I completed this exercise out of order, so that I could respond to the brief as practically as possible. Given that made things weather-dependent I utilised the opportunity some months ago to get the work done. While my mental health has prohibited me writing things up for some months, the space gives me an opportunity to reflect on my work with a little more objectivity.
Given my tutor's feedback, I wanted to challenge myself to work as practically as possible and do things that I had not attempted before. We had cleared the back portion of our garden earlier in the year, removing old decking and woodwork. This had left the side of our garage uncovered and accessible again, and after talking to my wife, she agreed that I would try and paint something on the side of the building.
This made it a lot easier to attempt my 'street art' safely and practically, without having to seek permission or permit. First I pressure-washed the brickwork and treated it with fungicide to try and make sure the surface was prepared as possible. I then gave the whole building a coat of light grey masonry paint that was also similar to that of our neighbours' adjoining garage, which would keep things looking unified. It also made an appropriate undercoat for any mural I did.
I started by taking measurements of the garage and then replicating those dimensions accurately using Affinity Designer. I was able to then use this trapezoid to accurately constrain my designs. Sketching digitally I explored many ideas, all of which focused on an interest or aspect of me or my family.
I enjoyed this process and explored the sketches with my wife to discuss which might be a good option to pursue further. We picked three of the designs to then explore as colour roughs. My original plan was to use commercial garden paints for the project, and so using the paint company's website, I created a colour swatch palette of their available colours, so that my colour rough tests would give me an idea of what I could achieve and help with purchasing decisions later.
I liked all of the options - the 'mid-century' was probably my favourite, but the choice was not mine alone. After talking through with my wife we both decided to take the Mexico-inspired idea forward. I went to the garden and took a photo of the garage. Then I overlayed the Fiesta design. This required some perspective adjustments on the photo as there was no way I was able to take the image perfectly parallel to the garage.
Once I had made the adjustments, I was happy that I was now left with an image that I could use as a reference, and if everything went wrong a mockup that would be good enough for my learning log.
When looking at the paints and the brick surface I realised that if I were to do this using paint and brush it would take me a very long time given the uneven surface. So I decided to switch to using aerosol spray paint cans. I have never used paint sprays outside of undercoating model figures, so this was pushing me way outside of my comfort zone. I researched to learn more about how spray cans are used, and managed to get a pack of differently-sized caps fairly cheap.
The paint itself was not cheap, so I had to be very careful to plan my colours and stick to the limited palette. I was able to get colours that were close to those in my colour mocks, which I was very relieved about. I got to work - I would have likely completed the mural in one sitting, however I misjudged how much bone colour I would need, and so had to complete the mural in two sittings after I was able to source replacement paint.
The whole exercise was very experimental, and I had to learn and adapt quickly. I tried using POSCA pens for the flowers initially which were ok, but lacked impact. It was also difficult to apply them over brickwork. So I switched to using a black spray for outline, which I picked up at the same time as my second batch of bone colour.
The end result is not the same as my reference, but It's pretty close. It was definitely a great learning experience and made my spatial awareness a lot better as a result. I also had to live with imperfections and accidents, and I think this actually adds something to the mural. For a first attempt, I am really pleased with the outcome.
I have also saved the cans of extra paint so that I can employ it somewhere in my art down the line.
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