​​I have learned in the last few years that public art can really impact a community. In the last few years, Downtown Melbourne and surrounding communities have been adding some eye catching public art to the city scape. It has been an amazing transformation. 

We are fortunate that the City of Melbourne and Melbourne Main Street have vision enough to support the programs that have given us the opportunity to have that awesome eye candy to see everyday. 

Who wouldn't want to be a part of that positive movement. I was fortunate to be hired to do a mural on the side of Nahacky's Aquarium store in Downtown Melbourne on US1. I've never done one before, but thought a 5 ft by 10 ft wouldn't be too overwhelming.

Preparing
I spent 3 years as an industrial artist, so I knew what to expect to prepare and protect the space, what supplies I would need to do the job properly, the amount of paints for each color, etc.  I ordered a quart of the bright colors and a gallon of the background color and black and white, but  could've gotten away with quarts of those as well. 

Supplies I needed:
Dropcloths to protect area
Rubber Mallet
Paint opener
Tape
Garbage Bags
Buckets/containers for paint
rags/paper towels
Paint
Brushes
Paint mixers
Ladder

I was working out of my pretty car, so I wanted to keep everything protected. I know what happens when you don't. So getting the right supplies makes a huge difference.

The opener and rubber mallet are a necessity. Those keep the paints completely closed and safe from spilling. I also keep the paint cans within boxes themselves, to keep them from spilling over.

​Day 1:  2 1/2 hours
​Day 1 was all about the background. My intention was to put the background colors in and grid it to ensure everything was in proportion, but I said screw it and I figured I would wing the shapes. No grids. I thought it would take longer and since I drew them to begin with! If it were larger, I probably would've had to, but this is only 5'x10'. pictures to the right

​Day 2: 2.5 hours
​Day 2 was spacing everything and adding some detail. The white makes it look terrible, but I wanted to see where I was going to ultimately put the the sea life. I started with the background school of fish. I figured I would use up a whole day if I had to paint them individually, so I made a vinyl template from my painting, they went up in 5 minutes. I added some sand color and rocks to the sea bottom and also put in the giant clam. pictures to the right

Day 3: 3 hours
Day 3 was about that coral and putting in some fish shapes. I also went over the school with a wash to send them further into the background. It definitely looks better as I add more detail. 

Day 4: 3 hours
More fish shapes, a star fish, and a sea horse. And that new brush. I love buying new art supplies. My hubby got a few of me painting.  Day 4 gallery to the right
Day 5: 5 hours
I wanted to get the details on the clown fish to give them a little personality. I also gave the yellow fish dimension and will add the eyes and other details tomorrow. 

Day 6: 2.5 hours
It didn't feel like I got much done today. I put in a rock, painted the base of a coral and put the final on the clam. It needed more detail. 

​Day 7: 2.5 hours
It felt like I got A LOT done today. The right side is almost done. Put in the grass and will put in the tendrils on the anemones tomorrow.  It s getting closer to the finish line.  

Day 8: 1.5 hours
More coral rock and grass! The left side is finally making progress. 

Day 9: 1.5 hours
Everything but the cleaner shrimp and clear coat. 

Day 10: 2 hours
Cleaner shrimp! And I added a crabby conch.

Day 11: 1 hour
Clear Coat

All Done!
I'm happy with the outcome and hope to do more int he future. Painting big is pretty nice. What I noticed is that it is definitely more forgiving. You have more space to work out the shapes and values.  Video and detail below

Making shapes for 3 dimensional projects is one one of the fun parts of the project. There are several ways to do this, and a lot of different materials to use. You can also use free materials that would otherwise be thrown in the trash or you can purchase the needed materials. I use a lot of foam in my shapes, which is available through the craft stores or I just keep the packing material foam that comes with appliances and other products to keep my materials costs down.

For instance, I bought a piece of foam from Michaels for $11.00. My husband bought an item that had twice the amount of foam and that was free. Frankly, the free foam cut easier. The foam used n packing is a little less dense, which makes cutting it and shaping it easier. 

Shapes can also be started with a balloon, crunched up paper, tape, plastic bottles, etc. Whatever you can find. 

What you'll need.

• foam or other shaping products
• foam cutter
• ​wire or toothpicks for additional pieces
• gorilla glue

For the foam block, I first draw the basic shape and cut out all of the extra using the foam cutter. 

Once you get the desired 3 dimensional shape, add anything additional that needs to go on it. 

I use toothpicks and gorilla glue. Gorilla glue is great to use with foam. 

The other great thing about foam is that you can sand it with a lower grade of sandpaper and it will help with all the angles. It shapes nicely with sandpaper. 

If you're going to go over it with papier mache', it will be ok to leave some of the foam shiny, but for adhesion, it is always best to have your foam surfaces sanded, so it's a nice rough texture. The material will adhere better to it. 

For these foam fish, I am not going to papier mache them, but am going to put the joint compound directly on them.  

"Spike" started out as an old project that I felt had zero personality. It sat on my shelf for about 2 years. Then one day I decided to play with cold porcelain. I ended up making some spikes and thought they might look good on it. 

It definitely got me back interested. Although the cold porcelain was a total fail, I fixed the problem and ended up with a pretty fun project in the end. 

For the materials and process that I use, the cold porcelain failed with the joint compound because of the wetness, so I had to take out all of the spikes an replace them with something else. 

I ended up cooking up some polymer spikes and it worked out better than I had hoped.

Once cooked, I glued them in and went over them with the joint compound. 

Let's talk about the paint process, because I love the way this material finishes. 

You can choose to sand your pieces to be perfect or you can leave them imperfect, which is the way I love them. Leaving the texture imperfect allows the colors to build up and adds more depth to the piece. 

I start with a base coat of gesso. And I usually do this outside as gesso is a smelly chemical that needs good airflow for your work area. I add a little bit of color to the gesso so it's easier for me to see where it ended up, as the joint compound is also white and you don't want to miss any spots. 

Once gesso is on, I start choosing my colors. I do a lot of layers of color to try to get the most out of the texture. The first color I choose is the color I am going to ultimately paint on the top layer too. I chose cadmium red medium. Then I added cadmium red light using a dry brush to grab some of the texture. I then used paynes grey to fill in the darker ares, like around the spikes and eyes. I then washed the whole thing in deep violet. 

Now I'm ready for final painting. I painted it again with the cadmium red medium and added some textural dots in cadmium red light and by mixing the cadium red medium with payne's grey for a darker shade of dot. 

The spikes were painted payne's grey to white after everything else because they are simply in the way of everything and need to be done last. 

The green used for the eyes and base  is phthalo green, which is one of my favorites. 

I took a pic of my pallet (right) so you can see the colors I used. And I cannot brag enough about the liquitex Gloss Super Gel. (also pic right) It put a nice thick clear coat on it and made ti look so shiney. 

What you'll need:
Rain barrel
Vinegar
Dawn
Scrub brush
Sand paper
​Sander
Base coat
Paint
​Clear coat

Getting Started:
First things first. These barrels are usually plastic and come out of a mold. What that means is that the mold release and oil is still on it, so the surface has to be prepared. First, wash the outside with a mix of vinegar and dawn and water. Scrub it good. Try to get off all the shiney.

Next, sand it. I usually use a circular sander with 5" 240 to 300 grit paper. This take about 10 minutes to do the whole thing. You want it to not be shiney. 

Then once you have done this, go ahead and wipe it down with a wet cloth to get any dust off. 

Now it's ready for a base coat that is used for plastic. Valspar is the recommended base coat, but I used the plastic rustoleum brand. I was happy with the results.

I was doing an underwater scene, so I used several blues for the background and drew the creatures in with a white pencil. This was a donation to the Marine Resources Council, so I wanted to get as many creatures in it as possible. I filled in the rest of the area with rocks and plants.
​Once I was happy with the artwork, I put several coats of clear polyurethane on it. Probably about 5 or 6 coats to give it a nice shine. 

​Once your piece has dried for a day or two with the papier mache', it's time to add the outer coating. I use this product: USG Sheetrock All Purpose Joint Compound. (pictured left). I have used both the regular and the lightweight and both work fine. It is suggested that you do not use DAP brand for some reason. 

A few things about this product from experience:

• It can go on in layers that are 1/8 of on inch, anything more and you will get cracking.
  
• It sticks to itself, so layering is easy.
  
• It is easily sanded.
  
• It has a consistency like frosting, so it's not something you can roll in a ball.
  
• You can buy it in these smaller packages or in 5 gal drums. If you have the storage space, the larger bucket is the most economical.
  

Once you coat it with the joint compound, it will look like this (picture right). You'll want to add at least another layer, so that your piece is strong.

Then sand your piece to make it smooth. You'll probably need to do some filling or fix anything that you don't like in order to make yourself happy with it.  Once you sand it, it will look more like the photos below.