Capillary action- Fence painting

"Ms R lives with bipolar and has been ripped off by the people she paid to help. This has really unsettled and upset her and she feels that she can't move on". After introducing myself to Ms R, she set about briefing me as to the task at hand. The 3 panels became 4 now on closer inspection looked very dry, warped and already carrying a very prominent terracotta finish, which Ms R wanted painted a shade of grey. Armed with paint, brush and masking tape I set about the task. With the panels being so old and dry just 'sucked' in an amount of paint applied. After applying atleast three coats before being able to see any difference with the existing strong terracotta coat. Needless to say with the inclement weather and extremely dry panels I was only able to ' complete' two of the four panels to a reasonable standard before the rain came down heavier. I managed to use close to 2.5litres of paint on just the two panels, which goes to show how dry they to start with...!. Having informed Ms R (via her partner)that the panels would definitely require another coat or two so as to really bring up the colour she was looking for. I shortly took my leave... Ramon