project of the week...

I've been going to a new worship service Sunday mornings. 2 friends of mine lead it.  It's set up like a bible study with music...a very relaxed environment...a room filled with friends. 

Merge ministries got to be so well attended, that they needed to move locations.  So....they moved into a very large warehouse in town.  With hours of volunteer time, including electrical work, paint, sandblasting, drywalling, etc...the space is absolutely beautiful.  Exposed brick with large windows, hardwood floors, and natural wood pillars just screams to me!! 

Anyway, long story short, Merge asked me to help out with wall art.  ...to come up with ANY idea...  Ya know, it's really, really difficult to do that.  If someone gave me a "theme" or "color idea" that they wanted, it would be a bit more simple.  I think they were thinking they were being nice letting me do "whatever."  Phew!  What pressure!!  When I called to give him (Matt) a list of my ideas, his response was, "Sure sounds great!  They all sound great!  You just be creative!" 

Because the 2 main walls are about ... oh I don't know... 30-40 feet long, I knew whatever I did had to be big!  I recommended painting a large section of the one wall (between pillars) with magnetic chalkboard paint...that way they could list reminders, hang posters, doodle, or whatever on it.  And it wasn't very expensive to do.  (which is KEY!)

The other main wall, I decided to paint three 4-foot canvases. My inspiration came from the symbol for life.  The tree. 

The canvases turned out great.  Everyone was very complimentary.  I'll be taking picture of the space on Thursday, but for now...here are the pics from "the beginning." 

I simply spray painted the edges with black semi-gloss...

 ...then brushed the center in a cross-hatch pattern with copper metallic paint, called "copper penny." 
This color complimented the brick wall and hardwood floors beautifully...and the black tied in nicely with the chalkboard on the opposite side of the room...

 Don't you just love my wonderful workspace?  It's so handy and I love all the room I have (cough, cough)...

Again, Thursday I'll post pictures of the final product, hanging at the warehouse. 

Looking at these...I think I'm a wanna-be artist!!