The time that I painted a mini mural

painting is one thing, but painting out in public is a whole final boss

In 2019, my design proposal was selected to paint on a utility box and three pipes in Downtown Salisbury, MD. It was on a whim when I submitted the proposal, and someone notified me by tagging me on Facebook but this forced me to approach painting differently.

My design features a cheetah and jaguar sitting in a grass field, with African mountains behind them. I noticed in the art call post that they would be biased to any proposal that considered painting the 3 pipes nearby. I just knew that was technically a requirement and decided to give the pipes different fur patterns of big cats.

I was quite pleased when they accepted me! but now I had to figure out painting on an unusual surface in public against the elements…this was all new for me and I would not be working with regular paint.

Priming and prepping

First, all plaques and metal parts had to be taped off or around the edges to avoid paint getting on them. I then applied 2-3 coats of primer to the front, sides, and top back of the box. Once dry I used a charcoal pencil to lightly outline the figures and composition. I went over that with a sharpie marker then painted on top of that.

Painting the thing

A ladder was used to reach the top of the box on both front and back. The middle panel to the box was intentionally left with negative space so visitors could take an aesthetic picture with it if they chose to.

The pipes were cleaned of rust as much as possible with a solution and sponge then primed 3-4 times. No sketching needed here, just painting and vibing.

The Final product

To protect my progress through rain and bugs, I used a giant tarp to tie at the top loops of the box and held it down on the ground with bricks. Thankfully there was little rain that month!

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If you would like to learn more about me and my art, you can find my portfolio at www.dominiqueramsey.com and my archive site at dominiqueramseyillustration.com.