22 May Commissioned Mural for a Bistro London Restaurant
At the time, I had never painted a mural before. Always liked the idea however especially as I specialize in very large canvases anyway. What better challenge to then fill an entire wall?
It was to be installed onto a gloss painted exterior brick wall and I felt it best to work on panels instead of directly onto the wall. I opted for 12 mm exterior ply wood…and used 3 sheets 8ft x 4ft…after being cut to size the mural was 12 ft x 7ft.
It was a huge challenge in scaling up the image I was copying from. Sometimes I needed the panels to be upright to get the perspective…and then flat on the ground so I could physically reach all the areas and apply the paint.
Second challenge was the surface of the plywood. It had a slightly rough texture and the paint absorbed too much leaving patchy brush strokes. I resolved this by applying a poly fill ground which I then sanded to get a smooth surface. I wanted the mural to look as realistic as possible.
Third and finally…it was physically exhausting as 12 mm, 8ft sheets of plywood are pretty heavy to shift…so a day in the studio felt a little like a visit to the gym!!
