Indoor Mural, Day One

It is possible that painting inside a little chapel at St. Anthony’s Retreat is the most pleasant mural painting experience I’ve ever had.

  • It is 1.3 miles from home.
  • The room where I paint is quiet.
  • The lighting and the temperature are steady (it is indoors!)
  • Occasionally someone stops by to see how it is going and to offer a helpful suggestion or compliment.
  • THEY PROVIDE LUNCH!! (always very good food).
  • The quiet makes it possible to listen to a wonderful 3-book series on Audible by my good friend Shannon VanBergen, called the “Glock Grannies“. I read the books, but it is so much fun to hear them read to me by a professional.

This is a scene cobbled together from several photos of Three Rivers as it shines in the spring. Look at how much I got done in one focused day of painting!

The faint little sketch and some of the photos are taped up, and the tallest ladder is in position on a drop cloth.
Sky, spaces for clouds, and the shapes of the hills. 2 ladders side-by-side is a helpful method.
Clouds. The light is rather low in the room, so I couldn’t tell if I was covering the wall very well.
Gabriel brought some high-powered lights and suddenly I could see that the sky had been too dark, and the clouds needed more work.
Those lights produce a lot of heat, so next time I will bring my clamp-lights. Because the wall surface has glossy paint and the mural paints are mostly transparent, I started putting an undercoating down before adding detail.
I use the blank wall beneath to clean off my brushes between colors; this helps give a sense of what will go where and puts that first coat of paint on the wall.
I got a phone call and needed to write down a number. (No, don’t call the number, please!) I started the tree, and worked a bit more on the clouds.
The end of the day.

When I paint murals, there is a lot of noise in my head. Listening to Shannon’s books occupied the part of my brain that keeps yammering at me that I have no idea what I am doing, and that this is too hard for me. So, on this day of painting, the noisy and negative part of my inner dialogue didn’t have a chance. I just listened and painted, and it was lovely.

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4 Comments

  1. Sounds like a perfect day Jana!

    • Pertinear perfect!

  2. I’ve started to paint again … and your comment about the negative voices rang true for me as well. I’m just doing little watercolors that I mount on Target blank notecards for little notes to friends. I was using a cocktail napkin if little birds as inspiration. At first I tried to make my painting look like the original … and was frustrated. Then I put the napkin away and painted my way…. and was so happy. In my head the original is better but to my friends … the finished product was perfect! It brought them joy!

    I think when we use our gifts for others- God blesses our efforts.

    Wish I lived closer … I would be taking class from you!

    • Anne, I’m so glad you are painting again. When you visit, let me know in advance, and then we can get together so I can help if you’d like. You are so right about using our gifts for others!

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