We were walking down our driveway the other day, and were greeted by this unwelcome sight. Just across the wash was a brand new, big blue and black piece of graffiti. On a (formerly) beautiful granite boulder.
Now, I'm an admirer of graffiti on walls of derelict buildings and trains. I know, it's not exactly legal and it's bad to damage other people's property, but some of it is incredibly beautiful, nonetheless. Graffiti in a natural location is something different altogether. In my humble opinion. And this wasn't even great graffiti.
After Jim made a phone call to the local sheriff, and we both spent a couple days stewing, I decided to take action. First step: look in my studio for various noxious solvents. I landed on lacquer thinner. Yes, I know this is not the best chemical for the environment. I was very careful to apply it to small areas, and then scrub away with my scrub brush. What I ended up with was a big blue blob. And blue hands (yes, I forgot to wear gloves). In the photo above, I've begun to apply paint to the blue blob.
While the blue blob was a signal to the "graffiti artists" that their handiwork wasn't going to be left living around me, it was still really ugly. Well, maybe even uglier. So I got my Golden acrylics and mixed up some batches of rock like colors. I applied them with a spatula. Some water and paper towels helped with smearing the paint around.
The disguised blue blob.
Back to normal. Thanks to Jim for the photographs of this endeavor. Perhaps I can add it to my portfolio and hire myself out as a graffiti buster!
P.S. A friend told me (too late) about a tagger cleaner that is non-toxic. Next time (and I hope there isn't a next time, I'll find and try this stuff.
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