Painting a Mural for a Church

I discovered in painting a mural on location there is vast difference to painting in the comfort of your own studio on easel. In my studio I've always got supplies readily available, and my workspace is private. I've got all sizes and types of brushes, and generally use only small tubes of paint (2 oz).

Painting on location you've no privacy and you've got to transport all your supplies. I bought larger quantities of paint (4 oz and 16 oz), and several larger brushes (three- and four-inch). In the event, I found I wasn't used to working with so large a brush and went back to using my one- and two-inch brushes.

To paint the sky I used Judy's formula of cobalt blue, a touch of yellow ocher, and titanium white, which we mixed in a large quantity. For the dark clouds over the crosses I used ultramarine blue and Paynes gray.

To paint the tomb I worked wet-on-wet as I wanted the colors to entwine each other creating the appearance I desired, which couldn't be achieved working on dry paint. I used red oxide, ultramarine blue, Payne's gray, and burnt sienna. Titanium white was used to mix with these colors to create the lighter shade reflecting the sun.

The colors used for the garments included: yellow ocher, burnt sienna, raw sienna, crimson, cadmium red and yellow, Payne's gray, emerald and oxide green, and cerulean, cobalt, phthalo, and ultramarine blue.

In painting the city I was constantly checking the angles and lines because I have a tendency to lean to the left (Judy says it is because I am left handed). I was careful to make sure this was done accurately.

Working with acrylic we had to be concerned with the fast drying time, since directly above the mural were two vents. There were times when we had to turn the heat off to complete the sky without it drying too quickly.