Sunday, June 12, 2011

Cherry Blossom Mural – in progress

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When I got to the baby nursery this morning – at 8:30, I might add – they had this sample bumper in the crib.

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Not that I needed any inspiration. . . I love the first day of painting a mural.

I’m excited, the clients are excited. It’s always fun.

At the beginning.

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I chalked out the tree for the client’s approval before I started painting.

The wall is white so I used green chalk.

After I got the go-ahead I started painting. And the fun stopped. When the paint mixed with the green chalk I had a dark green tree trunk.

When you want a very pale, light golden brown tree trunk and you’ve spent 20 minutes chalking the tree outline, the fun stops.

I quickly wiped off the light brown paint + green chalk. Then I wiped off the entire chalked tree outline.

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And just painted. Very pale brown.

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And very pale pink.

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To get the pink to show up at all added deeper tones of pinks in, um, blobs.

Does it seem like nearly everything I paint starts out as blobs? I never realized it until just now.

Hmm . . .

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Now, pale pink blobs. Lots and lots of ‘em.

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It’s amazing how adding stems & branches transform pink blobs into pink blossoms!

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Ok. But the fairy?

A. She looks worse in the photo than IRL.

B. The lavender looks waaaay too dark because the pink is soooo light.

C. The face & hair? Not a problem.

Go figure.

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