Charlene’s Garden Mural: Project Creation and Tips

By sharing this project breakdown I aim to:

1. empower creators with information and inspiration to apply to their own projects

2. provide information and inspiration to individuals who are curious about hiring creative work

Beginning of the Project

In October 2022, Randy texted me that his friend Charlene wanted a flower mural in her garden. Randy had come to one of my Paint and Sip classes a year ago and later commissioned me to paint several pet portraits for him.

I replied I was interested, and he gave me her number. I talked to Charlene on the phone to introduce ourselves and plan a time for us to meet. I met Charlene at her house to discuss the project and check out the wall she wanted the mural on.

After our meeting, I was busy doing other projects for the next couple of months. Winter arrived and friendly mural weather had passed. Over the winter I did mural research on the web for various projects. At that time, my only “mural” experience had been painting two signal boxes for the City of Reno using fine art Golden acrylic paints earlier that year.

By June 2023, I had two more small murals under my belt. Charlene contacted me asking if I was still interested in doing her project, and I picked a morning and headed over with my supplies.

Below are pictures of the brick walls I would be painting on.

 Surface Preparation

I totally underestimated the costs and labor demands that the preparation of the wall ended up requiring.

When I quoted Charlene in our initial visit in October ($750), I lacked the knowledge and critical thinking skills to assess that painting on this old crumbling brick surface, sprayed by the lawn sprinklers each morning, would require more work than my experiences painting on new, smooth prepared walls.

Initially, going into this project, I expected to scrape off the old peeling paint and paint my mural right onto the brick surface. It was only while I was a couple days into scraping paint that it struck me like lightning that that wasn’t feasible. I considered how the mortar between the bricks was so far gone on this wall that paint wouldn’t be able to cover up all the gaps and cracks.

When brick gets wet, it absorbs the water, causing the brick to expand. If the brick is painted and water gets underneath the paint, it will result in the paint cracking and peeling over time. I needed the masonry wall to be intact to ensure no water could seep into the brick.

I would have to fill in the wall’s large cracks with cement, as well as seal it with a masonry waterproofer, filling and smoothing the porous surface of the brick, if this mural was to be done correctly. The other side of the brick wall – which would not have the mural – would also need to be cemented and waterproofed to keep the mural safe.

When I first had these thoughts occur, I drove home from the site and sat outside, dumbstruck, while I pondered how I was going to talk to Charlene about this. I knew there would be a lot of extra work involved to do this project the right way. We discussed, and I agreed to do the work for an extra $250, rather than calling it quits on the project, because I knew I would grow substantially as a person and an artist if I chose to learn these new skills. I felt excited about the prospect of the strange challenge, so I committed to repairing the wall.

Over the course of two weeks, I bought five 4-pound buckets of Drylok Fast Plug Hydraulic Cement from Harbor Freight and four 1-gallon buckets of Drylok Concrete and Masonry Waterproofer at Home Depot, for a total of $180.

It turned out to be tough physical labor, but I enjoyed music and audiobooks as I scraped old peeling paint, wire brushed, hosed down the wall, mixed cement, climbed up and down a ladder, patched and smoothed cracks and holes, and applied primer to all three walls, back and front.

Lead Paint

It was also only after I had spent two days covering myself with paint dust and flakes, drinking water and iced tea from open glasses, eating apples with my unwashed hands, and not wearing any eye protection or particle masks, that I thought to ask Charlene about when the last time this wall was painted.

The law prohibiting the use of lead in paint was passed in 1978. They had moved into this house in 1976, painting the wall around that time, though they weren’t sure exactly which year it had been. Regardless, they shared that the wall had been painted before they painted over it themselves. Thus, I very likely ingested and inhaled lead those two days. I was horrified when I realized this. I did feel sick and lethargic for days after learning this information, but that may have been placebo (the power of the mind) — if you think you should feel unwell, you will feel unwell.

Did you know Bob Ross died of cancer at 52 years old, suspected to be caused by the paint thinner he used? It’s not a secret that painters have higher rates of cancers, autoimmune diseases, and other illnesses that originate from exposure to their materials. Even if paint, primer, cement, etc. do not have lead in them, there are many, many chemicals toxic to our health in these products and their fumes. After I learned about my lead exposure, I vowed to take these products seriously, wearing glasses/goggles, masks/respirator, and gloves. Even my fine art acrylic and oil paints have cadmium, a heavy metal toxic to humans, in them, and for many years I thought nothing of these paints getting on my skin. In the future when I work on any surface, I’ll now think about when it was made and consider any hazardous materials I will be coming into contact with.

 Drop Cloths

I quickly learned that using drop cloths and taping the surrounding area to protect objects and adjacent structures is crucial. Anything that paint and cement can get on will get on. Even if you are careful.

I used two large cloth drop cloths throughout the project. They were essentially old bed sheets. What I failed to consider is that cloth is permeable, and that meant that large paint spills seeped through my drop cloths in some instances. The ground in Charlene’s backyard is brick cobblestone, which meant I could not scrape off the spilled paint from the masonry surface that absorbed it. I ended up painting over any obnoxious paint drops or spills with a matching color to the brick, which worked well to cover up the stains. I will be using tarps and plastic drop cloths in the future, as well as very carefully taping them down into place.

Formal Project Planning

Charlene and I had a rather casual dynamic, so neither of us brought up a project contract or proposal. In hindsight, if I had typed up a formal proposal at the start, it would have saved me stress and money.

We had a miscommunication about the size/extent of the mural. I was under the impression that she only wanted the mural on the center wall. She wanted it to cover all three of the brick walls. If I had presented her with a quick sketch before the project start, I would have learned she wanted two additional walls painted. I stumbled upon that information from chatting with her husband two weeks into the project!

Now that I know approximately how much paint and time it takes me to paint a large-scale mural, I can budget accordingly for future projects. I had low expectations for making a profit on this mural because I knew I was both stepping into the unknown and investing in new paint and products.

I spent $500 at Home Depot buying a gallon each of Behr Exterior Semigloss blue, red, yellow, black, and a 5 gallon bucket of white. I only used about half a gallon of each color, and 1-2 gallons of the white. I spent about $50 on various supplies like rollers, trays, trowels, face masks, etc. The total painted dimensions were 7.5 x 24 feet for a total surface area of 180 feet.

If I were approached with this same project now, knowing what I know, I would ask for $1400. One of the challenges of being a creator is toeing the line of asking enough for fair compensation for work but not so much that you push the work away.

Design and Implementation

Charlene explained to me that her garden is her passion and her art. She envisioned this mural to be an extension of her garden.

She was hands-off with the design. She wanted me to use my expertise to create a unique work of art. The guidance she offered was that she wanted bright colors and flowers, of course. “You know what I like. I trust you,” Charlene responded when I probed for more direction. I picked up that she liked the color orange, whimsical art, positivity and love, birds, butterflies, sunflowers, vibrancy, faith, family, friends.

I did not make a rough draft or sketch for this project. I had a mental picture of what I would be painting, as well as several google-search references images that I printed and brought with me. This included fields of colorful poppies and daisies, Mount Rose, and sunsets.

I ended up completely throwing my initial ideas out the window when I started painting, listening to my intuition and what I call “leaning on God”. I was able to do this because I had not shared any design with Charlene; if I had, I wouldn’t go back on a plan set in place. I made efforts to trust myself and trust my creativity while I stepped out into the new territory of this project.

Most notably, the blue abstract background was an act of intuition that I feared I had taken too much liberty with on the day I created it. I worried Charlene wouldn’t like it. I had to remind myself to trust in the process. Every painter knows you cannot judge the result of a painting when it is 20% completed. Sometimes a painting only comes together, comes alive, in the final 10% of effort.

I then took it flower by flower, painting what I thought would look good at each spot, and watched the mural begin to blossom.

Because I had created such a vibrant, cool blue background, I saw I would need to paint mostly, if not only, warm-colored flowers (reds, yellows, pinks, oranges, and purples) to offset the blue and white. Blue and orange are opposite colors on the color wheel and therefore complement each other.

I originally planned to paint a bright blue butterfly. I instead painted an orange Monarch butterfly. You can see how a choice like that can make a big difference.

Miscellaneous Tips and Discoveries

I have found mural painting to be easier than fine art. I would advise interested individuals to try it.

The secret to making art is just to do it. Just try.

Using a paint roller with an extended handle was a game changer in covering more surface in less time and effort. I highly recommend investing in extended handles.

Over the three weeks, I reminded myself:

“No matter what, I’ll keep working on it until it’s successful. You do what it takes, whatever it takes.”

“I’m doing this for Charlene. This is not about me. This is about producing a work of art that she and her guests will enjoy for many years in her backyard.”

Everything is an opportunity to learn and grow.

At the start, there were wasps living in the cracks of the brick wall. They did not bother me while I was working around them, even sometimes very close to them. Eventually they would fly off, and I seized the opportunity to fill in their holes. They came back to check it out, and finding their holes filled, they left and did not return.

  Painting large surfaces under the hot sun is a physical effort. Painting a mural is taxing in a way that fine art is not.

  Mistakes, like accidentally getting red paint on a white section, is an easy fix. Wait for it to dry and paint over it!

Questions, concerns, or thoughts? Feel free to share them with me.

Are you interested in getting your own mural at your home or business?

Feel free to reach out!

I hope you got something helpful from this.

Thanks for reading! Happy creating!

Blair