Disclosure: Adam’s Garden of Eatin’ participates in affiliate marketing programs. There are some affiliate links below and I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post, but these are all products I highly recommend. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.

Who’s going to paint it?

I am. Duh. I want to see if my painting skills are still somewhat intact.

What are you going to paint?

My own See Rock City mini barn?…pass. Too Simple. I want some color.

A Tennessee themed Victory Garden Ad? Tomatoes turned to oranges, California to Tennessee, Uncle Sam to Davy Crockett?…pass. Just do something original.

Adam’s Garden of Eatin’ Mural?…Makes sense. Paint a tree of life, like the Garden of Eden story. Add an array of vegetables, cause that’s what I grow. Paint a mountain scene set at the bend in the river. Like Chattanooga. Add a TN flag in the triangle space up top. Home state pride.

Where are you going to paint it?

In the summertime heat and humidity of my backyard. On the blank shed wall overlooking my entire garden. And on a rough wooden texture that was way more difficult to draw on than I anticipated.

When are you going to paint?

On evenings and weekends. In my free time. However long it takes. Details require time.

Why are you doing this again?

• To see if I can still paint
• The blank wall was boring me and I wanted something unique to look at from my porch.
• It would be a perfect background for future garden stories.
• It was a creative thorn that was going to bug me forever unless I did something.

How are you going to paint it?

Use a Projector? No. I’d have to borrow one and it’s an expensive piece of equipment I’d be responsible for. Just use what I have and make it work. I have an old iPhone and a tripod. It’s not stupid if it works.

Freehand paint it? Ok. In Pencil first, so you can correct lines before painting when you screw up. It doesn’t have to be exact though. Just some outlines of what needs to fall where. And I need a reference photo to work from. I’m going to laminate it so it doesn’t get ruined while I work.

What kind of paint?

KILZ primer as a starting point. I’m not spending a fortune on new acrylics and oils. Wal-mart has $1 craft paints, with lots of colors and is Made in the USA. Lost my mind and bought way more than I needed.

I’m also going to film it all with my iPhone & GoPro and stitch it all together for a cool time-lapse video in the end.

Where are you going to start?

Paint my sky first. It’s the biggest area. Then paint the field in the distance. Then paint all the vegetables according to color. Paint all your greens, yellows, oranges, and reds together. Mix a dark, medium, and light shade of each color. It’ll be impossible to perfectly match mixed colors again, so I’ll mix a lot of paint so I don’t run out. I’ll add black to make shades darker and white to lighten them up.

Then I’ll move on to the tree trunk. Then the river. The leaves are the most time-intensive part, so those will be towards the end. I’ll designate four sections of leaves, 3 different shades of green each. Then I’ll draw and paint in each individual leaf.

Then I’ll paint the TN flag in the triangle. I’ll use cutout stencils for the stars and two colors of red to add some texture. Lastly, I’ll do the Adam’s Garden of Eatin’ Logo off the right in solid black. I’ll use a round bucket lid as a circle template and be extra mindful when free handing the lettering.