This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — On May 11, artists began painting the Rex floats white to prepare for Mardi Gras 2023.

The floats are painted white for artists to start their designs from scratch for the new theme each year.

Local artist Milan Rajevac began the process in the Rex Den on Wednesday.

Rajevac told WGNO that the process is fairly easy and takes about 3 days to white out the floats.

In April, Royal Artists Inc started the process of stripping the floats.

Rex has 20 theme floats that get painted each year according to Richard Valadie, the  President and Owner of Royal Artists Inc.

Nine of the floats will stay the same.

Stay up to date with the latest news, weather and sports by downloading the WGNO app on the Apple or Google Play stores and by subscribing to the WGNO newsletter.