How a few unexpected yeses led to a freehand Dr. Seuss mural
A friend of mine once recommended me to her sister’s friend by saying, “My friend can do that for you.” And honestly, that pretty much sums up how I’ve ended up doing a lot of creative projects over the years. Give me something creative, especially something I haven’t done before, and I have a hard time saying no.
So when I was asked to bid on a Dr. Seuss mural project, of course I said yes. Did I have any idea what I was doing? Not really. But I went with it.
The really fun part was that I won the bid because I proposed painting the entire mural freehand instead of using stencils. That was a huge deal to me. I’ve always been drawn to anything freehand—drawing it, painting it, creating it as I go. There’s something about trusting your eye and your hand and just figuring it out that I’ve always loved.
And maybe I had a little more experience than I realized.
Years earlier, in college, a classmate had asked me to help paint a mural. The two of us spent our winter break working on it together. At the time, I certainly wasn’t thinking, “This will come in handy someday.”
But it did.
I love looking back and realizing how these random creative projects somehow connect. You learn something, tuck it away without even knowing it, and years later it shows up again in a completely different way.
Every time I come across these photos, they make me smile. The Grinch and the Cat in the Hat are still my favorites!
