Fifty Nifty Stars

I was asked to paint a flag for the RV park, to decorate a large concrete block wall built around our propane station.  The plan was for me to work on it during our vacation, which I was able to do.  Trying to figure out what type of paint to use on an exterior concrete surface was not a problem. Channeling my inner vandal, I purchased three cans of spray paint - red, white, and blue.  As I was preparing to start the project, I was asked to paint it on a board that could be taken in during the winter.  After viewing the wood scraps available, I settled on a large hunk of plywood siding and spray painted it white.

This board made sense to me as it would look rustic and this was for a campground.  The big challenge was to fit the width and blue star area so that it lined up with the middle groove.  It was never my intention to make a true flag replica, so I laid out my stars haphazardly, with the goal of fitting all fifty in (although I must say our flag should have more stars in order to give US territories statehood, but that's just my opinion).  After cutting out fifty stars, I set them on the board and masked out the border, then let go with the can of blue.  I didn't cover the entire board, so some residual blue from airborne particles landed on the white. It actually seemed kinda cool, so I only painted over a little of it.

Once the blue was done, I set out my stripes.  The goal was to have them two inches wide, but the seventh had to be wider to hit the groove on the bottom of the blue border.  I covered the blue, taped over what was to stay white, and laid down a number of coats of red.

 I really like the blue bleed through.  Also, the color kept getting sucked into the board (even though the paint had primer in it too).  As this became more apparent, I realized I'd need to touch up the stars by hand painting with some white, but that over-all, it gave it a country-faded vibe that was really kind of cool.

Setting up the proportion of the stars and stripes meant I'd have an extra area/stripe on the bottom.  This did not bother me at all, as I wanted to "message" my creation.  The US Flag has become a symbol of patriotism that in some respects bothers me. I am not an "America First" kind of citizen.  My hope is for a diverse country that continues to welcome immigrants and visitors from all over.  So, for that reason, and because our camp is very welcoming (we host guests from around the world), I named our flag "The Spirit of South Shore" with the message "Welcome All."

Before I came home today, I put a lot of clear layers of polycrylic on it.  Once it's dry, the guys who do the grounds keeping and construction are going to start brushing on layers of varnish.  The plan is to mount it next summer and then take it down in the winter so that the weather doesn't kill it. I hope if we keep it varnished, that it will last a long time.

I was flattered to be asked to paint this.  It probably doesn't seem like a big thing, but  I really wanted to find a way to represent the flag in a way that agreed with my personal politics and yet would mean something to others.