Southeast Whitesburg Mural--02 Sanding

After several delays occasioned by the maintenance schedule (floors had to be stripped and waxed), I was finally able to get access to the wall and get started.

The first task was to measure, mark and mask off the bottom edge of the mural. There will be student seating area in front of the mural, so it did not make sense to me to start the painting at the floor. It has not yet been determined what will be done with the area below. A variety of suggestions have been made such as bead-board or wainscoting, but my guess is that budgetary considerations will result in paint.

The area where the commemorative plaque will be attached was also decided today (by others), so that I could measure and mask off that area, to paint around it. The decision was to lift the plaque up to eye level, which changes my design a little, but nothing that cannot be easily accommodated.

After masking the edge of the painting, I lightly sanded the surface of the wall up to about a foot above my head. The existing wall paint is a medium gloss paint, and I decided that a light sanding to take some of the gloss off and remove some of the little rough spots would help the gesso go on better.

The task took about an hour, and gave me a really good work out. I tried to use both hands/arms equally so that the aches and pains are evenly distributed in the morning. I corralled Sheila from the Adult Education department to take a photo of me. I'm hoping that along with chronicling the progress of the mural, I'll also be making a record of some weight loss!

The word is that the scaffolding will arrive tomorrow.