Oh how quickly love can turn to hate:

With the spray work complete the mural is almost finished. Part of the design is some curved contouring lines that sweep across the whole painting. For me they have become known as "make or break lines," as if they are wrong they could jeopardise the whole piece. The lines are in stark contrast to the rest of the piece as they are painted on instead of sprayed in a midnight blue and some stretch across all three sections. I was lacking in confidence when I started this process as I was terrified of ruining the work I was so pleased with before. Another problem was due to the lack of space and the height of the mural I have been unable to paint the whole thing is the same room and the right way up. The middle large section was painted on its side in the spray room, whereas the two side sections were painted in a mix of the spray room and the props room. When I felt that the painting was complete I took all the pieces out to the car park so I could see the whole piece together. Then...Disaster. Some of the lines did not work at all; they were totally mismatched and did not flow across the piece. In a nut shell, it was just wrong. With the plan to take the painting to Brighton that evening I had to quickly re do the lines in time for collection. To correct some of the lines they just had to be painted over, as they crossed the white sections it was simple to cover them up. Where the lines crossed the sprayed areas I had to cover the blue with white and then go back over the section with the spray gun to blend in the patched area. Once the damage had been repaired I could then undertake a second attempt to paint in the lines. Before the paintings were packed away I once again laid hem out in the car park to check that everything worked. 

Just shoot me now...

The repainted lines were still not correct. The largeness of the mural was making it hard to achieve a flowing, curving line across the painting. Also being unable to see the painting as a whole whilst working on it was proving even more challenging then I had ever imagined. Not being happy with something that is not perfect I then followed the painting back to Hurstpierpoint in order to attempt a third go at painting the lines. Because the church does not have any pews it meant that I was able to lay the mural out as a whole piece on the floor. I also used a ladder to observe the piece from a height so I could see how it will look once it is on the wall. To fix some of the lines I had to repaint some areas completely, but with others I was just able to thicken up the line in order to create a neater curve. I am still not completely happy with the final outcome, but at this stage there is not a lot else I can do without totally repainting large sections of the mural. Without a spray gun at the church this is also impossible, even if I wanted to. I am hoping that once the painting is on the wall, at a height and I have not been staring at it for so long the imperfections that are so obvious to me now will start to fade.

First Attempt

Second Attempt

Finished Attempt

The transportation of the mural has also caused quite a few hours of deliberation. As the mural is in quite a few sections I was original hopeful that they would fit into my Dads car, however he thought not. I then began to look into hiring a van. The type of van I would need is a Ford Transit style van which can be hired for around £46 a day. The final decision was to attempt fitting them into my Dads car, leaving the van as a backup option and also saving money. We managed to fit all the wooded frames and the two side paintings in the car, but had to make a second trip for the large middle section.

It Fits

Unfortunately I will be unable to attach the mural to the wall in time for hand in which is quite disappointing. I have the time to do it, but I am suffering from a severe lack of man power. As the mural will be placed quite high up I will have to hire scaffolding which can cost around £100, I also need help lifting and attaching it as it is quite heavy and in the name of health and safety I don't think it is appropriate for me to be doing it by myself. In another money saving scheme I have decided to ask area administrator for the Central Sussex United area if another church has scaffolding or a Bambi tower I could borrow (I am still waiting for a response). When the mural is final attached I will use a right angled bracket that will be attached to the frame and then can be screwed into the wall. Once the frames are in place, as each individual frame will be put up separately, they will then be screwed together for added strength and support. When the frames are in place the canvas and plywood can then be nailed to the frames using a nail/staple gun.