Designing and Painting Murals E-Book

Gary Myatt

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

By their sheer size and ambition, murals can pose difficult and unique challenges for the artist. This practical book guides you through the process, from first choosing a design to applying the paint to the wall. Written by a leading artist, it covers the principles of artistic practice before explaining how to approach a large-scale project. Throughout, it shares the tips and tricks behind this most impressive of art forms. It covers in detail materials and equipment; colour theory and building a palette; planning a design; translating a sketch onto a large wall or canvas and it gives specific techniques including the use of stencils and trompe l'oeil. It guides you through the process from planning a design; understanding dimensions, composition and perspective and translating a sketch onto a large wall or canvas, and it will be an essential reference to artists, interior designers, theatre designers, scenic artists and entertainment venues. It is beautifully illustrated with 265 colour illustrations. Gary Myatt is a leading mural artist and his commissions take him around the world.

Leseprobe

DESIGNINGAND PAINTINGMURALS

Mural depicting drunken sailors playing strip poker. Hotel du Vin, Poole. 2.4 × 3.6m, oil on canvas.

DESIGNING AND PAINTING MURALS

GARY MYATT

CROWOOD

First published in 2019 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2019

© Gary Myatt 2019

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 574 9

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Amanda Bradshaw, without whose unflagging support a lot of the work documented in this book would not have happened.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 Materials and equipment

CHAPTER 2 Basic colour theory

CHAPTER 3 Composition and perspective

CHAPTER 4 Planning, research and reference material

CHAPTER 5 Stencils

CHAPTER 6 Trompe l’oeil

CHAPTER 7 Landscape

CHAPTER 8 Multi-figure compositions

Further Reading

Contributors

Index

Acknowledgements

I really appreciate all the help I’ve had over the years in making happen the many commissions I have produced, and I cannot let this opportunity pass without saying thank you to all the artists who have put in much of their time, produced excellent work, and put up with my demands, including: Amanda Bradshaw, Mel Holmes, Melinda Matyas, Sydna Younson, Kelly Anne Davitt, Rebecca Parkin, Lorna Roughneen, John MacGoldrick, Kathy Barker, Desmond Mac Mahon, Aylin Myumyunova, Nick Boulter, Noel Kelly, and Katia Potapova.

I would also like to express my gratitude to those who have commissioned these works, helped collate the references to be used in this book, and offered consultation in producing it. Thank you to Sir Peter Michael, Robin and Judy Hutson, Robert Cook, Martin Brudnizki, Jonathan Brook and all at Martin Brudnizki Design Studios, Lilly Newell, Zoe Haldane, Claire Beaumont and all at Annabel’s, Anne Sajeev, Santhosh Idicheria and all at Fragrant Nature, Ray Begley, Jonathan Livesey, Michael Benster, and all at Hotel du Vin/Malmaison, Danny Boggi at Marchio Design and Photography, John Biggins at Aerta Design, Anthony Misquitta, Maria Hipwell, Ravi and Anindita Gupta, Kevin and Olga Muscat, Tess Townsend, Vanessa Pethybridge, Julien Adams, Lisa Crewe Read, Claudia Dorrell, Mike Foster, Simon Herrema, Steven Spurrier, George Taber, Nige Young and Lorraine Clarke from Euroart Studios, Jonathan Coulthard, Matte Hulme, and last but certainly not least, Angelica Fernando.

Apologies to anyone I may have inadvert ently omitted.

Digitally manipulated presentation image for Misty Morning on the Thames mural.

Introduction

Throughout the many years I have worked as a mural artist I have learned, discovered, struggled to work out, and been fortunate enough to have passed on to me by those with more experience, a lot of tricks, tips and information that has helped me greatly improve my own practice as an artist. What I have set out to do here is impart to you as much of this as I can within the confines of one book. The book is divided into eight chapters, each of which is dedicated to a specific theme. The book begins by discussing the fundamentals of art practice and picture making, and continues to develop progressively, looking at more complex ideas and examples with each subsequent chapter.

I have demonstrated many of the methods and techniques with a series of step-by-step illustrations that will hopefully give clear advice to help you along the way. Equally instructive are the details regarding how best to approach certain subjects and problems, and the thought processes behind these approaches. As such the book deals as much with the ‘whys’ of designing and painting murals as with the ‘hows’ – information, when combined, I consider to be of great value to an artist making mural work.

Read the book; follow the illustrations; learn about the pros and cons; the dos and don’ts; and the general good guidance given, and see the big improvements in the quality of your own mural work as a result.

CHAPTER 1

Materials and equipment

Knowing what brushes, colours and medium to use is nothing but beneficial to making good work. (Photo: Danny Boggi)

Materials and equipment

In making murals a wide range of brushes are often used, including synthetic and natural bristles.

Painting murals is an engaging business. Working on such a large scale can be quite stimulating; holding the promise of excitement and challenge. It can also be quite demanding. Planning a mural to be painted within a given time and budget is complex work, but the challenge of that is part of the fun. As is the opportunity for gestural mark-making with big brushes on large surface areas. Much time and effort goes into making a mural and if you take into consideration the time spent on research and design, as well as the painting and installation, you would ordinarily expect the whole operation to take several weeks at least, more often than not several months. All that hard work, however, can be very rewarding. If you know how to tackle each stage of the process that will obviously help reduce the challenge, which in turn will increase the reward. Put simply, if you are thinking of making murals – regardless of the size of the project you have in mind, what your subject matter may be or how long you wish to spend on producing it – knowing as much about the process as possible can be nothing but beneficial.

With that in mind, and before discussing the part where we start throwing paint around, I think the most constructive approach to beginning this book is to examine a few fundamentals that are key to making a painting. As such, primary concerns including materials and equipment, basic colour theory, and rudiments of composition and perspective are topics that will all be covered in the first chapters. Whilst it is only to be expected that these topics may not necessarily be applicable for all tastes and purposes, the suggestions made are generally considered to be sound, tried-andtested methods that will get you started and help you make murals that will not only look good for many years to come, but will also stand the test of time in the physical sense too.

BRUSHES

When it comes to building up a reliable kit for making your mural work, and deciding which brushes to opt for, you will soon realize that there are many from which to choose. As a mural artist your brushes are the most important tools of your trade and taking your time to choose wisely is only to be encouraged.

If you are genuinely considering taking up painting professionally, or even semi-professionally, then you need to think seriously about the amount of money you are prepared to invest in the materials and equipment you will be using. You don’t have to buy the finest or the most expensive items on the market, but if you want the best from your artwork then buy the best materials and equipment that your money can buy. There are a lot of cheap products available these days and it stands to reason that many people will find their relative inexpensiveness appealing. The benefit of saving a few pounds in the short term, however, is often outweighed by the subsequent inconvenience of time spent picking bristles out of your artwork, or forever having to replace your brushes after only a few uses because they have little durability.

If you shop around you will find that there are some relatively decent mid-range brushes on offer. But whatever you opt for, you should always bear in mind that this is an investment and, like any good investment, it will pay dividends in the long run. The bottom line is that good-quality brushes will obviously cost more, but if they are looked after and maintained well they will last and you will get a lot of use out of them. Poor brushes, on the other hand, can prove detrimental to good painting. The maintenance and cleaning of brushes will be addressed a little later on, but for now let us look at the different types of brushes you will need to select from.

Types of brushes

Brushes, in reference to their bristle-type, basically come in two categories: natural and synthetic. The former are made using bristles and hairs from animals such as the ox, hog, badger and squirrel, and the latter, as the name would imply, incorporate synthetic filaments such as nylon.

Some of these brushes are suitable for only one system of painting, oils or acrylics for example, whilst some can be used with both. Knowing which is which will always ensure that you will be using the best brush for the job at hand.

Hog hair, which are white-bristled brushes, are generally considered the best type of brush to use with oil colours and are not suitable for use with acrylics. Synthetic brushes are primarily designed to work with acrylics, but there are some good and relatively inexpensive nylon-bristled brushes that can be used with oils too. I occasionally use Pro Arte Sterling Acrylix with oil colours and they can be quite effective, though I find that their lifespan and versatility can be a little limited. They are good brushes for use with acrylic paints and useful for certain functions with oils, though as all-round brushes for oil colour they never quite compare with the capabilities of a good-quality hog hair. That said, I know artists who have painted many staggeringly good murals using nothing but synthetic bristle brushes, quite often producing the bulk of the work with large decorating brushes. Again it comes down to personal preference and that is why I would always advocate trying out a variety to find out which ones work best for you.

Ferrules

A ferrule is the metal sleeve that holds the bristles and attaches them to the handle. The best ferrules for fine art brushes are made of nickel-plated copper, though there are many less expensive alternatives. The ferrule tends to be crimped to the handle, which fixes it in place, and the more notches you see on the ferrule the sturdier the brush will be. On a very good-quality brush you might see three notches, though two notches seems to be the norm for many brushes I would consider adequate for the purpose of painting murals. If only one notch is apparent then it would suggest the ferrule is not secured sufficiently, and it may soon become loose and affect the handling of the paint application.

Handles

Brush handles are generally made of wood, and shaped round or flat according to the style of brush. The cheaper brushes tend to have plastic handles, or the wooden handle is left unvarnished. The better, more expensive varieties will have wooden handles that are treated with a varnish or lacquer.

A good selection of brushes for mural painting

Artists’ oil brushes mainly come in three major shapes known as flats, filberts and rounds. By and large they will be of the white hog hair variety. These brushes are graded in number, with the larger numbers indicating the larger brushes, and the smaller number indicating the smaller brushes. Remember that, when you are painting murals, large areas will require rapid blocking in with broad brushstrokes, so make sure to stock up on a variety of sizes. There is nothing better than trial and error when it comes to determining which brushes suit your own methods best, but if you start off with a fair selection of medium- and large-sized flats and filberts it will put you in good stead.

Flats – the hog hair variety (seen here on the left) are generally used with oil paints only whereas the synthetic, nylon bristles (seen on the right), are more versatile: primarily designed for acrylic paints, they can be used with oils too.

Filberts – once again we see here the hog hair variety on the left of the image, and the synthetic, nylon bristles on the right.

Spalters and varnishing brushes

Spalters and varnishing brushes are large, flat brushes, usually made from soft hog hair. These brushes can be really useful with most projects, and they come in a wide variety of widths (I tend to use Whistler or Omega varnishing brushes with 70mm, 80mm and 100mm widths). They have a relatively thin ferule for their size, but they can be loaded with a lot of colour and can cover large areas in a short space of time. I find these brushes easier to handle and more sympathetic to the kind of mark making that I like than the ordinary decorators’ brushes, though the latter also have their uses.

Decorating brushes

Decorating brushes are a very useful component of any mural artist’s kit, especially for blocking in those really big areas of colour like skies and landmass. These large brushes can be loaded with paint that can then be dispatched efficiently in broad strokes, and their stiffer bristles lend themselves to vigorous blending and scumbling. Decorating brushes are not overly expensive and will last if looked after, and it is always beneficial to have a broad range of sizes at your disposal. I tend to use these cheaper decorating brushes for the larger areas that are to be kept loose in their handling, and I reserve the use of the better quality fine art brushes for the more detailed areas such as fabrics, props and portraits that may accommodate the middle distance and foreground of a composition.

I always carry a selection of decorating brushes around in my kit but I’m quite selective as to when I use them, preferring more often to use the spalters and varnishing brushes mentioned earlier, though where the surface is not so smooth the stiffer bristles of the decorating brush will always prove the better choice.

Specialist brushes

In the category I refer to as ‘specialist brushes’ I would include fan or blending brushes, stencilling brushes, softeners and stippling brushes. As their names imply these are all brushes used for specific operations. Although I always have a selection of these brushes with me they may not be brought out of the box unless there are specialist techniques to be incorporated into the mural, such as marbling, wood-graining or stencilling.

Fitches

The round fitch is a great brush for mixing up large quantities of colour and it can also be used for scumbling glazes over pre-worked areas. Scumbling is the name given to the technique where a mixture of colour is rubbed over a surface that has previously been painted and allowed to dry, with the intention of modifying the colour or effect of the area being treated.

1. Large decorators’ brushes – natural-bristled brushes that can be used with both oil-based and water-based paints. They come in a variety of sizes with the much larger brushes sometimes being referred to as ‘wallopers’. These are ideal for laying in large areas with broad strokes of colour.

2. Varnishing brushes – natural-bristled brushes that come in a variety of sizes from 20–100mm wide. They have thin ferrules but can still hold a lot of colour. They are great for working on large areas that require sympathetic brushwork that is not easily achieved using the regular decorating brushes. They can be used with oil-based or water-based paints.

3. Long-handled brushes – natural-bristled brushes dedicated for use with oil colours only. They are ideal for working up areas from a good distance from the canvas or wall, enabling you to see more of the image whilst working, thus preventing you from being drawn in to unnecessary detail.

4. Small decorating brushes – with these smaller sizes I tend to use nylon-bristled brushes, made by Purdy or Wooster, and usually only the 25mm, 40mm and 50mm sizes. They can be quite versatile and very useful when quickly working up relatively large-detailed areas. These brushes can be used with both acrylics and oil-based paints.

5. Round fitches – natural-bristled brushes that are ideal for scumbling and applying glazes over areas of your work. They also make perfect brushes for mixing large batches of colour.

6. Dusting brush – this is just a cheap decorators’ dusting brush. These have natural bristles and if kept in good condition can be very useful for brushing over large areas of wet paint to achieve softer transitions of colour and tone. They can also be used to create a stipple effect – if, however, the stipple effect is to cover a sizeable area then you would be advised to invest in a proper stippling brush.

7. Fan brush – ideal for blending and softening smaller detailed areas. Can be used with both oils and acrylics.

8. Badger bristle – these are very expensive brushes but ideal for blending and softening. For softening, these are considerably more delicate and sympathetic than the dusting brush and are essential for any marbling effects.

9. Stencilling brushes – these come in a variety of sizes and are used mainly for stencilling, though they can also come in useful for certain types of mark-making characteristic of this shape of brush.

10. A broad selection of fine art brushes – these are natural-bristled filberts, flats and rounds, dedicated only to oils.

11. Fine art brushes with synthetic bristles – these are primarily for use with acrylic paints yet I find them occasionally useful with oils too.

How to clean and look after your brushes

The best way to preserve your brushes, though admittedly it is not always possible or convenient, is to clean them thoroughly after each day’s painting. Neglect this detail too often and your brushes will very quickly become unusable. When and where possible, bearing in mind the amount of money you have spent on these important features of your kit, try to leave enough time at the end of each painting session to clean your brushes.

Using the appropriate solvent (turpentine or white spirit for oils, and water for acrylic), rinse out your brushes immediately after use.

Rinse out the brushes several times in a clearer solution each time, cleaning off with a rag in-between each rinse, to make sure that all traces of colour are removed from the brush. The brushes can then be washed through with warm water and a little soap. I tend to use washing-up liquid for this, though the old-school approach would recommend using a bar of common household soap, preferably containing plenty of lye. Lye is a strong alkaline solution (traditionally potassium hydroxide, though sodium hydroxide is more commonly used these days), which is excellent for breaking down the oil paint.

With one hand cupped, deposit a small amount of soap into the palm as in step 1.

Adding warm water, work the brush into your hand using a swirling action, as seen in step 2, making sure that the warm, soapy water gets to the base of the bristles as well as the tip.

Finally, as seen in step 3, wash out the brush taking the time to ensure that all traces of the soap are rinsed out under the running warm water.

After removing any excess water, by either flicking the brushes or wiping with a rag, you can reshape the bristles using a pinch of Vaseline between finger and thumb, and tease the bristles of the brush back to the original form.

Reshaping with Vaseline is only suitable for brushes that are being used with oils, and prior to using these brushes again you will need to rinse them in the appropriate solvent before wiping with a rag to ensure that all the grease has been removed.

For brushes used with acrylics, the cleaning process is carried out using only warm water and soap. The reshaping can be done using a small amount of shampoo or washing-up liquid. If need be, the larger brushes can also be wrapped in paper to retain their shape (as shown in step 4).

When it comes to storing brushes that are still wet from cleaning, it is not advisable to have them standing upended and left to dry. Any moisture that is still in the bristles will work its way through the ferrule and into the wooden handle, causing the wood to swell and the lacquer to crack. This, in time, will compromise the security of the ferule’s attachment to the handle. Always lay your newly cleaned brushes flat on a horizontal surface. Once they are dry, you can store them upright in a jar or similar container.

Step 1 Remove excess paint and solvent from the bristles using a rag or paper towels, and then soap (or washing-up liquid) with warm water can be used to clean your brushes.

Step 2 Using a swirling motion with the soap and warm water, lather the bristles of your brush.

Step 3 Rinse out all the soap and paint residue from the bristles under warm running water.

Step 4 To retain the shape of larger brushes, after the cleaning process wrap them up in newspaper, store laid flat, and leave to dry.

Being environmentally aware

Try and be environmentally friendly when using turpentine or white spirit. Recycle by filling up a large, lidded container with your used and contaminated thinner. Once full, let it sit there for several weeks until all the pigment has settled on the bottom of the container. At this point, and whilst being careful not to disturb the settled residue, the recycled thinner can be poured off into a clean container and reused.

Note: the solvent will be slightly discoloured but it is perfectly reuseable. The sludge at the bottom of the container can be poured into another container used for the sole purpose of collecting such sludge and, when that is full, it can be disposed of in the correct manner via the relevant refuse site in your neighbourhood. If you are not sure of the locality of such a site, contact your local council and enquire about hazardous waste disposal.

PAINT

There are many paints on the market these days, and there is so much to choose from. Each will have its own list of advantages and disadvantages, but all paints are basically composed of three elements, which are: the pigment, the binder, and the solvent.

As well as the range of colours, note the different brands and variety in the quality of the paints.

Pigment

A pigment is the substance that gives paint its colour and can be either organic (derived from animal or vegetable origins), or inorganic (processed from mineral sources). Since the mid-nineteenth century onwards there has also been a significant increase in the production of synthetic pigments.

Getting to know about paints and pigments and their particular characteristics is a worthwhile endeavour and doing so will really help you get to grips with the versatility and limitations of each colour. Get to know as much as you can about the materials you use, and the colours you include on your palette:

How pure or impure is the colour? How many pigments are used to achieve the colour in the tube?

Artist quality colours are much purer than student quality as the colours are usually achieved from one pigment, whereas the cheaper quality paints tend to use several pigments to imitate the more expensive quality colours.

Are the pigments opaque or transparent? Which would best suit your purposes?

Transparent pigments are excellent for making glazes and pure tints, but fairly useless if used to adjust a sizeable mix of paint.

Are the pigments lightfast or fugitive? Will they retain their colour over time, or fade as a result of exposure to daylight?

Acrylics are superior paints in terms of being lightfast, meaning they will endure exposure to sunlight and/ or shade without losing their colour. Oils on the other hand can suffer from both, depending on the quality of the paint and the nature of the pigment used.

How strong is the pigment’s tinting strength? Will it oversaturate mixes when added with other colours used on the palette?

Some colours can be quite overwhelming and need to be used sparingly when mixed with other colours. Cadmium Orange is a colour that springs to mind; beautiful in its own right and a very useful colour to have on a palette but it can very easily overpower any subtle mixes if not used carefully.

These characteristics will ultimately affect your painting in both its making and its longevity and are therefore quite decisive details if you want the best for your work. Most tubes and pots of paint will have these characteristics printed on the labels and it pays to familiarize yourself with the specifics.

Here we see the labels of two tubes of Windsor and Newton artist quality paint. The one on the left is from a tube containing Cadmium Yellow pale, and the one on the right containing Rose Madder genuine. These labels indicate three characteristics of the pigments used: the pigment colour index name; the level of opacity or transparency; and the level of lightfastness.

The pigment index names here are PY35 and NR9, standing for Pigment Yellow 35 (cadmium zinc sulphide), and Natural Red 9 (extracted from madder root – rubia tinctorum).

The first label shows a solid square in the upper left hand corner of the label – this indicates that the colour is opaque. The second example, the Rose Madder label, shows an empty square in the lower right hand corner – that indicates that the pigment is transparent. If the square shown is half solid/half empty that indicates that the pigment is semi-transparent.

The lightfastness of a pigment is graded from I to V with the lower number indicating an excellent lightfast quality, and the higher number indicating a very poor and fugitive quality. In the examples we can see that at grade I, the Cadmium Yellow has excellent lightfastness and the Rose Madder, graded at II, has very good lightfastness. Grade III would indicate fair but perhaps not permanent, and IV would indicate poor lightfast qualities.

This is a section from a mural painted using both acylics and oils. All the background colours and trompe l’oeil latticework were painted in acrylic paints and the roses were subsequently painted on top in oils. The lattice was stencilled and required several layers to build up the trompe l’oeil effect and the quick-drying qualities of acrylic made it the ideal medium to use. For the roses, however, I wanted them to be painted in a more fluid and painterly fashion and therefore the slower-drying qualities of the oils were more suited. It is sound practice to use oils on top of acrylics, but not the other way round. And you should never attempt to mix the two. (Detail from a mural painted for Annabel’s Private Members’ Club, Mayfair, London.)

Binder

The binder is basically the adhesive liquid in which the pigment particles are suspended. When this liquid vehicle dries and oxidizes, it forms a film that adheres to the surface on which it is applied. The pigments used to colour paints are pretty much universal, being used in all sorts of paint, but it is the binder that distinguishes between the different types: oils or acrylics for example. Linseed oil is the most common binder for oils, and acrylic polymer resin is the binder in acrylics. The primary characteristics of any paint are determined by how the paint is formulated, and the value of knowing the pros and cons of these individual characteristics can never be underestimated. I tend to use oils for any fine art painting and acrylics for any paint effects and trompe l’oeil. Occasionally I will use both where it is deemed the best way forward in terms of quality of finish and efficiency of procedure. When using both, you must remember that it is OK to paint oils over acrylics but never the other way round unless the oil layer is completely dry and treated to accept the acrylic. This can be achieved with Fuller’s earth or an application of clear shellac, but I would recommend avoiding acrylics on top of oils if possible.

Solvent

The regulation of a paint’s consistency is maintained by the use of a solvent. When added to paint to thin it further, it is referred to as a thinner. As a rule one would use turpentine, or white spirit, with oils, and water with acrylics. Paints that contain and can be thinned with the former are described as oil-based paints, with the latter being referred to as water-based.

Oil and acrylics

No matter how much personal preference you have for one particular paint system over another, it is quite often the case that the nature of the project will dictate which system you ultimately opt for:

How big is the mural?

Very large murals would usually be painted in water-based paints: either acrylics or even good-quality commercial paints, depending on the nature of the work or the expected lifespan.

How much time do you have to paint it?

The slow-drying quality of oil paints makes them impractical for certain projects.

Is it to be painted on canvas, a panel, or directly onto a wall?

Either oil or acrylic can be used on any of these surfaces, but you will need to ascertain the nature of the substrate and prime it accordingly. If in doubt, speak with the paint manufacturer to get the best advice.

Is the mural interior or exterior?

Exterior murals should always be painted in acrylics as the colours are lightfast and less susceptible than oils to the effects of sunlight or shade.

Oil paints have a much slower drying rate than acrylics, which allows for greater versatility and manipulation. They are ideal for many effects and can be used to achieve smooth blending and subtle gradations of tone. Another advantage with oils is that there is little or no change in colour between their wet and dry states. On the other hand, because they are notoriously slow drying, they can seriously impede the production time of your work as you wait for any layers to dry before working over them. Another disadvantage of using oils is that there can be a tendency for a painting to darken if in too much shade for long periods of time. If exposed to too much sunlight, the opposite is true and your painting may become bleached. It is possible, however, to reduce any potential deterioration of the painting by using good-quality materials and adopting sound methods when you paint. There are also anti-UV varnishes that are readily available which can be used to reduce damage caused by sunlight. Generally speaking though, it is for these reasons regarding lightfastness alone that oils should never be considered for exterior work.

One advantage of acrylics is that they are light-fast, meaning they will retain their colour and are not susceptible to the detrimental effects caused by ultraviolet light. They are also rapid-drying paints, and can therefore be advantageous when needing to complete some complex passages of painting, including the building up of layers, in the same session. On the downside, this same rapid-drying quality can be a hindrance when trying to achieve some of the finer blending that can be done with oils – though there are retarders that can be mixed with acrylics to slow down the drying rate. Another negative aspect of acrylics, for me, is that the colours have a tendency to dry slightly darker than their appearance when wet. This can cause problems when matching pre-painted areas.

In all I would say that my preference is to work with oils where and when I can. This is because of their slow-drying time, their flexibility, ease of manipulation, and the wide range of varied effects that can be produced with them. That is not to say that these characteristics are unachievable with acrylics; it’s just easier for me to use oils, as they are more suited to my methods of working.

Paint medium

When grinding pigments to make oil paints, linseed oil is the most commonly used to formulate the binder. Linseed oil can be used in paint mediums and glazes, which can be added to change the consistency and manipulative properties of your paint, and help the paint flow more easily. But if you are going to use linseed oil to make glazes make sure to use refined linseed oil, and not the more commercially available raw or boiled linseed oils, as these are more susceptible to yellowing.

Stand oil, which is basically heat-treated linseed oil, is quite a viscous substance, but when thinned with turpentine is very useful in glazes and paint mediums, as it is much paler in colour than other linseed oils and less likely to yellow over time.

Thinners

For oils, the two most widely used thinners are turpentine and white spirit. The former, which is a greasier spirit than the latter, is generally used to make glazes and thin down artists’ oils. It also evaporates more slowly than the white spirit, meaning that it remains open longer and gives a higher sheen. The advantage of white spirit on the other hand is that it is less expensive than turpentine, making it more appealing to many mural artists. Care should be taken when using either of these products, as over-exposure to them can be hazardous. Always read the labels and follow the advice given.

Varnishes

Once you have finished a mural you will need to protect it with a coat or two of varnish. The varnish serves many purposes in that it will provide a uniform finish across the whole image, improving the overall look of your mural. It will also protect the paint from exposure to humidity, spillages, and minor contact or abrasion. Should the mural ever need cleaning, once it is varnished it can be carefully wiped clean with a soft cloth and warm water.

There are many varnishes on the market and which one you use really comes down to personal preference. For the work I make using acrylic paint I will use Polyvine varnish, which is a really nice, clean and easy-to-use varnish. On murals painted in oils I tend to finish with a microcrystalline wax varnish, made by Roberson, which is relatively easy to use and reversible (meaning that, if need be, it can easily be removed using the appropriate solvent – white spirits/mineral spirits). Another varnish that is easy to use with very good results and practically odourless is Gamvar varnish, made by Gamblin. This is also reversible, and like the Polyvine and Roberson varnishes it is available in matte, satin or gloss finish. Depending on the mural and its location, I will mix matte and satin varnishes together to achieve the desired sheen. If you are going to try this method then it is always advisable to test your mix on an independent surface first. If the mural is painted in acrylics there are many acrylic varnishes that can be used, either straight from the container or, as mentioned above, they can be mixed to a desired sheen. With regard to levels of finish your varnish will produce, it is never a good idea to have too much sheen on a mural as it will encourage light reflection and glare, which will interfere with the reading of your image.

MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT

1. Spirit level – a spirit level is essential when working on murals. Any centrelines required during the initial workings out, or any horizontals or verticals in your finished work will require the use of a reliable spirit level.

2. Meter rule – a good meter rule, preferably made of steel, with clear markings will always serve you well when you are measuring or requiring a straight edge for drawing or cutting purposes.

3. Adjustable beam compass – this will occasionally be useful when you need to describe very neat circles, though in the case of having to draw out large curves, in a foreground architectural arch for example, a length of string with a pin in one end for the centre, and a pencil tied to the other end can be equally useful.

4. Tape measure – a retractable and lockable tape measure is a must. Get a good-quality one and make sure it is of adequate length – 5m should work for most scenarios.

5. Laser measure – if you can afford one, these are great; especially during initial site visits when estimating size and cost on a project. They are incredibly accurate, when used correctly, and they don’t require a second person to hold the other end as with a tape measure.

6. Surgical scalpel and blades – you will use these a lot, for many purposes, and when cutting stencils they are indispensable. That said, I cannot stress enough that they should be handled with care at all times – they can be lethal!

7. Charcoal – when drawing out my murals I will ordinarily use charcoal. The charcoal sticks come in different grades – thin, medium, thick, extra thick and scene painters for example – I tend to use a variety of these depending on what aspect of the mural works best with either fine or heavy description. The charcoal leaves heavy lines and these will contaminate your paint if not treated. The trick is to slightly erase them by using a rag in a gentle flicking action. This will remove a large part of the lines, leaving an adequate residue of outline to work with. At this stage a fine spray of fixative should be applied which will stabilize the remaining charcoal and prevent it from discolouring your paint.

8. Plastering spatulas – although these are designed primarily for drywall plastering I have always referred to them as ‘paint-guards’. They have a rigid metallic blade, which can be held up against the canvas or wall, and used to influence the application of paint. They are really useful when needing to produce straight lines quickly and efficiently. They can also be employed to protect or guard areas of your painting with one side of the blade, whilst manipulating wet paint on the other side. These are very handy bits of kit that come in various sizes and are available from specialist decorators’ merchants.

9. Stanley knife – this is a heavy-duty, hard-wearing craft knife. Stanley knives are best kept for heavy-duty work, with the surgical scalpel being preferable for most other cutting jobs, especially stencil work.

10. 5-in-1 painters’ tool – this is a versatile odd-job tool that can be used for scraping or spreading paint, opening tins and cleaning roller heads amongst many other functions.

11. Laser level – these are expensive, but many projects I’ve tackled would’ve been made very difficult without one of these. On really large projects – say, anything over 4 meters – or projects that incorporate more than one wall, and for anything that involves a complex, repeat pattern, a laser level is a huge bonus.

12. Staple gun and staples – if you intend to make your mural on canvas before installing in situ, then a staple gun is a must. Avoid buying cheap versions, they tend not to last long. Invest in a mid-range, mid-sized one made by a renowned manufacturer such as Stanley or TacWise. In my experience these suit most purposes. The big heavy-duty staplers are good but will be too aggressive for the smaller projects.

13. Palette knife – this is just a standard kind of palette knife used to mix paint and occasionally apply it too.

14. Masking tape – masking tape will always be a part of a mural artist’s kit and there are different grades for different purposes: standard decorators’ masking tape will perform most tasks sufficiently, but you will also need some low-tack adhesive tape when working on surfaces that require a more delicate approach. The brands I use are Easy Mask, Kleenedge, or Frog Tape.

15. Disposable paper palette – pads of tear-off, disposable paper palettes are really useful, and I use them a lot in conjunction with my glass and wooden palettes. You will occasionally require having more than one palette on the go and, whilst keeping the glass or wooden one as the primary palette, these disposable palettes make perfect supplements.

16. Scissors – good-quality dressmaking fabric scissors are a great advantage when cutting your canvas to size, for cutting up rags or for the many other situations you will come across on site or in the studio.

17. Rolls of polythene – these are of little use as a protective floor covering, where heavy-duty plastic is the preferable choice, but they are ideal for covering furniture or walls that need to be protected from any dust, paint splashes or overspray whilst you are working. They can be purchased in most decorators’ merchants or general hardware stores.

18. Hairdryer – this one always raises an eyebrow, and occasionally laughter when on site, but it is a much-valued part of the apparatus, especially if working with acrylics when it is necessary to constantly clean and dry brushes. The cleaning prevents any paint, medium or varnish hardening and ruining the bristles, and the rapid drying means they can quickly be put to use again.

Other items that prove invaluable when making murals include cameras, overhead or digital projectors, and studio lights, all of which are discussed in subsequent chapters.

Another item that is good to have in your toolbox is a chalk line reel. These are used to mark out straight lines over great distances. They are easy to use when needing to achieve lines quickly and effectively. You will find that this device is at times indispensable, especially when drawing out centre lines and parameters, or whenever you need to grid up large surface areas.

A chalk line reel or ‘snap-line’ is a really useful tool for marking out straight lines over long distances. These devices are very efficient and easy to use, but be careful to reduce the amount of chalk dispensed to minimize the corruption of subsequent paint applications.

Access equipment