Vincent Van Gogh said: “I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” Both certainly apply here:

 

There are lots of things to love about Oregon. One of them is METRO PAINT!!!!   It is recycled and remanufactured from unused paint Oregon citizens turn in from homes and businesses. Soooooooooo…when we were ready for our Pitney Paint Party, we live so close to Portland, we went directly to the Metro Paint plant at 4825 N Basin Ave, Portland, OR 97217 (phone: 503-234-3000).

We stuffed 24 gallons in our trunk and headed for the party. By the way, this would be a great place to go on a field trip. Look at all the colors! METRO PAINT is truly one of Oregon’s best-kept secrets!

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The recycled paint is a produce offered by METRO a regional government, steered by a council of elected councilors, serving the 3-county region of Portland, Oregon and surrounds. They are responsible for everything from land conservation and sustainable development to the Portland Zoo. Metro oversees 17,000 acres of parks and trails. It manages solid waste and recycling for the region.

That’s where Metro Paint comes in. Across Oregon, you can take your unused cans of paint to any paint dealer. It travels to the Metro Paint plant in Portland where it is remanufactured into 17 colors of interior/exterior latex paints plus a few whites and creams. The colored paints are 100% recycled. The whites and creams at least 50%. Metro also has a paint mixing guide which will help you take the 17 colors and combine them to make over thirty different color choices.

We first started buying Metro from Bring Recycling in Eugene 15 years ago. It is now available at most Fred Meyer and Miller Paint stores in the greater Portland/Vancouver area and select stores in 24 other cities across Oregon and Washington and Idaho. Beside being some of the finest paint we’ve ever used, it costs $12 a gallon!!! SERIOUSLY $12!!!

Erin and Amy joined us on Saturday morning and we attacked those brand new walls. Our mission: two complete coats in two days transforming the walls:

And what could be more satisfying than painting? Hours of smokeless pleasure and instant gratification with a brush and a roller.

Of course a Painting Party is only a lame excuse to eat lunch with daughters in the living room with no worries about spilling ketchup on the couch or guacamole on on the love seat. And eating paint is almost encouraged.

But ultimately everything comes back to cookies and going back up the ladder with chocolate chips still on your breath.

Don’t you love these intimate portraits? A middle school math teacher with paint on her nose and the perfect reflection of a high school special ed teacher in windowglass, singing the Indigo Girls “Closer To Fine.”

I’m not sure where we found this fellow. He appears to be doing battle with something on the ceiling!

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But when all is said and done, the import thing is that we still respect each other. Right?

And, after emptying 4 buckets and one can of paint, we’re still in love

What’s not to like about that? (Did I tell you it’s only $12 dollars a gallon?)

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