I picked up a wall of bookshelves for the basement from a moving sale, and had a couple leftover so we installed them in the attic where the boys need a bit more shelving. Although the boys started out with a bedroom on the second floor when we moved into this house, they ended up in the attic so the current situation is Agnes and Edie in the yellow bedroom on the second floor, Mary in one nook in the attic, and the boys in the other half of the attic (and Catherine who is never giving up her brick room). Putting in the bookshelves added a bit more division between the two halves of the attic, but that meant Mary was looking at the brown particle board back of bookshelves from her room, so she asked if she could paint them. Best idea ever.
This was August. We secured the two shelves together on the sides so they wouldn't shift, then primed the back and Mary got to sketching. Light pencil sketches are really hard to photograph, but if you look closely you'll see the outline of a woodland mural.
There were many varieties of little mushrooms involved.
After the sketch was finished the paint came out immediately. I love the way Mary works - she does not hesitate, even if it's something new. Trees and vines and moss started coming to life.
Starting back into a full time school schedule slowed her progress down a bit, but by October she was more than halfway done.
Mary had to stand on a chair to reach the top third, and decided it was easier to clean her brush on her arm rather than step down constantly to reach a glass of water, so I could always tell when she had been painting and what colors she was working with.
Where did Mary learn to paint like this? I have no idea. Some youtube research, but a lot of it she just
does. The moss and mushrooms are my favorite, but all the little details are amazing.
In November, she tackled the waterfall, and then it was finished.
Mary said these mushrooms were her favorite part.
I don't know what the future holds for this house, but I'm never moving that bookshelf.
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