My first mural

I've been painting since I could form memories but this year 2022 I completed my very first mural (and received my very first hate message!)

Before:

The scene

was an upstairs bathroom in a University Place home. The family had recently moved in and they wanted to begin to make the place feel like their own. The bathroom is for their young son. They requested an ocean reef. They had originally looked for stickers/decals but they had peeled off the wall too easily with the moisture of the bathroom.

On their hunt for an artist, they landed on me because they trusted that my style would lean more realistic rather than cartoonish. I'm thankful they trusted me as I let them know this would be my first time. The homeowner told me when I had finished, that she had chosen me because I had told her "this is my first time but I'm 100% confident I'll be able to do it." I guess confidence really is key.

The process

I used Behr wall paint from the hardware store. I chose a high gloss so that in the future it would be easy to clean and resistant to water. I bought only one small sample of each of he chosen colors but it was enough. I didn't use up any of the colors completely. The homeowners also provided the original wall paint which was helpful for doing touch ups.

I started with a sketch of my plan. I used my lightest color and carefully blocked out the reef. If I had used pencil it would have been very difficult to cover with paint.

I used an ipad to look back at reference photos of reefs. This project is different then a lot of my work, I let myself have more room for creative liberty. I didn't have the time to make it exact so I used photos more as a jumping off point rather than to copy.

And so on

This mural took a lot more time than I anticipated. It was partially due to scheduling (the only time available for the homeowners was about 1-2 a week). But mostly I just underestimated how big walls are even if the room is pretty small. The paint also really needed 3 layers which I didn't anticipate.

The end

It was so wonderful working for this family. They were so sweet and accommodating. Their new born baby even came a week early so I could meet him. 10/10 would do again.

Oh also when I posted my work as a video with the sentiment that great things take time to make, a really rude human commented this:

Which honestly just made my day. No one has ever been rude to me on the internet. It's kind of an honor.

See the video here.

And another video about it here.