Painting for REAL

"Ummmm .... yea, I'll do it." My response took a few seconds to be worded. I had to think quickly and about much.

I was asked by my church to help them with some of their renovation work in the youth building. The main office had become a wreck. There were stains on the carpet. The walls were old and ugly. The desks and furniture were falling apart. I'm not a handy person, what could I help with? They were going to deck the walls - but not for Christmas. They were getting bigger on branding. And they wanted their logo nice and large so that you saw as soon as the door was opened.

I'm not a painter. I did some cartoon characters on my son's wall before, but nothing serious. The logo would be tough. It had gradients. Oh yes, gradients. I paused before I answered to come up with a way to pull it off. After figuring it all out (at least in theory), I responded positively.

I love challenges. This was a big challenge for me but it had little risk. I knew that if I messed up, I could just paint over it and start again. (I actually did that a couple of times, too.) I thought it would be interesting to chroncle how it went, but due to a few dissappointments and wasted paint, I tended to forget to take pictures. The joy of it was not always there. Still I managed to take some. Here's what I did:

DAY ONE

I first converted the image in Illustrator to a black and white outline. Then borrowed a transparency projector and traced it onto the wall. They wanted it big. The diameter was about five feet long. It was big. I then took some orange and white paint and created the fills. My idea was to paint from back to front (visually speaking) so the core objects were first.

It required a few coats of paint. I didn't use acrylics because I had to cover so much wall. The acrylic paint was only sold in small amounts. Plus it was more costly and I was trying to pinch pennnies for the church.

DAY TWO

I returned the next day and began taping off some things. I was going to lay down the first gradient. It appears towards the top half of the logo and should be a lighter shade of the orange. So I mixed a yellow with my orange. Oops, too brown. Again I mixed yellow with the orange. It was ready.

Now, my idea was to dry brush a lighter shade of orange and gradually darken as I come closer to the middle and finally reach the base orange. I practiced a little. It was terrible. It looked like yellow hair lines or grass. It was bad. I then tried using shades of orange mixed with white instead. It had the same result. It was lame. I suddenly felt like the whole thing had gone sour. I wasn't going to do this unless I could get the gradients. They were far too important.

My brain farted and I rushed to Lowe's to execute another idea. I grabbed some spray paint. Aha! It worked. Using the same pressure on the spray button and gently moving my hand to and from the wall - I created a gradient (a bit hard to see in the picture).

DAY THREE

I taped off the bottom half to paint the darker gradient. It is actually just a red coat. By cutting the paper and bending the tap just right, I was able to make a swirve in the logo.

I sprayed and killed some brain cells. But it was worth it. The gradient was looking nice and so my hope was restored.

DAY FOUR

The final gradient belonged on the outer ring in the white. It was suppose to give it a gell or chrome effect. So I grabbed the lightest grey that I could find. Lowe's is definitely not a store for artists - especially not graffiti ones. But I made due. I snagged a grey with gloss and was on my way to the church.

I taped off a bit more (some of it was still there from the last gradient so it was faster this time around). I began spraying. The can was acting strange. Spurts of paint were shooting out and so the wall looked like those old comic book prints with the small dots. It was noisey (for you Photoshop users).

I wasn't happy with that so I painted white back over it and left it to dry. I would come again. I'm not quitting yet.

DAY FIVE

Okay, maybe I am a quitter. I was wanting to quit. I thought of all the reasons to quit. Does that make me a quitter? Whatever the case, I gave it another shot. It took a few attempts before I got it right. But the important thing is ... I got it right.

DAY SIX

I was dead set that this would be my last evening here. Alll I had left was the white outlines. They were the final touches. I was eager to get done because this job tired me. I had been on too many roller coasters during this job - hopeful to wanting to quit to hopeful again. Plus, my freelance work was sitting on my desk at home eyeing me down. It was not getting done. It was just growing.

I arrived a little early this time to give myself sufficient time. The parking lot was empty. The doors were locked. I don't have a key. I made a few phone calls before settling on the fact that day six was not going to happen.

DAY SEVEN

You know, God rested on this day. Well, I would too. This day was I going to finish. The base was there. The three gradients were there. The tape and paper were trashed. The logo just needed its fine trimming.

I attacked it gently. Any mess-ups would mean that I would have to redo some gradients - that could not happen. No way. So I moved slowly and softly. Three hours later and I was done. The logo was painted. My challenge was conquered. I felt great and my work was admirable.

All in all, it was a good experience. I learned that brushes do not make good gradient tools, certain brushes coat better than others, certain paint should not be mixed, just a little black goes along way in orange, spray paint and a closed room do not go together, and Vitamin Water tastes terrible. (Okay, so I left a lot of the story out, but trust me you don't want to know.)

Good. Great. Dandy. Nice job. They were pleased. I was pleased. I won.

Do it again? Not a chance! :)