The Hardest Work is the Most Rewarding

My expert mural hanger, Charlie Gilley  (of Restoration Painting, LLC) did a wonderful job hanging the Hartland Farm mural this week. This is the seventh project Charlie has hung for me and he always does a fantastic job. He preps the wall the night before and then I arrive with the mural rolled on a tube, wrapped in plastic and ready to go.

First we unroll the canvas and make sure all the measurements were correct and that it’s going to fit on the wall. This is always nerve-wracking. The old adage “Measure twice; cut once” holds so true! I always allow for several inches extra on all dimensions, but I have to be careful not to throw the composition off by doing that.

Then we paste the wall with a heavy duty acrylic wallpaper paste. It’s gooped on pretty thick so that it will penetrate the weave of the canvas and really grab onto the mural. Charlie says this paste is removable, so if anyone ever wanted to take the mural down (to move to another home, for example) that is very doable. I use the same paints on the murals that I use on the floorcloths, so that it remains flexible and doesn’t crack when we install it. We use ZipWall poles to temporarily hold the mural up, while we apply a second coat of paste behind the mural. Then it’s all smoothed out to remove any bubbles or slight bumps and the edges are cut with a razor blade. See photos below for details:

This piece was particularly difficult for me to paint, as Jamie (the owner of this beautiful place) is a very good friend of mine, and fellow horsewoman. Her daughters grew up riding and learning with my daughter, and we have shared mothers’ concerns, pride and bad days over all these years. When she and her husband, Thatcher, completely rebuilt their 1700s home a couple of years ago, and she asked me about doing a mural for the dining room, I felt honored and excited. I had fun hiking up her hill and checking out the view from above and I thoroughly enjoyed creating the painted sketch of her place. When it came time to actually paint this large piece, complete with all of her beloved horses, it was time to get serious. It’s really hard to paint when you want the end result to fit perfectly for someone you know well.

The first sweeps of background colors went on beautifully, but as I worked toward the foreground, the details started to bog me down. How big is the Cider Mill compared to the house? Where do the stone walls go? How many trees are there between the hen house and the barn? Knowing the place, but not trusting my memory was cramping my artistic style. The brush in my hand wouldn’t move. The good thing about murals is you can’t stay tight for long. It’s just too big NOT to loosen up! I would think about what a fun person Jamie is and what a great job they have done on this fabulous place and then I could let myself be a part of that and the paint would start to flow again. Jamie is a wonderful yoga instructor, and I found myself using her mind-freeing techniques to help let things go so the painting could happen. I have this dangerously mathematical brain that wants to take over and run the show when I don’t feel sure about things. I’m learning about meditation and mindfullness and it’s really helping me to turn that off and allow my creative side to do its thing.

So the mural is up. Jamie and Thatcher are very happy with it and their dining room is complete. I look forward to going to yoga class soon so I can revisit it and thank Jamie again for the opportunity to be a part of their beautiful restoration project!

See more photos of this project at https://canvasworksdesigns.com/hartland-farm/