#214 Pool Art

by Jamie Cassidy-Curtis

“I just have this feeling that we’re forgetting something,” I said. “Shouldn’t we drain the pool first?”

“That would waste a lot of water,” he said. “Sticky paints are designed for use underwater, remember? I just have to drag my painting to the bottom of the pool intact and apply it. Then we’ll have our own customized pool art!”

My husband had rejected standard pool art decals, saying they all look alike. To avoid the difficulties of handling brushes and paint cans underwater, he had painted his own design on a large sheet of plastic spread across our kitchen floor.

I looked at the painting, which was now between protective sheets of plastic that were floating on top of the pool water. It was a very pretty abstract design with lots of orange and cobalt blue shapes and black accents. The bright contrasting colors would look beautiful at the bottom of our pool.

“I’ll wear my scuba gear,” he said. “It’ll be safe.”

My husband put on his gear and jumped from the diving board. He overbalanced and landed flat on his back on the plastic sheets, which wrapped tightly around him as he sank. The impact caused most of the sticky paint to squirt out from between the sheets, where it got caught up in an enormous column of water that splashed everywhere.

Our son posted a video that went viral.

And that’s how we started the fad of lawn painting.