Painting Murals in All Conditions

Painting in the Dark at Levant in Raleigh

Back when postal carriers delivered mail door to door there was a commonly known phrase that summed up their  determination. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” - (unofficial motto often attributed to the USPS). Would you believe there are times when the same words can be applied to the mural artist?

The truth is that painting murals is physically demanding and can require long hours in all conditions. The project schedule often requires the coordination of various contractors, so I may work several 12+ hour days in a row. That’s a lot of hours on your feet, so proper running shoes are a must.   I may be sweating away in the heat and humidity of summer or losing feeling in my toes during the cold of winter painting an exterior mural. I may find myself on a job site without functional air conditioning or heat. Lighting may be inadequate or completely absent.  There may be chaos and noise from contractors, an audience of onlookers and passersby, bees and other biting insects, and heights that requires scary climbs on scaffolding and ladders.   

On my most recent job in Wilmington, NC, we were under an extreme heat advisory all week with “feels like” temperatures over 100 degrees.   Due to a tight construction schedule and a quickly approaching opening date, I couldn’t postpone in hopes of lower temperatures.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot and uncomfortable.  I gulped liters of gatorade, doused my hat in cold water every twenty minutes, and was forced to take frequent breaks.  Passersby would say that I picked the wrong week to work.  No kidding. If it were up to me, I’d have picked October rather than August.  

While I’m complaining, I don’t want to forget to mention the almost complete lack of shade or protection from the unrelenting rays of the sun and the swarms of mosquitoes that attacked at dawn and dusk. I was sunburned, sore, exhausted and covered in bites at the end of the week, but I did get that job done on time. The client had an expectation, and I didn’t want to disappoint.  If I say I’ll do it, I’ll do it!

In spite of some of the images posted by various muralists on social media, the work is often not glamorous.  You won’t see many selfies of me, because I’m usually wearing paint-spattered old t-shirts, a faded baseball cap, and didn’t bother with make-up.  Well, truth be told, I simply don’t really like selfies anyway.   Even with all of that being said, there’s almost nothing I’d rather be doing. When I am painting, time stops and worries fade away.  I’m filled with a pleasant emptiness while all of my focus goes into the project.  I really believe artwork helps to enliven spaces and add to the experience the owner is trying to create. If someone sees my work and it makes them feel happy or inspired, then that is an extra bonus. I feel so grateful and fortunate to have the work.

-Arianne

Sky High Mural Scaffolding at Opa in Wilmington, NC

 If you enjoyed this post, consider purchasing my books, Solo Car Camping Across America, An Adventure in Courage, Solitude, and Questionable Bathrooms in America’s Most Beautiful Places, available on Amazon Books.  235 pages with full color images. Itinerary, packing list, helpful tips, and do’s and don’ts included.  Free shipping for Amazon Prime members.  Kindle edition also available. 

 

  

Approaching the Blank Canvas, Real Talk on Fear, Inspiration and Not Giving Up in Art and Life. It’s full of true tales and tips from my 20+ years of making art for a living. It’s available on Amazon Books and you can also find the link to it and my other books on my DesignsbyArianne website.  

Pressing the Okay Button with the Help of Norman Vincent Peale

 

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.”

"What the mind profoundly expects it tends to receive.”

"When things do not go your way, remember that every challenge — every adversity — contains within it the seeds of opportunity and growth.” - all quotes from The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

Recently I was having a bad day.  I was dealing with a situation outside of my control which was causing a lot of apprehension. While driving down the road, I found myself mindlessly rubbing a button on my steering wheel.  I realized that I did this quite often while driving.  The action seemed to offer a degree of comfort.  This was the first time I noticed that the button said “OK".  

For my particular car make and model the “OK" button is pressed to dismiss warning alerts and to access and select further options. If you “long press” it, you can reset.   In essence, press the button to say "I'm okay with that".  Wouldn’t that be something if pressing the OK button in my car would magically make me feel okay like rubbing a magic lantern?  What if it was that easy?  What if I sinply entertained the idea that such a thing was possible.  Could it affect my day positively.  I supposed it might.

I am someone who loves the idea of the power of positive thinking.  On my bedside table, you will find Norman Vincent Peale’s book by that exact title: The Power of Positive Thinking.  My journal is titled “Think Happy Thoughts”.  Does it work?  I don’t know.  

What I do know is that optimism tends to make me expect good outcomes and act differently with the goal of achieving them.  I do know that on days where I apply all of my positive thinking tools, I experience greater happiness and more hope.  So I guess I’ll continue applying Mr. Peale’s principles, and every once in a while I’m going to press that OK button in my car and see what happens.  

- Arianne

Purveyor of Positivity

 If you enjoyed this post, consider purchasing my books, Solo Car Camping Across America, An Adventure in Courage, Solitude, and Questionable Bathrooms in America’s Most Beautiful Places, available on Amazon Books.  235 pages with full color images. Itinerary, packing list, helpful tips, and do’s and don’ts included.  Free shipping for Amazon Prime members.  Kindle edition also available. 

 

  

Approaching the Blank Canvas, Real Talk on Fear, Inspiration and Not Giving Up in Art and Life. It’s full of true tales and tips from my 20+ years of making art for a living. It’s available on Amazon Books and you can also find the link to it and my other books on my DesignsbyArianne website.  

Something Beautiful Everyday: The Fogbow

“It takes sunshine and rain to make a rainbow. There would be no rainbows without sunshine and rain.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

This morning at dawn, I ran along the ocean on a barrier island near my house just as I have almost every day for the past year.  There’s only two directions to go in - to the right or to the left.  You might think it would be tedious to travel the same route every day.  In fact, If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said the prospect sounded limiting and boring, but there aren’t a lot of options in the area.  

After traveling the same route hundreds of times, I’ve learned that the beach, ocean, and sky never look the same from one day to the next. 

Each morning, I set out with an intention of seeing something wondrous, and this wish is almost always fulfilled.  Why?  Because I set an expectation.  Because I am actively aware and curiously looking for wonder.  Because the world is full of remarkable animals, plants, people and phenomena.  

This morning a dense blanket of fog crept in from the ocean obscuring the distant horizon and creating a mystical atmosphere. As the heat of the rising sun began to burn off the cloud cover a double white rainbow formed before me arching from the ocean to the first row of houses on the beach.  According to Wikipedia, “A fog bow, sometimes called a white rainbow,^] is a phenomenon similar to a rainbow; however, as its name suggests, it appears as a bow in fog rather than rain." 

I was in awe. I tried to run to the place where it appeared to emerge from the ocean, but of course I could never quite get there.  The fogbow remained out of reach.  

People often ask me how I happen to see so many interesting things, and I say…

because I am out there, and I am looking.  Try it. 

Fog Bow on the Beach

If you enjoyed this post, consider purchasing my books, Solo Car Camping Across America, An Adventure in Courage, Solitude, and Questionable Bathrooms in America’s Most Beautiful Places, available on Amazon Books.  235 pages with full color images. Itinerary, packing list, helpful tips, and do’s and don’ts included.  Free shipping for Amazon Prime members.  Kindle edition also available. 
 

  

Approaching the Blank Canvas, Real Talk on Fear, Inspiration and Not Giving Up in Art and Life. It’s full of true tales and tips from my 20+ years of making art for a living. It’s available on Amazon Books and you can also find the link to it and my other books on my DesignsbyArianne website.  

I’m Wearing My Rose-Colored Glasses Darn It!

“She chose the rose colored glasses not because she was naïve, but because she knew the power of positive focus.”― Christina Sutra 

Seeing the World through Rose-Colored Glasses

According to Wikipedia, Rose-colored glasses or rose-tinted glasses may refer to:

• Optimism, the tendency to see things in a positive light

• Rosy retrospection, the tendency to view past events in a positive (often unrealistic) light

One crisp November morning deep in peak fall color season, I was driving along a country road I’ve traveled countless times.  I was awestruck by the beauty of the surrounding landscape, the warm shades of golden grasses in the fields and the toasty brown of the leaves in the trees against the pink glow of the morning sunrise.  I was filled with joy at the sight.

Then I realized I was wearing a new pair of sunglasses with rose-tinted lenses.  I took them off and found that the lenses had definitely boosted the beauty of the scene, adding a luminous, warm filter.

I put those glasses right back on and continued to bask in the joyful feeling of being surrounded by the beauty of nature.  You might object that I was fooling myself - that I was not accepting the reality of the situation.  

I would argue that I was just making a choice to see everything in the best possible light. No harm was done by throwing a warm filter over my world for the length of my drive.  I wasn’t putting castles where there were mobile homes or mountains where there were billboards.  I couldn’t hide the trash cans and broken-down jalopies littering a yard, but even the junk and the signs looked prettier in the lovely glow of my glasses.  The unsightly parts simply became part of a beautiful whole, and the end result was joy.  

Couldn’t we all use a little more of that?  The world is full of beauty and growth as well as the grotesque and decaying.  If a dose of rose-colored perspective helps me to feel more hopeful and positive in that chaotic world,  I’m going to wear them, darn it

With Rose-Colored Lenses

Without Rose-Colored Lenses

Arianne 

If you enjoyed this post, consider purchasing my books, Solo Car Camping Across America, An Adventure in Courage, Solitude, and Questionable Bathrooms in America’s Most Beautiful Places, available on Amazon Books.  235 pages with full color images. Itinerary, packing list, helpful tips, and do’s and don’ts included.  Free shipping for Amazon Prime members.  Kindle edition also available. 
 

  

Approaching the Blank Canvas, Real Talk on Fear, Inspiration and Not Giving Up in Art and Life. It’s full of true tales and tips from my 20+ years of making art for a living. It’s available on Amazon Books and you can also find the link to it and my other books on my DesignsbyArianne website.