There’s something wild about finally standing in front of a mural that’s been living in your head for months.
This whole project started back in February with a simple pencil sketch. Nothing fancy. Just ideas, lines, and trying to figure out how everything would flow together. From there, I moved it over to my iPad and built out a digital rendering in Procreate. That’s usually the stage where things start feeling real for me. You can zoom in, move colors around, test compositions, and slowly see the vision come together before a single drop of paint ever touches the wall.
And then… life happened.
Honestly, these last few months have been an absolute blur in the best way possible.
I had my show in Valdese, then the art residency through the North Carolina Museum of Art that carried into mid-April. Right after that came the Southport Plein Air Festival, plus a couple of plein air workshops squeezed in between everything else. Then came my nephew’s wedding up in Virginia, followed by a reception in South Carolina. It was basically nonstop movement for months. Go, go, go.
Eventually sleep caught up with me.
But through all of that, this mural stayed in the back of my mind waiting for its moment.
Day 1 at the school was all prep work. Not glamorous, but honestly one of the most important parts. I taped everything off, covered furniture in plastic, and got the whole space protected before paint started flying around. After that, I rolled on an interior paint-and-primer combo in this really rich violet plum color to act as the underpainting. I love using bold base colors because even if little pieces peek through later, it gives the mural extra depth and energy.
Once the wall was toned, I started sketching everything out using a paint pen. That’s always the moment where the nerves and excitement hit at the same time. There’s no undo button on a wall.
Day 2 was all about blocking everything in. Big shapes. Big color relationships. Just getting the entire mural established and making sure the composition flowed the way I imagined it would months ago sitting with that original sketch.
Then Day 3 came around and it was time for the details. Tightening edges, adjusting color here and there, adding little touches throughout the painting that make it feel alive. Those final passes are always my favorite because the mural finally starts talking back to you a little bit.
And finally… signing it.
That moment never gets old.
Now I’m letting everything fully dry before I go back next week to seal it up and protect it for the years ahead.
More than anything, I’m just grateful. Grateful for the opportunity, grateful for the trust, and grateful that after months of chaos, travel, painting, events, workshops, weddings, and exhaustion… this mural finally made its way onto the wall exactly with it was supposed to.
