Creations spring from brush to garage, to driveway

Dale Armani would be the first to admit that it's a little bizarre to paint murals on his driveway and the wall of his garage.

A country scene, rendered in acrylic paint, went up in the garage three years ago. Then, a few months ago, he painted a sprawling tree on the asphalt driveway of his Robinson home.

Doesn't he worry about ridicule from neighbors or passers-by?

"You have to make your home comfortable," he explains.

Fair enough. But doesn't he worry about sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb in this age 55-plus community of manufactured homes in Pittsburgh?

Hold on. His wife, Carol, will answer that one.

"I live with a crazy artist, so you gotta love it," she says, shaking her head in mock despair.

Then she grins, revealing how she really feels about the paintings: "He never ceases to amaze me."

Faith Lee Saber, a longtime friend who lives in a meticulously maintained ranch across the street, is one who doesn't seem to mind the muted splashes of color decorating the driveway.

"It looks nice, real nice," she says, adding, "It's different."

Art's inspiration can be born most anywhere, but in Armani's case, it grew out of a lifelong love affair with drawing and painting. He was the kid who was always doodling on something. As a baby, he even created pictures on the wall next to his crib, his mom says. You don't want to know what he used for paint.

"She just knew I was going to grow up to be an artist!" he quips.

It wasn't until after he was injured in the Vietnam War, however, that he decided to make a career of it.

Art therapy, which allows people to express their feelings creatively through art, was just coming into vogue during the 1970s, and Armani happened to know someone who was employed in the field, Dr. Judith Ruben. As a member of the American Art Therapy Association, he got a job at Woodville State Hospital in Bridgeville, Pa. He stayed for 28 years, retiring in 1992.

"Art is a way to open the doors," he explains. "And it keeps you so intrigued."

Open-heart surgery and the need for a simpler lifestyle brought Armani, 63, and his wife, a retired psychiatric nurse, to their current home six years ago.

At first, the simple, clean lines of their manufactured home suited the couple just fine. They turned a work room at the back of house into an art studio and installed a stone patio off the back to provide a place to paint in the open. Then, continually itchy to create, Armani turned his sights on the unfinished garage.

Using a door-sized screen as a jumping off point, he simply started painting. What sprang from his brushes over the next three days was a bucolic farm scene with a thatched-roof cottage and bubbling brook.

When the mural was completed, the garage looked more like an extra room than a place for cars. So they added a pair of wicker rockers and a table. Armani also hung a beloved Frank Webb painting on the opposite wall. The couple spend most afternoons and evenings listening to the radio or reading in the garage-turned-den.

This spring, Armani decided the mural -- which is visible to the public only when the garage door is open -- needed a proper introduction. And what better segue than a giant tree on the driveway?

He got permission first from the development's front office. When he was done, he added a sealer to protect it from the elements.

Carol Armani says friends and neighbors are already asking what her husband is planning next.

"And I tell them, don't ever say never."