10~ Weathered Gray and a Confederate Flag?

Weathered gray barns are more usual in North Georgia than red ones, but Brenda wanted red, and I had agreed to go with bright colors for the kids. It was a class room for youth, after all. Flat red tends to be ugly and, well, flat. I chose to do an underpainting of gray and then drybrush red paint over it for a weathered look. I had to do a little convincing ~ Brenda couldn't visualize it. She had finished taping off the exes (crossbars on the barn doors), so I laid in the gray underpainting. This would have been Friday (Sept. 28), because by Monday, I was painting red over gray. The blue drafting tape is laid out in big exes; so with the red coat added, it looks as if I'm painting a big old Confederate flag. Everyone thinks that, at first glance.

Mural: Adding Red Paint to a Gray Underpainting on the Barn

Just a little darker gray and a hint of perspective on the inside stalls is enough to give the illusion of going back in space. Here, the barn already has the look I want, of a space that looks three dimensional, as if you could just walk through it. We also wanted a hayloft with sprigs of hay sticking out, to break up the red space and soften the harsh line of having the top of the barn wall run straight along the ceiling. There wasn't much room for a hayloft, but I put in just enough to soften the line of the barn. By now, it was my sixth day of painting. And I believe it was on this red-letter date that Brenda first mentioned the possibility of my painting some faux bay windows...

Mural 2012: Friday and Monday, September 28th and October 1st, 2012 (Red over gray on a barn)