create (Mama): murals

Once upon a time, I was an art teacher to some very creative, inspiring middle-schoolers. They were not only thinkers but Doers as well- as long as they saw the reason for the doing. I realized quickly that these kids needed to get their hands messy so we did lots of clay and weaving and paper mache and painting. This was all fine and dandy, "but when," they'd ask, "are we going to paint murals?" You see, these were kids who didn't just want to exist in the world, they wanted to leave their imprint on it. So I began researching mural painting, and ways to connect my kids' art to the larger city around us. Then we painted murals, several of them, and learned a lot together along the way. So when a dear friend asked whether I'd like to paint a mural in her office's waiting room, I thought of my students as I said yes and began the planning.

Today was my first day to paint. As I was telling a friend today, I felt like I had to decide whether it was going to be work or play. It ended up being a lot of play, with a healthy dose of work tossed in. The play helped me to enjoy the feel of the brush on the wall, and the beauty of layered paint- the work helped to keep me on schedule. So now there is sand, coral, a ship-wreck, and one wall of the gradated blue. As I painted and watched the room transform, I agreed with my students- it's very nice to leave your imprint behind, very nice indeed.