Levee—stage one done

The levee is beautiful at dawn; the sky is pink and river is picking up shadows of light and the water birds are making their calls. There is a big nest of osprey crowded with chicks learning to fish. They hang so still in the air before plummeting to the water and scooping out a trout. Now that I am not terrified of falling to my death, I am soaking in the surroundings.

I finished the primer today. Because the numbers fascinate me, I will share them. I painted thirty-six feet across and twenty-four feet down on six twelve by twelve slabs of concrete using three gallons of baby bow blue tinted primer. It was supposed to be sky blue, but the sky is darker. But it matches the shade of blue right next to the mountains. Or maybe the blue on a cloudy day. Over all it looks good, ready for art to happen.

I have been really thinking the next steps through. I don’t want to waste money by making mistakes and starting over. I don’t want to drop brushes in the river. I typically work with a lot of colors at once and how the hell do I do that now? Should I get a tool belt to put the paint in the pockets? Do I sketch in the design first? Do I make stencils? How much paint will I need? I would have some of the questions anyway, but painting on ropes changes how I paint. Everything has to be more deliberate and thought out. I am definitely not super awesome at being a planning kind of person, but I am getting there. On Monday, I was pretty sure that I was going to fall down the wall and die. Tomorrow I am ready to paint my mural. Thanks for the boatloads of support and courage. Let’s get the party started!!!!!