I felt it was time to freshen the paint of the house exterior.
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I think it had been over 5 years or so since the house had seen a fresh coat of paint. And I’m challenged with the concrete block look and sometimes no matter what color I put on that wall… one can’t help but look at the blocks without a finish coat on it. It must have been a thing back then. I drive around the area and many homes of this time period have no stucco or finish on the cinder blocks.
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I had been feeling beaten down by the political gossip mill and the last thing I wanted to do was come home to a dreary looking house. It was darn about time to let the full light shine through. So when I told George that I was going to paint the exterior he squirmed a bit… and I set him at ease by telling him that all I wanted was his support not his labor. And… he conceded.
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I must say, he had no idea what he said yes to. I didn’t elaborate that my painting the house was going to involve some type of mural design by the one and only – me. Le Artiste ‘magnifique’.
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Once I conceptualized the idea that I wanted a massive sunflower … I couldn’t be stopped. It was my first attempt at doing murals and painting with house paint. So, there was a big lesson to learn. Number ONE, sketch your image and THEN paint your foundation. My error was in the excitement to see my sunflower come to life… I sketched it on, and I also painted it. Which made it really challenging to put the blue background behind it.
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I used primary colors to evolve the color scheme, which brings me to SECOND challenge: keeping the color palette consistent. I muddled through it and felt like a magician.
Once I had the sunflower up, I felt it was lonely and so I thought of other things that I see fluttering around my garden so I added a lady bug. Followed by a small cluster of sunflowers with a Monarch Butterfly chrysalis and a Monarch Caterpillar.
I am pleased with my before and after… and the fun part is that I still have the minutia of details to paint on it and also have 3 more sides of the house to consider!!
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