As an artist and a business owner, I am constantly refining the type of projects I want to take on, as I have realized over the past seven years of painting floral murals across the US that my definition of success is being able to choose where to put my energy. My current intention is to paint large scale murals a few times a year, where I can really expand my techniques and have a bigger impact on the surrounding community with my art. I also want to concentrate my energies on the southern United States, including Texas, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. So I was elated when I was selected to paint the largest mural of my life in Charlotte, North Carolina—a project aligned with both of my latest goals.
Designing a Minimalist Mural for the First Time
One of the things I love about mural painting is that the inherent limitations of time and weather conditions force me to think in new ways and constantly imagine more effective ways of creating beauty as a painter. Mural painting helped me get over my perfectionism, and always keep progressing to reach a finished piece in a short amount of time. It’s an exciting and motivating journey to be on as an artist.
For this mural especially, I had to change my normal painting technique and my normal design technique to be able to cover so much square footage in 10 days of work. I am in love with the results and the finished mural, and now I have new-found confidence that I can paint even larger murals—perhaps a 10-story building in Austin, Texas, for example!
For the design of this mural, I chose to focus on large floral elements, and a more minimalist composition with lots of negative space balancing the flowers. The final result was cleaner and more graphic than my normal work, which usually is filled evenly throughout with vines and tiny wildflowers.
Modifying My Painting Techniques for a 30-Foot Flower
As for the painting technique, because my design included two large flowers that encompassed the total height of the wall, and the surface of the wall was very irregular and rough with uneven concrete blocks, I realized my normal painting style of brush would be too time consuming. To use spray at that size would also consume an enormous amount of spray cans and I would be forced to spray for the entirety of the day. Because I am sensitive to the chemicals in spray, even while wearing a mask, I can only spray for a few hours a day if I want to avoid side-effects like headaches and nausea.
After a lot of thought and discussion with other muralists, I decided to use rollers and house paint to get a base of color on the wall. I mixed three different paint colors freely while my assistant and I rolled, so that the flower would already have a natural texture and irregularity in color that gives it depth.
The first layer done with rollers had a lot of gaps and holes where the base color showed through, because the rollers can’t get in to the irregular crevices, but the next layer in my process solved that problem easily! The next layer we did was spray, covering the unfilled areas of base color, and also creating a linear directionality to the petals. We used around ten different colors of spray for each of the flowers to add depth and shading to the petals. The spray was a mist over the existing base color that we had rolled with house paint, so there was a lot of richness and texture to all the different colors interacting in different layers in differing levels of opacity.
The final step or layer in my new process was detailing with brush in about twenty colors of house paint in the sample size. I buy samples so I can have small quantities of many different colors to play with for the detailing. In this third layer, I defined edges, created the delicate puckering effect of wrinkled flower petals, and added details like folds and irregularities. The flower came to life quickly, especially with the rich background canvas I had created with some many colors interacting. I spent far less time than I had expected in detailing, as just a few details concentrated on the petal edges really served to bring the whole flower to life.
The Experience of Painting in the South
I am truly enjoying painting murals in the South, as compared to my normal workplace of New York City! I have recently painted in Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; and now Charlotte, North Carolina. In all of these locations, I’ve enjoyed the sunny weather and inspiring foliage, the calm atmosphere, the short commutes, and just an overall simpler and calmer lifestyle.
For this mural, I was painting right in downtown Charlotte, and I was fortunate enough to find an affordable airbnb just 10 minutes walking away, with grocery stores and everything I needed right around me. Compared to my typical hour plus commutes in New York City (just for one leg of the journey, so totally two or three hours total a day!), this lovely 10 minute morning walk from home to mural location was an absolute joy. I noticed that I had more energy, less stress, a much more positive attitude, and I could truly enjoy the painting experience.
It’s amazing how commutes can drain us and expose us to so much energetic clutter when we are crammed for hours in a small space with stressed-out strangers. I love the fresh air and historic old trees in the South, and of course the relaxed and friendly people.
A Big Step for More to Come
I’m so happy that I was able to share my work with the community of Charlotte, North Carolina, especially because I believe it’s one of the largest murals in the city. My efforts were well spent as I completed the mural on time, and I didn’t lose energy unnecessarily on the stress and clutter I find working in Northeastern cities. I think this mural is one of the cleanest and most effective designs I’ve done, and I’m happy with the simplicity and balance of space and color. Here’s to more large-scale murals in the South in the months to come!