost of his paint, lodging and vehicle.

But the hours he spends on each mural, foregoing the opportunity to paint for profit? That’s all passion.

And patriotism.

“That’s how I get paid,” he said. “When a Vietnam veteran hugs me with tears in his eyes.”

Bob McCurry, a veteran at the post, said, “It gives me goosebumps. Just beautiful.”

After LoBaido’s three cross-country tours, it’s only natural to wonder what patriotic project is next.

“I’ll give you a hint,” he said. “Next year is the 100th anniversary of Flag Day. It’s going to be big.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Touring artist paints flag on side of Wichita VFW post."