My VERY able-bodied assistant Sherwin Peterson starts the laborious process of removing all of the painted panels from the temporary frame inside the hockey rink at Young in order to carry on with the rest of the project.
There is no escaping the salient fact that a lot of manual labor is required to create a project of this magnitude. I am so grateful for our combined physical stamina...we need it for sure!
The painted panels rest for a while at the base of the frame until they are all moved out of the way later.
Because there is such a close, tight seam between the 4' x 8' panels, there really is no way to avoid a slight build-up of paint over the hairline cracks. This creates a bridge of the extremely tough acrylic polymer that must be carefully scored with a utility knife in order to separate the panels for re-positioning. Hey, nobody said it would be easy!
You can see that the bridge of paint actually creates a tough 'hinge' between the panels as I am shown bending a panel ahead in order to make scoring easier. I just ran my blade down the 'valley' that was created when the panel was pried out from its frame.
Attacking another panel in order to remove it from the frame
After several hours of VERY careful, meticulous work, all of the uppermost panels were finally removed from the frame and set gingerly on short pieces of 2" x 4" material to keep them off the gravel.
All of the 'more-or-less' finished panels from the very top of the mural had to be re-located to stand against the boards of the rink. I want to do my final touch-ups while standing on the ground, or at least a step-ladder. As well, I decided that I wanted all of the panels within view while working on the final big chunk...continuity is really critical and I want to be able to refer frequently to the painted panels while working on the next set.
Nothing like a strong cuppa java to get us through all of the heavy lifting. Between coffee and high-energy snacks, we managed to power our way through the day's labor.
Making progress! Now the frame stands ready to receive the final set of an additional twenty 4' x 8' painters' panels.
Getting fresh panels mounted on the bottom of the frame took some considerable energy...but we were thankful that we had built the temporary frame ahead of time and it was all ready for us to carry on with phase II.
Only one more panel to go...Sherwin was a huge help. There's no way on God's green Earth that one person could manage these heavy (3/4" panels weigh about 80 lbs at least) sheets without some serious, sustained assistance. Man, I am so grateful that Sherwin has once again taken time out of his busy schedule to help out! Good help is hard to find...but I have found it!
Now it's time to start all over again as these panels must be primed and then painted of course to align perfectly with the panels above. Registration is the key! Anticipated completion date? About the end of August if all goes without a hitch, which is fairly unlikely.
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