Monday, October 18th, 2010 was the day I finally finished an 80 ft. long mural for a kindergarten playground at Marguerite Montgomery Elementary in Davis, CA. Shelly Wickwire, the school principal had been wanting one at her school for about 2 years. Finally, she has it! She wanted a garden theme based on the bi-lingual song by Charlotte Diamond, "Each of us is a flower, growing in life's garden. Somos como las flores en el jardin de la vida." The sun, moon and rain are all featured in the song as well as the mural. Shelly gave the mural the title, "Garden Variety". We worked together to make the mural really colorful and full of a variety of flowers, creatures and even some fairies. Two of her own pet kitties are featured in the piece, Sadie the big black cat and Katie the playful siamese-mix kitten. One of the kindergarten teachers requested a turtle be included in tribute to the class pet/mascot, "Frank". They are called the Turtle Class. Frank is prominently featured in the lily pond section.
The intention of this artwork besides brightening up plain brick walls and sparking children's imaginations, is to express the message that the song clarifies: we all have the same needs as we grow in this world and each of us has something unique to contribute. This makes our world beautiful!
