19 January 2006

Colouring in a storm

by Lally, onboard the Arctic Sunrise

If someone had told me when I was a little girl that the endless colouring books I was presented with were actually essential training for my future, maybe I would have taken them a bit more seriously. But then I guess no one expected me to still be colouring in at the age of 30, least of all me. And whether you like it or not banner painting is an intrinsic part of life in Greenpeace.

Contrary to popular belief, under the right circumstances banner painting can be highly therapeutic and even verge on the meditative. I for one actually like it and it has a warm fuzzy place in my heart as I was in fact painting the words "No War" on a bit of yellow fabric while working at Greenpeace Australia when I spied Mikey, who is now my husband, for the first time. Sadly however, painting a banner on the Arctic Sunrise during a storm is a different story entirely and painting one while sitting in the freezing cold on a lumpy metal floor in a wobbly ship does not lend itself to a feeling of therapeutic calm or warm fuzzy recollection. I would say that increased stress levels, spinal deformity and having your knees fuse in the kneeling position would be a more accurate description.

So just in case you ever find yourself in this situation I thought I'd share my learning's on how to paint a rather large banner in a storm...

1) Find a grown-up and get them to draw out the letters to be coloured in. Get additional grown-ups to check spelling. Spelling mistakes that go undetected until the banner is complete can be costly in terms of having no one talk to you for the rest of the trip so are best avoided.

2) Find a paintbrush. This is easier said than done and may require theft. Banner painters can become very protective of their paintbrushes and will often display hoarding behaviour, laying claim to a thin one for edges AND a thick one for colouring in. Effective tactics for getting a paintbrush include the "Distract them with a shiny thing" technique. To do this just wander around until you spy someone with multiple paintbrushes then point at the corner of the room shouting, "What's that? Ohhh isn't it shiny!" and as they look for the shiny object, quickly remove your brush of choice and back slowly away.

3) Find an old yogurt pot and fill with the correct coloured paint. Note: All reds are not the same. Apparently some are more orangey than others and using the wrong red makes other banner painters cross and can result in you getting told off and having to start again.

4) Find a bit of rubbery stuff to kneel on. The rubbery texture helps you to stick to the floor whereby lessening your chances - although not eliminating them entirely - of sliding across the freshly painted banner when the ship rolls. It also slows the speed with which your knees and spine go into spasm.

5) Sit yourself on your bit of rubbery stuff in front of a letter on the banner. Ask yourself if the letter next to the one you want to paint, on the side of your painting hand, has been recently painted. If it has pick another one so as to avoid letter smudging and the subsequent wrath of the other banner painters.

6) Holding your pot of paint in one hand and your paintbrush in the other take a moment to observe that you have no hands left to steady yourself if/when the ship rolls. I find sitting with my legs folded under me, leaning forward and balancing on my elbows to be a quite effective (although painful) alternative to hands. Once you have assumed you chosen position begin to paint the edges of your letter.

Memo to self: Never, never ever put your paint pot down. You are on a rolling ship and putting it down is a recipe for total disaster and has the potential for the instantaneous destruction of the entire banner.

7) Once letter is coloured in select another one and repeat from step 4 until all the letters are coloured in.

And there you have it, a beautifully painted banner. And for the record, yesterday I painted a rather attractive letter E and I must say that my S surpassed even my expectations...sadly no one else noticed which was slightly disappointing...I guess they were just all too busy colouring in.

   

Comments

Posted by: Lisa at January 19, 2006 3:25 PM

Posted by: Felyne at January 20, 2006 12:16 AM

Posted by: Rod Marining at January 20, 2006 2:37 AM

Posted by: KC at January 20, 2006 11:53 AM

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