With his hand on his chin, Michael McNabney struck a pose and stood far back from the mural, not liking too much what is emerging on the wall of Juliet W. Long Elementary School in Gales Ferry.

The latest color, pink, is not quite right.

But he needs to consult, so he turns to his painting partners, the children in grades three through six who are have been painting in different sections of the abstract mural McNabney drew on the wall with sidewalk chalk. The mural, titled “flow,” is 37 feet long and seven feet high, and has enlivened a rectangular wall that was previously cement.

“What do you think of the pink?” he asks a cluster of children donned in smocks.

He is greeted with some reticence, so he adds: “there is no wrong answer.” Some children like the pink; others suggest yellow, yet others vie for purple.

“Part of the process is to stop and think,” the New London artist tells the children, who come out in small groups for their turn to paint, shepherded by the school art teacher, Holly David, and a parent volunteer, April Martindale. The collective consensus was that the pink, which was covering large swirls of white, was not the warm color they were looking for. A rich gold is poured into a pan.

As a new group of children settles in, smocks on, the art teacher, Holly David, looked at them and said, “you get to be the erasers.” The three boys pitched in, covering up the pink with white while another contingent of children painted a section the rich yellow.

“I’m glad we went through the experimental phase. It’s nice to have them see when things don’t work out they can be fixed,” mused McNabney.

McNabney attained a grant from the state Office of the Arts and was also given additional funding from the Juliet W. Long PTO. All of the school’s 286 students will have a hand in the project, which is painted solely by them filling in the outline drawn by McNabney.

“We’ve been working on the theme of innovation,” said principal Anne Hogsten, who came out to see the progress. “And we’ve talked about how failure can be good sometimes – it helps you in life. Failures are life lessons that take you to the next level.”

The project is adding not only a splash of color to the rectangular wall, it is also imparting a sense of harmony with its abstract, non-linear design that evokes both a sense of harmony and turbulence. To date, no one has walked by and asked “what is it supposed to be?” notes the art teacher, David.

The design was chosen over another proposal of a representational mural that would depict continents.

For their part, the children are delighted and excited to create a community work of art that will leave their contribution as a sort of legacy, something the sixth graders, in particular, are enjoying as they are moving on to the middle school next year, said David.

“The most important thing is that they are involved in something large in size and that it’s public and permanent,” said David.

In terms of art education, the project is meeting its desired goals. The children are learning about color, abstract art and, most important, artistic process. “I asked Michael to think out loud, so they can hear decisions being made,” said David.

As the painting winds down, McNabney eyes the splash of gold in the far right corner. It has the same rich, riotous color of a dandelion, and also possesses the potential to usurp the harmony of the composition with its dramatic presence. It is decided it will not stay, and will return, again, to the spacious white swirls.

One of the thoughts that Michael shares on the process is that “art is like life, trial and error.”

The mural is located outside the cafeteria’s walls, and is protected under an overhang from the elements. This walkway is well traveled, and the mural has a place of prominence in the school.

“I think it will be a conversation piece,” said Hogsten. And that conversation, noted parent volunteer April Martindale, could continue well into the future.

“It’s a community thing. Maybe some will drive by with their own kids years from now and say, ‘I painted that in 2017.’”