Paducah, if you wanna you can rhyme it with bazooka

There is a wall in the dining room that is huge, behind the cabinets and SCREAMS for a mural.  John told me one of our first nights here that he could see me doing artwork up there, so yeah, the challenge was made, I had to think of ideas.

I wanted something unique, something that people would say "WOW" and something no one expected.

I thought about old-timey signs, a whole bunch of them painted all over the wall to look like the wall was covered in signs.  Good idea, but not what I needed.  Then I thought about a diner scene, but I decided that needed to be in colors like pink, and neon and I wanted more earthy tones.  I decided that I love the Paducah song, I have always loved the Paducah song, and I needed Carmen Miranda in my everyday life.  I went with the vintage Paducah Postcard look, modernizing it into the things that we loved and not something everyone else thinks about. I started with the basic vintage look and in the letters added things WE LOVE about Paducah.  Of course the first thing added was Carmen (if you haven't seen The Gang's All Here, please do).  Next was the Atomic City. I really like how the city was toted as The Atomic City when all this space-age stuff was new and hip.  The "U" is full of things we love (mostly to eat), and I left room for a couple more things.  I had to include Wacinton, The American Queen, Coke Plant, and The Columbia too!  The "H" is full of things we like in the surrounding area and a little bit of Alben Barkley, who really needed a letter all to himself, but I just couldn't find a way to get it done.  Lastly, I added the Quilt City because we are the capital of all the quilts these days. 

I am absolutely in love with the way it turned out.  Next up, is another mural and a window so stay tuned.