When I volunteered to paint a mailbox, I wasn't quite sure how far I'd go. It's been quite awhile since I've painted anything, let alone on a curved metal surface that's exposed to the elements. Then, of course, I began to think about what I'd paint on the mailbox, and began coming up with some designs. 
My first source for designs is my photo archive, and since this house has become a recurring nesting ground for robins, it was easy to select a lovely red-breasted beauty. The ever vigilant parents were great guardians for the little ones, and became increasingly courageous around me, my camera, and my lovely German Shepherd.
My next design was a reprisal of a purple coneflower drawn on a smaller scale (2.5 x 3.5 inches) that I enlarged to about twice that size. Rather than working with a broad, pre-mixed palette, I mixed a pleasant set of secondary colors, all from the basic source bottles of primaries red, yellow, and blue, plus black and white.
Final touches include street address numbers, and some birds flying in the sky. The boxes have already brought compliments and many smiles of their own. And, of course, since the name of my neighbor's eldercare facility is Sonrisas, that's just what I like to see! : )
Kathy, the director of Sonrisas, had initially suggested a happy face as a starting point. I wanted to integrate it into a bright sun...so that through whatever weather comes our way, there would be at least a little bit of sunshine on our street. So each mailbox has a smiling sun on one side and either a robin or a coneflower on the other side of the box.Each box was painted with weatherproof metal paint and sealed against the major elements, and I have plans to refinish the old mailboxes to new life with great new colorful designs. I can't wait for the next inspiration to hit!
