2 ~ Mural 2012: Tuesday's Doodles

Tuesday remained a planning session. I showed Brenda my sketches (really just quick gesture drawings). I had explained that, if she trusted me with it, I would just do gestures and bare-bones rough sketches, skipping any detailed roughs and color studies. She knows my art, so she was okay with that. Below is one of my quick gestures: not the first one, but it gives an idea. This sketch shows some of the things we discussed: mountains, trees, animals, sunshine; a twelve-foot area for bleachers; and a little fence or bookshelves extending into the room to section off a corner. The client wanted these, but later decided against them after the mural was finished. I did plan for those sections, and the final mural has room for them.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday pulling photos for models (toys, animals, ponds, shingles) off the Internet, then went to work making a cartoon or rough sketch on white card stock to use as a model. When I measured the card stock, I made a peculiar error. I cut the card stock pretty much to scale in four-by-eleven-inch strips, planning to tape about four-and-a-half lengths together for the length. I made a peculiar error and taped only three-and-a-half lengths together. Visually, it looked "right" ~ very long and slim ~ so I simply forgot that I needed four-plus strips to make the proportions correct. That resulted in some confusion in my first sketch on the wall, which I'll describe later. Below is the three-paneled rough sketch:

While I was at home, sketching and planning, Brenda and her husband continued to prepare the walls, putting second coats, spackle, and spots of Kilz® as needed. They rolled on the pale-blue sky color, and painted a band of green for grass near the baseboards, so I wouldn't have to take too much care brushing near the trim.

Mural 2012: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 (Second Day of Planning)