My first painted barrel! I had never even considered painting rain barrels before this project, but doing it opened my world to an entirely new art avenue. The City of Frederick raffles rain barrels off to residents at the yearly In the Streets event every September, and local nonprofits donate painted barrels to be raffled. I am a regular volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County and when they asked if I wanted to paint their barrel, I was ALL IN.
The 2024 In the Streets barrel theme was “You’re the Key to Clean Water”. Habitat Frederick’s signature event each year is called Blue Crabs & Blue Prints. Painting blue crabs remodeling a shipwreck for this event felt fitting, because Habitat helps reshape homes and lives in our community the way blue crabs clean the Chesapeake Bay.
I loved painting this barrel. I loved the opportunity to be so creative. I loved seeing something I made out in the public with hundreds of people walking by it all day – it was so surreal. And I loved learning the barrel painting process and loved having such a huge canvas. This was also my first time bringing together multiple scenes or elements into one huge painting. The entire thing – so fun.
