The Mural

My dad just recently emailed some pictures of the old mural at my high school. I painted this senior year and the area was part of the senior gift. I think they called it the SMF prayer corner. Funny enough, the senior class didn’t even help with the benches and mulch section; it was mainly a band of juniors. The wall washing and sanding was also done by students not in our class. My French teacher supplied me with some entire wall paint: half gallons of blue, red, yellow, black and white.

My dad came and helped me prepare the wall (which do not be deceived, it’s huge!) It had bumpy sprayed concrete that was sanded off, leaving a super absorbent wall. Daddy put  2 gallons of concrete block sealer / primer on that wall out of his own pocket.   He also took his personal tiller up there and prepared the ground (which before the railroad ties, was a muddy plop of weeds and rocks). When it rains, the water still runs on top of the mural sometimes because the crossway leaks, how’s that for real life simulation?

I got a bit burned out at the end of it and didn’t finish things as much as I should have. It’s hard work covering so much space with paint! The bricks eventually did get finished (all except three in the right hand corner to annoy OCD people). Charley even helped paint one brick: his special brick. It was pretty bad honestly so he let me paint over it.

I had no formal strategy for this thing. They pretty much told me I could paint whatever on the wall. What high school lets you do that?! So without having a picture or direction, I drew the archway first. Then I opted for something to remind students of SMF trips which stands for Student Mission Fellowship. Twice a year they would host these trips somewhere in the mountains for a weekend. They remain my most favorite memory of high school because nothing beats exploring mountain sides, spending evenings studying scripture and singing hymns with your friends.

There are two hidden animals but they are super hard to distinguish from the pictures.