KJ Bateman

Ta Da! The big reveal with detail shots! Want to see the mural in person? Attend a Theater Schmeater show; they're terrific. Or attend the Belltown Art Walk on the second Friday of the month. (Gentlemen, you will need an escort because it's in the Ladies' room) And that's how I make a mural. Thanks for following along.

My first idea was to have two figures on the side wall, Harlequin and Columbine who are often played as lovers. As I read more about the characters I decided to create a group setting. Color sketch Final composition on the wall. First color block in.  I am regretting Harlequin's pattern about now. The Captain's golden suit is based on a 15th Century illustration found  here . The red suit is Pantalone, rich and greedy. The white figure in back is Brighella, pugnacious and devious. And still having trouble with all those diamonds, I painted out Harlequin's arm. New arm, add hair and beard. More layers to deepen colors. Change beard color, add Brighella's mask and Pantalone's cape. 

I had some concerns about the wall base coat when I realized that it was a semi-gloss. Generally, it is easy to paint on flat, satin and eggshell finishes; it gets tricky moving into semi-gloss and gloss. In those cases you would usually want lightly sand or prime first.  As this wall had only been painted a week before, the paint was still soft and I decided not to prime. Artists acrylics work well for indoor murals and go a surprisingly long way. You don't need the best grade. Student grade is fine. For most of the colors I went with Amsterdam, recommended to me by Artist & Craftsman Supply . The colors went on smoothly but required more than one coat.  They also recommended Daler Rowney graduate acrylic for the white. It's a big jar. It has a sticky consistency that dries fast.  It can't be reworked.  You have to let it dry and then lay down another layer. I did like the texture it created but I might go with Amsterdam white for the next mural. ...

This is the original Doctor. He has many costumes and masks. This is the Plague Doctor's mask. Supposedly, doctors wore masks with long beaks that they stuffed with herbs thought to repel the plague. Finished colored sketch with squares. This is a way to transfer images. Squares are drawn on the sketch and on the wall. In this case the squares are 2" and the ones on the wall are 12".  Whatever is in each square is copied to its corresponding square on the wall. Basic painting done, still needs some details. The Doctor lost his cane and his arm is covered by a cape.    The cane wasn't working and anytime you can eliminate a complicated thing like a hand, do it.  Why the tiny, tiny feet? Because they are cute and funny.

Theater Schmeater is moving into brand new digs. They felt the ladies' room was a little bland and asked me to do a mural with a Commedia dell'Arte theme. I love doing murals. I said, "Yes!" This is how I make a mural.  I took pictures of the space View from entrance Sink wall I made tracings of the photos and transferred them to sketch paper View from entrance Sink wall Off to the library to do research. Pierrot, Columbine and Harlequin were familiar to me. But there are dozens of others. The Doctor, Harlequin and Columbine Pierrot Pierrot

Last summer I painted a mural for a local pre-school. Follow this link to see it start to finish. http://www.flickr.com/photos/moggydog/