I had two concerns. The tank is 9-1/2" away from the house. Not enough space to squeeze into, and there's an old plastic storage shed on the other side, making access from that side difficult as well. The other was a label on one side of the tank. Closer inspection of the label solved that problem. "Do not paint over this label." OK!
The weather report told me that Friday would be a good day to paint. The weather would be a lot cooler and drier. The rest I knew from studying Oil Painting in college, and working at hardware stores during those years. I'd already prepared the surface by brushing off any debris and cleaning the tank.
As soon as I painted the first stroke, I knew two things. One, the paint was nice and I was going to enjoy working with it. The second, I love painting. There's something about pushing paint around with a brush that I find incredibly soothing. Not for nothing did I focus on Oil Painting in college.
Painting the side of the tank against the house was tricky. I used a roller and a long handle. I did brush up against the tank and got white paint on my upper arms a couple of times, but at least I didn't get paint on my house. For the bottom of the tank, there was nothing I else could do but lie on the ground and use the roller. I had made sure to spray myself with insect repellent before I got started.
To my everlasting delight, the job took one hour. I cleaned tools and put everything away. The paint needs 24 hours to dry completely, so I'll do the second coat tomorrow, and the fancy design stuff the day after that.
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| This was taken a few hours later when the afternoon sun hit the tank. Yes, it is white! |
And about that fancy design stuff - I really haven't decided what to do. Zebra stripes would be fun, just as a bar code design of varying vertical stripes would be too. One thing I do know is that I don't want to get overly complicated. For this, I think less is definitely better.
7 comments:
Please take a selfie!!! I am sure this will be super when all done, and admired by many. And with your expertise, is sure to last a long time!!!
Maybe a quilt block??
Looking great already -- have fun playing with ideas.
"Less is definitely better...." Nope. You left "less" behind the minute you decided to leave "repaint same colour." But I can see you're pleased with yourself, and THAT is a good version of "better."
I'm just loving this post!
Day Three seems to be the fun day.... but I will be back for day two to see how your thoughts are shaping up.....
You said: Never in a thousand years would I have expected a post about painting my oil tank to generate such interest!
Before I even read that and saw the tank in my blog roll, I thought that very same thing. WHY am I so interested in you painting your tank? I really enjoy a blogger that posts a little more about their life than the artsy, skillful things they do. Maybe THAT's the answer. Anyway, I can't wait to see what your next step will be.
xx, carol
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