Did you think I was going to leave you hanging as to how the Tanzania mural looked?

Customer called to say the cape buffalo needed about 1/2 hour of work. I was relieved to hear from him, because my final day working on them was without his expertise. I’ve never seen those animals, except in photos (and there was that one stuffed head staring at the back of my head while I painted).

So, I headed back down the hill one beautiful spring morning.

He has a good eye and was very helpful.

Before: 

After: 

Yes, the differences are subtle, but my goal is customer satisfaction.

Then, Customer looked at me and said, “You left something out of the other mural.”

I said, “Shoot. I was hoping you would forget.”

He just tapped the side of his head. Then he waited for me to tell him what he wanted, so I smiled and said,  “Buzzards!”

Using masking tape torn into little pieces, I stuck some buzzards shapes up in the sky. We scooted them around and discussed relative sizes and shapes. Then, I painted them.

As usual, Customer was right:  

This photo of the finished Tanzania mural isn’t the best because the morning sun comes through the window and overexposes the one side. However, this photo beats the one with the scaffolding in front, and the slightly wonky buffalo.

Can you pick out the buzzards in the Missouri mural? Tiny, but they add the right finishing touch. This mural keeps amazing me, because the photo was so meh.

On the way home, I couldn’t just blow past Dry Creek Drive, knowing it was just filthy with poppies and lupine.