Mural Painting 101
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Ranked #2,660 in Arts , #60,518 overall | Donates to Squidoo Charity Fund, All Golf's Kids
Welcome to Mural Painting 101
Murals can be a fun way to brighten up a room, and/or to get lost in some scenery.
They can take up a whole wall or a portion of the wall.
Mural I painted on our dining room wall
The first mural I painted was in our basement. Then I painted another, and another. Then I painted one on our dining room wall. My confidence and bravery were expanding. The Plan
Here is the process I used when I painted this mural at a local establishment.
My first plan was to get ideas from the people there. I left two sign up lists; one was of desired items to be in the mural, the second one was for favorite colors..From those lists, I went to work on a sketch. Given the area I had to work in, I decided on a 5' high by 6' wide mural. I made a sketch 5" high by 6" wide to keep the dimensions the same.
Drawing it on the wall
I used watercolor pencils for drawing the picture on the wall. I find them helpful in that they can easily be wiped off with a damp paper towel afterwards, and/or easily be painted over. They also provide an easy color scheme to follow.
The base coat
Once I got the drawing sketched in, I used a base coat of the preliminary colors. For the larger sections, I used a sponge to apply the base coat with. When painting with acrylics, I always wet the sponge and/or brush first, squeeze out the excess water, before dipping it in the paint.A quick time saving tip that I've found helpful, especially for successive coats, is to mix my artist varnish in with the paint, before applying it to the wall, instead of applying the varnish separately afterwards.
The next layer
After the base coating, I then added my acrylic varnish mix using brushes, sponges, etc., whatever was appropriate for what I was painting. Part of determining what was appropriate is asking, how close to the foreground is it. The closer to the foreground, the more visible the details. So with distanct trees, sponges were great. For finish details of close up grass, a fan brush gave great results.The painting is looking smoother and coming more alive.
Completing the second layer and adding more details
As I applied successive coats, I kept working forward, from the sky and mountains, coming down to the forefront. I changed colors as the second layers were added, providing more depth and dimension. As one area was drying, I worked on details in another, i.e. various shades of yellow were added to the flowers as well as stems. I added visible trees that are nearer to the viewer, the more distant trunks being darker, the mountains now definitely appear in the background. I also decided on a group of trees right behind the horses instead of a single tree to the right.Note, the color of the trees in this picture are a little different from the actual painting; they are actually various shades of green in the painting, not silvery looking. That's from the camera affect.
The mural is completed
I have added trees to both sides, finished all the second layers, added details to the animals, and a fence which also gives more of a sense of distance and interest.
The white horse has blotches of gray which also adds some more visual interest, and can be seen in the actual mural.
May you have found some helpful information.
Mural Artist for Morgantown, WV:
Favorite Mural Painting Books
For the artist in you: Would you like to paint a mural?
Projection Stenciling by Linda Buckingham
<p>Projection stenciling is a new me more...0 points
Shop for art supplies
Have any comments and/or tips you'd like to share, post them here.
CherylK wrote...
I've painted murals on the bedroom walls of several grandchildren. It's just really fun and they love it. You've done a nice job with this lens, Cheryl. Seems funny to be sending a message to someone else named Cheryl - and spelled the same way, too!
Posted May 26, 2009
BuffaloKid wrote...
I've always wanted to do a public mural. But, while I'm waiting, maybe I'll ask my wife if I can have a wall in the house. :) Very good lens here. I enjoyed it.
Posted April 13, 2009
Stazjia wrote...
This is another of your useful lenses for newcomers to art or a particular area of art. Welcome to the Art & Design Group.
Posted March 14, 2009
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About Me
Lensmaster CreativeArtist, aka Cheryl Paton, has been a member since January 11 2006, has rated 449 lenses, favorited 36, and has created 118 lenses from scratch. Cheryl Paton donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund and All Golf's Kids. This member's top-ranked page is "Acrylic Painting Techniques". See all my lenses
My Bio
Cheryl Paton is a wife, mother, and positive artist, with varied inerests. Cheryl started her art business, Creative Brushstrokes, LLC, in 2006. Her designs are purchased online at www.zazzle.com/CherylsArt*/ on stamps, t-shirts, aprons, ties, and more.
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Mural Painting Blog Posts from Google
- Thai Mural Painting Vol. 1 by Gerhard Jaiser
- Thai Mural Painting Vol. 1: Iconography-Analysis-Guide by Gerhard Jaiser.
- Mural-painting begins in Pontiac « Route 66 News
- One of the murals will feature a Route 66 theme, on the wall of DeLongs' Casual Dining at 201 N. Mill St. The Walldogs should be done with the murals by Sunday. Here are the murals they are painting. Some of them are quite ornate. ...
- The City of Avalon | A Tears to Tiara Fan Site : Episode Summary ...
- However, Arthur remained rooted to the ground, unable to gaze away from the mural painting as a new seed has been planted. Noticing that Arthur is not following, Arawn asked Arthur what's wrong. The top warrior hesitated but he told ...
Mural Painting Twitter Search
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- IchigoBANKAI1
- Internship @ ACLU Of CA and I'll get paid 8.50 an hour, 10 hours a week and I work 5 weeks. Start Mon. I also got 200$ for painting a mural
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- westpittstonlib
- Next week's activity is painting a community mural. All ages will participate in painting a piece of the mural.
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- artquestschool
- Prepping the horse trailer tonight for 4 hour ride tomorrow. Got a little painting done today on my mural for children's grief and loss ctr
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- ReginaHolliday
- Transparency/patient's rights in Health Care Reform. While painting Mural spoke to a staffer; she will give my card to her congressman.
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- Crysistall
- Today I will sit in my pool, finish my rough draft for a mural I'm painting, shower, then run round all night with 3 kids.
This lens participates in the
by CreativeArtist
Painting is a fun way to color our world! To see more options of Cheryl's Art, visit www.zazzle.com/cherylsart*/.
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