The Butter Stick
In 2024, I painted this shipping container in Warren, VT like a stick of butter.
It all started in the group chat.
Every year, my friends organize Butterfest, a “celebration of the fat of the land and the richness of being together.” It’s a big party at Cloud Water Farm. For us, butter is a symbol of all that’s good–abundance, richness, sustenance. Every year, we make a lot of butter-themed art. We paint a lot of things yellow and gold.
I got to it.
I’d never painted a mural before. I had never used a paint sprayer before. I figured it out.
I mocked it up.
I used Procreate to mock-up the lettering and lay a grid on top. I created the same grid on the shipping container using a chalkline. This allowed me to get the lettering (mostly) right by taking it one square at a time.
Satisfying.
The name of the yellow paint color was, in fact, “Butter.”
I just wanted to make my friends laugh.
The butter stick is viewable from Route 100 in Warren. It seems to delight people. It’s become something of a local landmark. This makes me happy.
