The mural was completed just over a week ago with one final coat of sealant. Now it should be grubby hands and stubby crayon proof! Here's a tour of the finished piece...

It ended up being 26 hours of painting in all, which I thought was a good start for my largest mural yet. I'd promised Isia that I would take her to visit "Mama's painting" when it was all done. When we arrived she asked, "You painted all this?" I assented, and she said it was beau-ti-ful! She went around the room looking at everything and asking questions about the animals. Interacting with it, just as I hope all the little patients will. I even hid pictures within the mural- a blue triangle, 5 snails, Nemo, etc.- to help them look even more closely at it. My thank-you gift to the doctor's office was a worksheet for the kiddos introducing myself, detailing the process of painting the mural, and giving the list of everything I'd hidden for them to find. I then included space at the bottom for them to draw their favorite animal, just as I had drawn mine (the whale!).