Eight Hours on Artistic Duty

This morning at 5 I began my day by eating a Heath Klondike bar, guzzling a cup of coffee, and driving downtown to work on a mural of farmyard animals on the nursery wall at Church. I didn't plan on working for eight hours straight, but it was such a delicious luxury to be alone, undisturbed, with a book on tape, and a palette full of acrylics. I spent three hours alone on the background grass.

Murals take a surprisingly long time. I hadn't realized how challenging it would be to work on a project like this away from home. Arranging for someone to be at home and available for our active four year-old is difficult, especially when you don't want to take up the entire weekend hanging out at church while the wife is playing Nintendo 64 with the little man at home, wondering when, if ever, I will return.

But it was big fun. Followed by a houseful of napping people resulting in my current multitasking occupation--watching Shrek with our small son while blogging on multiple subjects, while our daughter plays Sims 2 Nightlife on the floor above, and my wife and older son take in a flick at the local cinema. If I'm lucky the four year-old will be ready to crash at midnight. He is too old to nap, yet who can deny an exhausted boy his right to collapse in your arms during a cuddly read. Reading aloud is my favorite part of the day, better even than reading the comics each morning with a Diet Coke and a cup of coffee.

Mural work on Sunday? Maybe, maybe not.