Scenic Mural Art — Our Work Approach

Since we work over an entire wall in successive layers, free access to the whole surface is important. Scaffolding and ladders are slow and cumbersome. Lift trucks and booms are preferable. Since most murals are painted in conjunction with new construction, scheduling the murals is critical. Dust, mud, excessive noise, toxic fumes, falling sparks and competition for space, electricity and use of the lifts make doing good art pretty difficult. As a rule of thumb, if the parking lot is not paved, the port-a-potties gone and hard hats optional, it's probably too soon to schedule the murals.

Any faux rock work or tree trunks adjacent to the murals should be done and painted before we arrive so we can match to them unless they would take up the only floor space available for the lift. So if plantings, deadfalls and props should follow up it they'd be blocking access but ideally should be on site for matching purposes.

Smooth surfaces are essential. If not drywall, a plaster skim coat without trowel marks is acceptable. There's no way to disguise the shadows cast by grout lines in CMU and brick walls so we don't recommend painting on them. We ask that a primer coat of paint in a color specified by us be applied by regular painter before hand. They're cheaper. It's also important that all metallic hardware such as knobs and hinges be primed with XIM or equivalent. We can't really paint on air, so it's important that all doors be installed and primed before we arrive.

Having permanent water and power hooked up eliminates endless trips to the breaker box and working out of buckets. Being able to work in the final lighting conditions under which the murals will be seen is ideal. Building temperatures should be stable because cold walls cause the paint to run.

Finally, we're pretty flexible and responsive to input but conflicting directions from a committee who can't agree is pretty tough. We need one voice to critique the work and provide a sign off. Our goal is to leave every client with a broad smile of satisfaction.