Mural Question for Ruth

[CathyD]

Ruth you are fantastic! Thank you for all that you have shared on how to's for murals. I am about to embark on a small room, 3 walls, ceiling. I am going to follow your recomendations to the 'T' for paint and brushes ect. No sense wasting time when you have pioneered the way!
I have a couple of questions for you. You said you tint your colors with tube acrylics. Can you describe your paint preparation from mixing to what containers you use, and how do you keep them from drying out from day to day ( you mentioned pie tins). If you have described this in a thread already could your please refer me to it?
Also, do you use a palette of colors similiar to what you use for your regular paintings?

Thanks so much!
Cathy

[Ruth]

Thanks Cathy, and good for you for taking on a project like this!

I usually have a color sketch before I start. I get a pretty good idea of what colors the largest areas of the mural will be (blue sky, dark green shrubbery, etc., and have the paint store mix a quart of each in satin latex paint. I like Sherwin Williams Superpaint because it mostly covers with one coat and you don't have to keep going back over it.

I use basically the same colors as listed in my thread (link below) about my palette. I add Hooker's green (dark) if there's going to be a lot of greenery in the image.

I put my tube colors in a pan by themselves, and the latex colors in a pie pan by themselves. Another pan is for mixing. I just mix the latex colors and the tube acrylic colors as if they were all the same. I put the latex ones in a separate pan because they are more liquid and tend to spread out.

I paint the large areas in with the latex house paint. If I want clouds in the sky, I paint those in after the blue has dried, using an old beat-up brush and scrubbing it around.


Same old brush makes great foliage effects. Start with filling in the whole area with green, brownish-green, yellowish-green, dark green, bluish-green, etc., like making clouds.

Let all that underpainting dry, then go back and add some details. You can see this best in my thread about the country pond mural. Just a little bit of detail is enough to make the whole mess come together.

Good luck, and be sure to show us what you do!

Welcome to WC!

Ruth

[CathyD]

Thank you, Ruth. I appreciate the information. I have no idea how long this project will take me when it comes to actual painting time, so I am trying to not take any more time than necessary to get prepared.
You don't know how much time this has saved me already. I have only to make a shopping list instead of doing a lot of research first.

I will take progress photos and post them... this project is probably going to be spread out over 2 months because my full time job gets in the way.
:p
Hooray for Ruth, thanks!
Cathy

[inisheerstudio]

Thank you Ruth.....for a minute there while reading I almost thought I could do it! lol I would love to paint my bathroom some fantasy mural...I will not dare though. :D