By Larry Lamb
The re-painting of the Monastery originally started about three years ago. A team of many dedicated volunteers started scraping and sanding all of the window and door frames. The large shrine room windows received an extra treatment of epoxy on the outside and, once everything was prepared, we started painting. The windows and doors looked incredible when we were finished. The new paint around the doors and windows showed off how much the rest of the building really needed a fresh coat of paint.
In early 2011, at one of the Sakya Monastery board meetings, permission was given to hire a painting contractor. We were also informed that His Holiness Sakya Trizin would be visiting Seattle and giving teachings at the Monastery and other venues. What a great opportunity to have the Monastery really looking new!
It was decided to start the preparation, and painting in early July, with an estimated completion time of 3 to 4 weeks, this would work out very nicely for the timing of H.H. Sakya Trizin’s visit.
The crew from DeWalt Construction arrived on July 11, and set to work pressure washing, and preparing the outside of the Monastery for painting. Melinda DeWalt, the owner of the company, brought out some paint samples for H.H. Dagchen Rinpoche to choose from. They painted three large patches of different tones of yellow near the stupa. Once Dagchen Rinpoche decided on the color, ‘sunflower yellow’, the painting crew set to work masking and painting.
With Dagchen Rinpoche’s guidance, the painting of the Monastery could not have gone any smoother. The whole process fell into place as things progressed. It was truly a great experience being involved in the project from the very beginning, all the way to the end. Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped with the project. It is so wonderful to see our beautiful Monastery looking so fresh, and to know that it is protected from the elements for years to come.