Start to Finish: Painting A Wall Mural

I just finished a mural at Three Chairs Co., a prominent furniture store in downtown Ann Arbor (they have an additional showroom across the street as well). I was excited to do one here because my concept matches the mid-century aesthetic of their pieces with designers like Ray and Charles Eames, George Nelson and Isamu Noguchi.

My design of the Modern Rorschach inkblot came easily as I was sketching in Adobe Illustrator and the owner thought it would be perfect for the front window during the Herman Miller winter sale.

After I printed it out, I labeled each color and shape by section and dimension.

Now comes the real work. I measured each section (or color) to scale and translated it to hand-drawn illustrations on paper.

Then I cut each section out and labeled it.

I laid out the area for the “canvas” and blocked it in using Behr primer and paint in one. Great stuff!

Then I could start taping and tracing. 

And cutting in the colors by hand.

And filling them in. Using vibrant colors together is always a gamble. But after double and some triple coats, I think it paid off nicely.

Voila!

The white space is 6' wide by 5' height.

Thank you, Three Chairs Co. for your cooperation and wall space. Special thanks to Genui Forma for sponsoring the materials! And a big thank you to -N- for being a great partner in crime.

If you need a mural in your home or office, give us a call at 734-929-2498 or email info@chin-azzaro.com

-Y-