From: Tips & Tricks / Specific to: Canberra Murals / Mural Artist / Mural Workshop
Mural Planning – What to Bring
What I will cover here is a mural checklist of the items I needed for a mural in Canberra. The mural also consisted of running a few workshops too.
In general, before starting the mural it is important to know the size of the mural, the condition of the wall you will be painting on and also the location, eg in a busy public street or some dark back alley.
The simple reasons being is the amount of paint you will need, the wall preparation before starting to paint and then what type of traffic/pedestrian control you will need to put in place while painting the mural.
Because I was also running a number of mural workshops, I had to plan for those extra hands and make sure I had everything they may need while
Mural Checklist
In no particular order:
- Masking tape
- Long stick
- Chalk
- Drop sheets
- Brushes
- Paint Trays
- Cups
- Rags
- Sunscreen
- Eyewash
- Paint
- Paint opener and woodblock to close
- Ladders
- Rollers
- Roller extension
- Bollards & tape
- Water
- Print outs / Plastic A4 cover
- Stirring stick
- Laundry powder for washing brushes
- Chair camp one.
- Measuring tape
- Rubbish bin
- Tarp – Plastic sheet
- Scrubby brush
- Water sprayer
- Glad wrap
- Hi-vis vest (
didn’t need this in the end, save for another job)
Mural Checklist FAQs
The masking tape can come in handy if you need to paint straight lines or to protect an area of the wall you don’t want to get paint on.
Over the years I now have a collection of ladders for painting murals. My two main ones are a step ladder which is good for standard wall sizes and a fold-out ladder which reaches around 4m high. The more stable the ladder the better and also having ones with good foot resting areas.
Well, this is a bit of a luxury item, sometimes you will be painting a mural where there are no seats and maybe just dirt or hot concrete so it is nice to take a rest on a chair.
Onsite painting a mural you need to have your paint close. You may be inside a shopping centre for example and when pouring paint I like to use the tarp to put all the paint on to minimise mess.
If you have any other questions about any of the mural items, just ask me below.
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I like how you mentioned that some things you will need for a mural are masking tape, a long stick, chalk, drop sheets, brushes, and paint trays. The owner of the restaurant I work for is thinking of looking for a specialist that paints murals because he’s considering having a timeline of when the eatery was established painted on the exterior of the building. I think it’s a good idea for the owner to consider all of his options when choosing a reputable professional that can help with the interior art so it looks as best as possible for our customers.
Definitely recommend reviewing the Mural Artist’s portfolio too. See if the previous mural work is in line with what may be in mind. I also would ask what the mural process is along with what you mention the timeline to complete the mural.