Art Every Day - Day 18 - mural

Today I was back to work. I am painting for a new client - but on an old job.

 9 years ago I painted a new house for a friend of mine. The house is huge and  beautiful, and enchanting, and every little detail was thought of to match each themed room down to the faucets and cabinet knobs. I painted murals in all 4 kids bedroom suites and attached bathrooms. The themes were Alice in Wonderland, beach/ underwater ocean, Candyland, and a jungle. I also painted the main powder room to look like an English countryside - it was beautiful, but I sadly discovered today that the the previous owners ( the ones in between my friend, and the new owners that moved in this week) painted over it with an ugly solid green color. Heart breaking.

Its very difficult for me to see my murals painted over. If someone other than me has painted over it - its not quite as bad, as long as I didn't see it happen. But if I have to paint over it - it kills me. All that time and hard work......just gone with the stroke of a brush.  So sad.

Anyway, when my friend moved out after 5 years, the next owners had me come back and make a few adjustments. They had a young boy that was moving into the beach room, which was originally a girls room - and had a mermaid. He didn't want a mermaid - he wanted a pirate. So I had to paint over the mermaid and make it a pirate. That was the first time I'd had to paint over my own work. I think I cried as I covered up the mermaid. I really liked her. At that time I also added a pirate ship and changed a flowery surfboard to boyish stripes, along with a few other small things.  Here is the original mermaid and the pirate that replaced her -

So this week, as I mentioned,  the house changed hands again. And a young girl is moving into this room, again - so guess what?! Yep - I have to paint over the pirate and make it a mermaid again, get rid of the pirate ship, and make the surfboard flowery again. Haha! Sigh.

Strangely, I did not have a difficult time today painting over the pirate. I mean I loved the pirate. I was very happy with him I finished him. So I thought I might be sad again, but I was okay. We said our goodbyes as I made him disappear, but no tears were shed.;-) I think maybe its because I am restoring the room to its original theme, and that just feels right. The mermaid will be different, made to look like the little girl moving in, but it will be a mermaid room again.

So I covered up the pirate ship today, and I repainted the surfboard as well - but I forgot to take pictures when I left. The pirate is gone, and the mermaid is sketched in - she will be painted tomorrow. I did get a picture of that, though I have fixed the rocks already so the boot and treasure chest are gone now.

So that is today's Art of Day. Finished mermaid coming up tomorrow. Stay tuned.