MURAL-A-THON 2014... summer edition!

I don't even think I told you guys what I'm up to this summer yet! Well, remember the Walla Walla murals? I'm doing that again...but here in Portland!!

This project is insanely cool. I'm working with a company that builds retirement communities and memory care facilities. They are known for the murals inside their buildings - they're everywhere! They help the residents relax and feel at home. So I'm getting to fill their newest memory care facility in Portland with murals! It's still under construction, so I even got to help choose the paint colors for the walls, before I mural them! It's going to be my biggest collection of murals inside a single building, ever. The people I'm working for are giving me so much creative control, it's kind of unbelievable. They even trusted me (when I didn't trust myself) to try using a paint spray gun for the first time, to paint clouds all over the ceiling of the "great room" in the main living area. And use a scissor lift, which I've also never done. I just.... I feel so incredibly grateful. I feel like I can't believe my luck. But then also, I know I've worked my ass off to get to this point. From painting my parent's kitchen wall into a tropical garden as a high schooler, to charging family friends $10 an hour to paint their walls, to getting clients I didn't know personally, to making a business name and filing taxes as such, and now working as a legit professional contractor on a huge project. It's been a lot of soul-searching ("I know I'm an artist, but what should I DOOOO?"), rejections, and doing the "starving-artist" thing. I was thinking about this today while I was painting, and I felt so overwhelmed with gratitude, I wanted to cry. Janet Jackson in the headphones, burrito in my belly, paintbrush in my hand, doing the thing that makes me so indescribably happy, and knowing that it really, truly, is my legit job and business now. I feel blessed beyond belief. I guess if you can figure out what your really wanna do most, and figure out the order of the steps you can take to get there, and take them a teeny bit at a time, you'll get there eventually.

That's me, totally covered in white paint, from my paint sprayer. Need to invest in goggled and a respirator, asap!

I'm also happy to report that I'm off the scissor lift, and painting at ground level again! Ahhhhh the sweet, sweet, ground! Stay tuned for pictures, but I'll just say right now that it's about the most Portland-y mural ever - Mt. Hood, roses, and the city skyline. :)

Goodnight Portland... **Thank you**.....

NEWS! Murals for Madagascar

Hi All,

I just received exciting news from Madagascar! I used to work there as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and when I got back to the US, I started a project with a 4th grade classroom in my hometown, where I taught them about Madagascar and we did art projects related to the country, and then we also painted a big mural on cloth. The mural was about how to care for a mosquito net - in pictures and also with words in Malagasy (pictures speak louder than words in rural areas with high illiteracy rates). We shipped the mural to a contact in Madagascar, and the mural was installed on the wall of a rural hospital. Here was my original design, the kids who made it, and its final installation:

I told Peace Corps staff that they were welcome to distribute my design to new volunteers looking for projects they could do in and with their communities, to help fight the spread of Malaria. Well, I've received some pictures of new Peace Corps Volunteers' murals! Love it. I can't wait to do this again with another classroom. Really teaches kids to think globally, while teaching art technique and skills and also about another country they may not know much about. Want to get involved? If you are a current Peace Corps Volunteer and want details on installation and my design, contact me!! I'm still hoping to create a set of instructions for classroom teachers to be able to re-create this whole project themselves... but that have to come in time. :) YAY!!!