An awful sleepless night of violent stomach spasms.
I rose later than hoped, with a full day of tasks, but have managed these with aplomb. First, a trip to the mural site to clean it up a bit, and test the adhesion of the masks. The cleaning was difficult, too much scrubbing seemed to take off the grey paint, and to merely spread the dirt rather than remove it. I'll wait until the mural is complete, then lightly repaint selected grey areas. The mask adhesion was very poor, the crumbly wooden surface and waxy paint rejected the vinyl. They hold, just, but only very lightly.
I have a few options. I could try to stick them more firmly, but the masks themselves are reasonably sticky, and adding extra Sellotape didn't make any difference - the wall resists tape too. I tried using a Pritt-Stick type glue on the wood, but this didn't help either, and it left an ugly waxy residue on the wall. I thought that dilute PVA on the wall might work, as this is a common preparation on wall surfaces. I also thought that, failing all of that, I could simply staple the masks. The tiny holes made by the staples would be insignificant compared to the rot already on the wood surface.
I also considered masking and painting each design in turn, rather than masking all and painting all, but this would cause many problems with the quick drying paint.
I returned home and tested various options on the garage wall, which is made from similar wood. Preparing the wall with dilute PVA didn't produce any better results, and washing the wall or preparing in other ways it didn't help. So, I have only two options: to stick the masks and treat them very gently, or stick first then staple them to secure them. The stapler will take a lot of extra time and work, so I'll start by applying the masks alone and see how things go, but I'll pack a stapler. The worst case is a mask falling during rollering and paint going in the wrong place. This can be wiped as best as possible, and the damage fixed with grey paint later.
Apart from this issue, everything else seems correct. Today was rainy, much more rainy than Tuesday, yet the wall was dry enough and conditions fine. Everything is ready.
I did note that the masonry paint was not recommended for wood, only brick walls, yet this was the paint I was informed to use - I had intended to use exterior emulsion paint, or an artist quality paint. Many times in the past, when working for someone, I seem to know the correct thing, to form the correct plans, materials, and methods; yet I end up submitting to higher authorities even though I know they are wrong. This is a constant dilemma when having a boss; being told to do the wrong thing the wrong way. Doing it, knowing it's wrong, then being blamed when it's done and doesn't work.
Well, what can I do. I'm sure the paint will suffice, and I believe that this is the sort of paint on the wall as it is now.
My primary, if not only concern, is the mask adhesion. I will not be able to apply two coats as recommended because it is also recommended to remove masking when the paint is wet. I can't remove the masks and paint it again!
In the afternoon, I added the vocal to Cat Covid. What a great song! Sometimes I write the same song several times. Hitler in High Heels is somewhat like Robot, which is somewhat like I'm In Love With My Car, but this isn't like those. It reminds me a bit of Take On Me by AHA, but only because it has a stroked guitar in the first few seconds. Generally speaking, Cat Covid has much more energy and surrealistic panache. The closely layered vocals have a Beatles-like effect.
Thus the day ends. Tomorrow I'll work on the Gunstorm 1 and Gunstorm 2 update.
