Inside the Spin-Mosaic Studio

28 fish swam with the current of the stream. Only 1 fish turned around.

Fall, 2019, found me on my knees in the late summer sun painting a 47-foot sidewalk mural outside the front facade of Knightstown Elementary School (Indiana). The project was initiated and funded by Arts for Learning of Indiana.

Follow the colorful photos below. Read the story at the end. Discuss why the one fish was the hero when the other 28 were swimming their "own way." Then, draw your own "Story Stream". Write your own story! 

My son, Brandon (8), came along with me to be my helper. As you can see from the picture above, he was so excited to watch an empty, gray, normal, cement sidewalk be transformed into a stream. With a truck loaded with paints, tarps, rollers, spray cans, brushes, tape, and snacks, we were ready to get started!

Any good work of art begins with a sketch. Can you guess if this sketch was created with markers, crayons, colored pencils, or paints? Can you find the "one fish" that is swimming in a different direction than all the other fish?

I used one of my favorite tools to create the sketch above: watercolor pencils. First you can color with them. Then, by dipping a brush in water, the lead dissolves and the colors blend. This is the same style and technique I use for my sketch journals and "Sunday Sketches" blog features once a week. 

When we arrived, the entire sidewalk was roped off with cones. The facility manager had power-washed the sidewalk surface before we arrived. If the surface is not clean; the paint will not adhere.

I turned the photo so it's easier to compare with the sketch above. I began by sketching flowing lines onto the sidewalk with a can of gray spray paint.

When we draw, we often bend our fingers and our knuckles, or turn our wrists to create the line we want with the lead of our pencil. In order to create lines as big as these lines on the sidewalk that are both smooth and flowing (not bumpy), I had to get my body in just the right position. It was like exercising in gym class. With my knees bent, and elbows straight, I let my arms swing like an elephant's trunk while my body danced down the sidewalk. It must have been very funny to watch!

Time to open up a can of beautiful blue!

The first layer was rolled on as a background for all the other colors. A background is a layer of color that is far away or underneath. Like the last piece in a puzzle, the first stroke of rolling paint on an empty sidewalk is so exciting!

Lots of classes came to visit me while I painted. Their smiles and awe were so encouraging. The stream slowly came to life. 

Here are two special little boys who were beyond wonderful. One drew a fish picture for me, so I would know better how they look (he is holding my stencil)! The other brought me his chocolate Twinkie from his lunch! So refreshing after a hot day of painting! Teachers brought a steady "stream" of water bottles, diet cokes, and Hershey kisses, too. Knightstown is such a special community!

Swirls of water bubbled over the top of the first layer of blue. Many layers later, the stream was ready for the fish! 28 + 1 fish tell a story.

One by one, golden-scaled fish were painted with a giant pre-cut stencil. The shape was spray-painted, while details and color-blending were painted on with brushstrokes. Painting 28 + 1 fish took a lot of patience and repetition.

After painting 28 fish, this is the "+1". This fish has looked around, turned around, and began swimming in the other direction. Why?

When the mural was finished, the entire school gathered outside for a drumroll ceremony to reveal the new sidewalk mural. After the sidewalk being roped off for a couple weeks, it was finally time for each class and each student walk, dance, skip, or hope across the colors for the first time. A drone camera flew overhead while reporters from the newspapers took pictures. This little girl is hopping from fish to fish like a game of hop-scotch. Each student looked UP, UP, UP and waved at the camera!!

As shown in the process of creating this mural, artists must think about how best to move their fingers, knuckles, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Details need close attention and careful finger movement. Large lines, like I used to create the swirls in this mural required my arms to move like an elephant trunk! 

Read the story below.

Talk about what makes this one fish special.

Then, encourage your young artist to create an illustration themselves!

"One wa-aa-aay." Say the water waves.

"One wa-aa-ay." Blows the wind unseen.

"One wa-aa-ay." Say the tail-splashing, fin-swimming crowd.

"My way." Say the rocks of gray.

      Sit down; around, like I do. Stay a long while.

"My way." Say the rays of sun.

      "Shine down, all around, like I do.

            Until the day is done."

Sand of brown on the ground;

      Where land and water meet.

"My Way." Says the warm sand.

      "Go between, around, beside, beneath,

Grass, rocks, water and sun. Like I do."

Fine by us." Say the tails and fins swimming by.

      "We will not ask your reasons why.

We swim with the water; with the wind unseen.

      We don't care what's beside, beneath, around, between."

 ------

"I care!" Sings the song of one, lone, splashing tail,

      With sunlit glistening golden scales.

"Your way? My way? One way...what?"

"I see you there as I swim by,

      As I follow the wind and the wavs and the sky.

I follow the tails in front of me.

      Sorry. Sometimes...that's all I see."

But, if I stop to see beside, between,

      I see rocks of gray and grass of green.

I turn to see the forever sky.

      I see the wings of birds fly by,

            Going one way, their way, while I go mine.

"Yes, go your way." Says the watchful eye of a bird flying by.

      "I see you all from the forever sky.

The grass does indeed grow...up! The rocks sit...down!

      The wind blows by. The water flows.

            That's the way it's supposed to go."

"To each his own." chimed the shining sun.

      "There are many ways; not just one.

As sure as the morning rain will fall,

      What's best for one is not best for all."

------

I care." Sings the song of one, lone, splashing tail.

      With sunlit glistening golden scales.

And with those words, the tail turned 'round.

      He spoke to the new friends he had found.

"Birds that fly, and sun that shines,

      May I try your way? Or would you try mine?"

Can my fins fly the sky; or your wings swim low?

      I wonder, imagine, and would like to know.

Sand, let's play around and between,

      Grass, can I try being green?

Sun, can you sim. Or, can I shine?

I will be your friend.

      Can you be mine?"

Written and illustrated (on a sidewalk!) By ---"Mrs. Z"