Finished! Kiron Train Mural

Earlier this year I was hired to repaint a large train mural that had been painted on the side of a metal shed. The mural is located in Kiron, IA, and was repainted for their 125th town celebration!

It took me 51 hours total to complete this mural, and I had two helpers at the end for the clear coat: my husband, Jon, and my dad. I opted for adding the clear coat because just about every time I worked on the mural, within 24 hours we would get heavy rain, hail, 60+ mph winds, or even a tornado or two! So I wanted to give the mural extra protection against the elements. 

It was an interesting experience, working on this mural. It's by far the largest painting I've ever done. After every painting session, I'd take a picture. Those are the photos I compiled to make this video. I also regularly shared work-in-progress selfies on my Facebook and Instagram pages. 

Oh, and it turns out I have a pretty intense fear of heights! My first time up on the scaffolding (a whopping 5-6 feet high) my legs shook so badly that my calf muscles started to cramp up. The more time I spent up on the scaffolding the more comfortable I became, but even on the last day I was still uneasy being up so high. I was happiest just sitting in one place on the boards. I have accepted that I am only meant to live 5 feet from the surface, and no more. 

I've been asked to paint a few more murals, so I might need to invest in some sort of safety... strap... harness... sort of contraption for future use. Unless you think I could get away with only doing murals that are 6 feet or less high? 😉