'Sin City' artist donates mural to St. Pete church

A Las Vegas mural artist moved to the Bay area and has brought his unique style of art to a local house of worship.

Artist Jack Alexander moved to the Bay area a few months ago, and he says he has found a very different atmosphere here from that of "Sin City."

"What I was was a worker and getting paid very well for what I was doing," Alexander said. "Here it's a spirit flow."

Alexander said he wanted to donate a mural to a church, but there just wasn't a need in Las Vegas.

"In Vegas I wanted to do this for the four years I was there, and I had no takers because I wasn't supposed to do it there."

A friend referred him to Northwest Presbyterian in St. Petersburg.

"I mean, Jack was a total stranger," said Gary Hofmeyer, pastor of Northwest Presbyterian Church. "We didn't know him from Adam."

Still, Pastor Hofmeyer took Alexander up on his offer, providing paint and a vision. He asked Alexander to create a mural depicting the five solas: scripture, faith, grace, Christ and God's glory.

"Michealangelo had his idea of what God was, Leonardo da Vinci had his. I don't have a concept. I have no preconceived idea of what divine looks like," Alexander said.

So, brush in hand, he says he let the spirit move him.

"I just started applying paint. Everybody who's been here has seen it. They go, 'How do you know what you're doing?' and I say, 'I don't need to know what I'm doing. It's going to happen.' And it did."

Alexander came up with orbs and a land full of peaks and valleys.

"I don't think anybody could have expected this. This is truly a gift," said Hofmeyer.

It's work of art that's still in progress.

"I believe the mural is taking on a life of its own within the sanctuary and I believe there is something that is yet to be revealed," Alexander said.

Alexander says if he had done the mural as a commercial job, it would have cost about $65,000.