Homestretch

This project seemed to extend longer than I had initially anticipated.  Had I lived closer to downtown and if I hadn’t been coping with recovering from sinus surgery, it would have certainly wrapped up sooner.  Towards the end, the drive downtown was becoming harder and harder for me to make and I was ready to finish.  I painted inside the Alliance building for the remainder of my time to expedite the process.

I set a deadline for myself (before Thanksgiving) to be done and at the end of my last designated painting day, I was happy with the end product despite being aware of several areas where I could have improved further.

The idea of further tackling some of those aforementioned aspects was running through my mind on my way home that evening.  This is when I learned a very painful artistic lesson #5:  Never be lazy when transporting painting supplies.  

In my exhaustion I chose to not hammer down the lid to the gallon of black exterior paint which I had placed in the back of my car.  The can seemed sturdy enough to stay put and there was no hammer in my vicinity.  Sure enough on my way home a car in front of me slammed on their brakes on the highway, setting off a chain reaction that resulted with said paint being spilled in the back of my vehicle.  

After an infinity long string of curse words in the Rouse’s parking lot and a whole roll of paint covered paper towels, I called my husband to tell him what happened and that I’d be driving home to clean the rest of it out.  Luckily after a couple hours of cleaning, we were able to get it all out.

Grand Finale

I came back that Saturday without supplies to get video of the re-vamped piano being played.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t favorable and my initial piano player didn’t pan out.  Luckily, Nic (an Alliance employee and avid supporter of the project) was in the building and knew how to play the piano 🙂

I was able to record Nic playing a few songs on the piano and post on social media.  The feedback, support, and comments were far beyond what I had anticipated.  Every stumble and difficulty I had encountered throughout this project was well worth it when I got to see how a work of art like this can positively impact our community.

I’ll forever be grateful for this opportunity and remember the lessons I learned through it.