Where's the panic button on this thing?

OMG! I got my first mural job! I'm so excited! Though technically for it to be a job I guess I would be getting paid; in that manner, i guess it's more of an internship but that's not the point. The point is, OMG! I got my first mural job! So exciting! I haven't painted a mural in about 9 years. Wait, damn, NINE YEARS? Yikes! I can't believe how long it's been, that's crazy! Crazier still is the fact that an all-too-trusting co-worker of mine is actually allowing me to come into her house andpaint no less than TWO of her freshly painted sage-green walls, sight unseen, however I want after this 9 year hiatus! The only guideline I've been given so far is that it's to be a jungle scene for her new baby grandson's room, her first grandchild. No pressure.

The confidence she has in me that I'll do a good job is staggering. All she's seen from me is some random doodles, a couple of drawings on a dry erase board, some paintings here and there of turkeys in helmets (they have very sensitive skulls you know) and some birthday cards to co-workers that show up occassionally. But, when I ask her exactly what she wants me to paint she just says, "Do whatever you want, I trust you." What?!?! Whatever I want? You trust me? But I have no idea what I'm doing! Don't get me wrong, it feels amazing for her to have that type of blind faith in me but it's also incredibly nerve racking! What if I can't draw the animals big enough? Do I draw the outline on the wall in pen first? Or should I use pencil? What if all I can remember how to draw when I get there is a fart cloud? Do I paint the entire background first and then build up from there? Or should I add the background in after? Does the wall need to be primed? Sealed? What kind of materials should I bring? Do I need a ladder? A Respirator? A psychotherapist?!? OMG! I'm freaking out.

This is precisly why I'm doing this mural for free...or rather, as part of my "internship." If there's no price dangling over my head then there's less pressure for the painting to be perfect. And if there's less pressure for perfection then there's a better chance of reaching it. Right? Right.

Wait, what?

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