Mural Methods, Madness & Monsoons (550 Words)

I'm a little late in writing this. I'm still getting acclimated to the full-time freelance schedule which entails a really inconsistent but exciting work-life balance. 

The original design.

Anyways, Hub City Co-op liked the first mural I painted outside enough to commission me to paint another one inside. The space is approximately 17' x 9' (5.1 m x 2.7 m). They requested a creative way to display the Seven Cooperative Principles, which are supposed to guide all cooperatives. 

In retrospect, I slayed this project. It took me five days from concept to completion. Most of my git-er-done motivation came from the fact that the block party to celebrate the first mural was being held that Saturday and I couldn't stand the thought of the mural being seen as anything less than awesome by all the people I anticipated would attend the event. 

Projecting/tracing: my least favorite part. 

In contrast to the rainbow garden of yummy colors outside, I kept this one much simpler. It's important to consider the mural surroundings when planning the design. I selected just three fonts and two colors to contrast the hodgepodge of endless products surrounding it that are already competing for your attention. 

WIP

I picked shapes that, to me at least, represent traditional Southern cooking and culture: a lemon (lemonade), a skillet, a mason jar, etc. I knew there were some obstructions on the wall but I wasn't sure exactly where so I intentionally created a design with puzzle pieces that I could move around if necessary. Of course it ended up being necessary.

So here's how it happened:

Monday: Design (5 hours)
Tuesday: Projection & Tracing (4 hours)
Wednesday: Painting (6 hours)
Thursday: Painting (10 hours)
Friday: Painting (17 hours)
Total: 5 days, 42 hours

See what I mean about the inconsistent schedule? Now I wish I had started at least one day earlier to save my sanity during that last marathon painting session where I started talking to my wall, specifically, Missiour Poulet, the French-speaking rooster. (Read the full, funny story on Buzzfeed.) 

WIP

When you look at the finished product, it looks easy. Except that it's not and its a pretty tedious process: paint 2-3 coats of white, outline with black, fill in with multiple coats of black. Each "puzzle piece" averaged about 3.5 hours to complete. 

But it's totally worth all the effort. I'm happy with how it turned out!

Finished! 

I just wish I could say the same for the Block Party. The party had infinite potential but attendance was no doubt hindered by what seemed like a monsoon sent by some spiteful, mural-hating deity that I must have unintentionally offended.

It literally hadn't rained a drop all day until minutes after the celebration started. There was thunder, lightning, a diagonal deluge of rain and all of our smartphones chimed in unison with flash flood warnings. I had an epiphany and realized where the term fair weather friends must have come from. 

I want to thank all my friends and family who did come, especially my bestie Christina who is a face painting pro and helped me transform kids into butterflies, cats, dogs and other assorted, creative creatures. We did it for free but had a tip jar that collected $51.51 which we donated to the Children's Advocacy Center here in Spartanburg. 

I definitely earned my monthly massage for July!

 I really enjoy creating public art & design and think more places should have it, but obviously I'm biased. What do y'all think? 

The Wetter, The Better! Thingyan Water Festival | Yangon, Myanmar

Thingyan is a Theravada Buddhist water festival celebrated in Myanmar around mid-April right before their traditional new year. In modern times, it's a playful water war that is waged on both the city and village streets across the country which happened to last five days this year.

Many people ride around in the back of trucks to get doused by hose-weilding people on temporary roadside spraying stages called pandals. They are literally like human car washes. No where and no one is dry. Which is ok, because April is the hottest, driest month of the year here. This week the temp was over 100ºF/38ºC every day. (A similar festival called Songkran is celebrated in Laos and Thailand around the same time.) 

I met a couple guys in my hostel at breakfast and we later set off in search of festivities. It took all of three seconds after leaving the hostel to start getting doused; locals especially love to get foreigners wet so we were moving targets. You'll start getting splashed early around 8:00 or 9:00. Then there's kind of a break during the peak heat, maybe noon til 15:00 but the water wars resume. A dry truce is supposed to happen around 18:00. 

There was a stage and a huge crowd in front of the Town Hall near Sule Pagoda and it didn't take us long to get picked up by a truckload of locals. The truck was packed with people, water reserves and beer. We drove past a few splash stations and got soaked with firehoses. The force of the water knocked my hat off of my head and when I was finally able to look up, I saw that it had landed on the road and someone on a truck behind us had seen and retrieved it.

Well, I wasn't about to lose my favorite hat that has traveled the world with me since I bought it from a surf shop in Bali so I jumped off the back of our truck and ran to the truck behind us. (Best decision ever to wear my vibrams that day instead of flip flops.) I saw a dude on the truck wearing my hat and pointed to it emphatically because the music and crowds were so loud that he wouldn't be able to hear anything I said. He pointed at the hat then at me. I nodded and he took it off and tossed it down to me. Victoriously, I raced back to my own truck. No thing left behind! 

A few kilometers out of the city center, we promptly got a flat tire. No worries, though, we just joined a splashing station on the side of the road and doused trucks and busses as they drove by. Yep, even the public busses are fair game during Thingyan. 

The main event seemed to take place on the road near Inya Lake. There were at so many pandals set up with entertainment and/or water hoses that the streets were flooded. The guys and I followed Htet and Jesse - our gracious hosts for the day - through crowds of people dancing and moshing through a perpetual, manmade monsoon. Steve and I were armed with buckets and Walker ended up with a pretty sweet dolphin gun with accompanying backpack. 

In the city, people gather on the streets and in any public water source, including fountains and pools. There is no shortage of street food and I enjoyed my fair share of fried things, fruits, grilled corn, fresh-pressed sugar cane juice and - wait, stop everything - ice cream. 

After leaving the city, I'm glad I also got to experience some rural Thingyan celebrating after arriving at Thabarwa in Thanlyin. People, especially kids, are just as ready to soak you with water. Instead of trucks and stages, substitute motorbikes, village houses, small shops and buckets on the side of the road. 

I have to admit at first, I thought this was an incredible waste of natural resources, but eventually realized it all evaporates and will come back during the rainy season. Did I mention how refreshing it is to be soaked with water when its ridiculously hot outside? 

Celebrating Holi in Kathmandu, Nepal

I did not intentionally plan to be in Nepal during Holi but I am stoked to have stumbled into such serendipity. 

Holi is a traditional springtime Hindu festival celebrated in India and Nepal that takes place on the Purnima (full moon day) approaching the vernal equinox. It's also known as the festival of colors or the festival of love. Here, everyone comes together for good, colorful fun and at least for some time they all forget about age, politics, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and whatever else has potential to divide people. 

It's the only time I've let total strangers assault my face with a rainbow of powdered paint. Oh and kids will throw water bombs at you, dump water on you from the rooftops and squirt you with water guns. The celebration started this morning in Durbar Square with music and dancing and yelling and color flinging and is still raging outside my hotel room hours later as we speak. 

Here are my favorite faces of Holi: