My friend Samantha Pascavis and I embarked on painting our second mural this past May for Far Out Murals in Walsenburg, Colorado. We were honored to have been selected to participate and made sure to learn from the ordeals that we went through last September. Read about that experience here.
From the initial design before we even applied, we had agreed to keep it simpler so that we wouldn’t have such an overly-intricate design and could be more improvisational and free-spirited with it. We incorporated colors in the design using leftover paint we had from September to save on costs, and we also loved the fact that this call for applications was for much smaller walls. Much more manageable, especially since the time frame was only about three days versus seven.
This time around we didn’t have any need for a scissor lift (thank god) as our mural was just 11 x 11 feet, and we worked with just an 8 foot ladder which the coordinator of the festival generously provided. We lucked out and had great weather the whole time, and we made sure we had plenty of paint and supplies since it was in a very very very small town with limited places to shop for such things.
We didn’t mess around with a projector, and instead free handed much of the design in chalk. To create an even geometric circle we used chalk tied to a piece of string. Samantha held one end against the wall where the middle of the circle would be and I pulled it taught and created the circumference with the chalk. We used a similar method to create radiating lines coming out of the center of the circle.
The long weekend went better than expected, and the only thing I kicked myself for in hindsight was not bringing business cards and stickers to give out to interested onlookers. I have some really rad clear stickers from a company called Sticker Mule that I adore and would have loved to distribute. If you're in the market to order custom stickers I can't recommend them highly enough. I've been using them for years and they've always turned out awesome.
Our design was of a Calliope hummingbird - a species that is prevalent in Southern Colorado. A fun fact is that there was a big gap in the mortar of the wall right where our hummingbird’s eye was supposed to be. We had the idea to fill it with plaster so it didn’t look like Johnny Depp in Cry Baby, and Andrew from the festival’s team was cool enough to track some down for us.
Unlike back in September, neither of us got injured, we didn’t damage any property, we were on the same page and cooperating, and we even had an enjoyable time where we had moments to eat, drink, socialize, and just breathe. If you ever find yourself in Walsenburg Colorado, I highly suggest the Tequila Mockingbird from the Crafty Canary and pickle and onion pizza from The Rollin’ Smoke Garage BBQ. Thank you to the amazing Yul Jorgensen for coordinating this fun mural festival.
