I am a Painter after all
When I first went away to college, I got a job as a painter. It was not my favorite job. I painted in a chicken processing plant with smells that…. well, let’s just say it wasn’t like working in a spa.
I remember painting epoxy once and getting so high I started crying and then laughing uncontrollably. I had no protection, no respirator; when I left that job, I told myself I would never be a painter again.
I ended up leaving college and joining the US Coast Guard. I was stationed on a small ship that patrolled the California coast, and I soon found out that painting was much more of my daily routine than saving people. I learned what “Green Death” and Red Lead” were. Painting in confined spaces with no protection often made me dizzy and gave me headaches. Saltwater is not kind to paint on boats that spend their days and nights in salt water. Painting is always necessary when it comes to boats.
I learned that just painting white on a boat was not good enough. It took a lot of preparation to make sure the metal didn’t rust and, when it did, how to get it back to the way it was supposed to be with extensive preparation before actually painting.
During those first couple of years in the USCG, I had to move into cheap rentals (it turns out the military doesn’t pay so well when you first sign up), which meant having to fix up places, and I always found myself painting again. It turned out that I was pretty good at cutting in and painting houses.
But I still didn’t like it.
Years later, while in the USCG, I was assigned to a team that took people from different jobs to deal with aircraft corrosion. What it meant was that I had to clean, strip, and paint aircraft to fight the corrosion that always happens to aircraft that hover over saltwater.
Luckily, my experience and being at a higher rank allowed me to finally push back against painting without protection. I demanded we be given respirators, gloves, and overalls to limit our exposure to these dangerous paints and fumes.
I learned even more about preparation and how to keep the metal on the aircraft in pristine condition successfully.
Here I go again
Recently, I moved into a new house, and once again, this place needed some help. I figured it would take a day to prep and a day to paint, but eight days later, I was still prepping and painting. As I peeled back the paint, I found more and more issues that needed to be resolved before being able to paint.
I was prepping a metal door (that had been rusting) with a red oxide paint, and it brought me back to my days when I was using “Red Lead” in the USCG (you cannot forget that smell) and I started thinking back to all the times I ended up painting in my life. For someone who never wanted to paint again, following my summer job in college, I reflected on a life full of painting experiences as I was prepping that door and priming it with this familiar paint.
I realized that painting was like life, and I learned a few things:
Preparation matters. If you try to use shortcuts in painting, you will end up spending more time later on fixing the job that wasn’t done right the first time.
This holds true in life. Shortcuts rarely result in less time and often come back to haunt you in life. Take the time to do it right the first time, and you will be pleased with the results.
There is no such thing as a one-coat paint. You always have to use two coats. Always. Trying to roll on a paint thicker to save the time of putting on a second coat will never look as good.
We often want to believe that we can put in less effort and achieve the same results, but successes require more than one step to reach our goals. Take all the steps needed; the results will represent your hard work.
Personal Protection. Early in, I did a lot of painting without personal protection and felt the effects of toxic fumes and paint. Luckily, I learned to protect myself, and I made sure my coworkers were using protection as well to make sure we did not suffer long-term effects.
When I started out in this lifestyle, many people did not use protection, which is now more commonplace. As we learn more about the risks and dangers of STIs, the more I realize that personal protection is not really a choice; it is a must.
Buying quality equipment matters. I used to buy cheap brushes, roller pads, and drop cloths that were barely better than saran wrap. I quickly discovered that the better brushes gave me consistent cutting ability, and I didn’t need painter’s tape (another expense) if I used better brushes.
This is true when it comes to our cars, our computers, our phones, and the equipment we use for production. Often, “you get what you pay for” is true, and spending a little more on quality will end up saving you money in the long run.
Cleanup is essential. So many people drop their brushes in the paint overnight. They try to wrap their rollers in saran wrap instead of washing them. The time it takes to clean up after yourself will save you a lot of money and time.
When the painting is done, the job is not over until everything is cleaned and put away. This is always the hardest part because we always want to be done when everything looks complete, but there is always work to be done to truly finish the job.
In the end, I finally accepted that I am a painter after all. I have learned a lot about painting and life through these experiences, and I am okay with that.
In life, we wear a lot of different hats, and having on a painter’s cap will ensure you don’t end up with paint in your hair.