Meghan Taylor: Illustration & Graphic Design

Mural Technique: What Kind of Paint to Use

I recently received an email from a fellow artist wondering exactly what kind of paint is ideal for murals. After all, murals are a completely different animal than works on canvas or paper in terms of surface type, size, and elements it will be exposed to after completion.

Where murals are concerned, I hold the firm belief that acrylics rule. Why?

• They are quick drying – which is important. Since murals tend to be painted where “real life” happens, better for the paint to dry quicker so that unsuspecting folk don’t get paint all over themselves. And if you ever need to keep the paint wet while you’re working, just add a gel medium.
• Acrylics are pretty safe – their toxic fume factor is way below that of oil paints and many house paints.
• Acrylics can actually be of superior quality if you buy the right kind. Before I landed upon my favorite acrylic brand, I despised the medium for its watery plastic feel. The colors seemed lackluster compared to oils. But in actuality there are a number of great products out there. They are not cheap, but they will provide rich, thick and vibrant color and are fun to mix to create your own colors. While there’s lots of great brands to choose from, I happen to love Golden Artist Colors heavy body acrylics. (Anyone else have other favorite brands?)
• There are also a number of light resistant acrylic colors available to use for outdoor murals, that won’t fade in the sunlight over the years. Golden offers a chart displaying which paints perform best in these circumstances.

While I DO love acrylics, I should say that I use my fair share of house paint in addition to acrylics. Even though house paint doesn’t mix well on the palette to make your own colors, and are super liquid-y, they are awesome for big expanses of color. Like a background color or a large sky. Just make sure your house paint is matte finish if you go this route. Glossy won’t be good for new layers of acrylic to be painted on top.

So those are my recommendations. If anyone has any other favorite kinds of paint they use for murals, I would love to hear about it. Please comment!

Mural Technique: Priming

First off, let’s define: according to the ever-handy Dictionary.com, to prime is “to prepare or make ready for a particular purpose or operation.” So, priming a wall means preparing a wall for the mural to be painted on it. Primer seals the wall and also allows subsequent layers of paint to adhere to it.


Still, you might be asking yourself when exactly do you prime, and what do you prime with? Answer: Once your wall is clean and thoroughly dry, it’s time to apply the primer. It is important that the primer be water-based. This allows an array of any media to be applied successfully on top of it. My primer of choice is gesso. This primer is most usually white. An acrylic mid-tone can be applied on top of that, if the artist finds it helpful.

When applying gesso, it is a good idea to thin it down somewhat. But, be careful. If the mixture becomes too watery, the gesso could end up cracking and really not serving its intended purpose. Matte medium is a good mixer and will prevent such a thing from happening.

Of course, the current wall color – whether it be yellow, red or any other color - could be what you desire as the background for the mural work. (Take a look at my Art Deco Den to see what I mean.) If the wall is clean and the existing painted surface is water-based, it is fine to paint right on it. Abrading the surface a bit well help the paint adhere. Or, you can use clear gesso to prime a surface to maintain the background wall color to a limited extent.

Things get more complicated when a wall is brand new. As in, never painted and not prepared in any way, shape or form. The articulately detail-oriented folks at Golden Acrylics recommend the following regarding primers in such situations: “To determine the best primer for a specific surface, we suggest artists contact a local supplier of architectural coatings. Such companies have extensive experience with priming the broad spectrum of building supplies, and typically have specific primers for the surface the mural is to be painted on. Their recommendations will also take the environmental concerns of the area into account. We have found that architectural and maintenance paints are competitively priced, meaning that a product that costs more than a similar product will typically perform better as well.”

Mural Technique: Clean Before you Paint

Today marks the return of my Mural Technique series. I already covered the how-to-make-a-mural quick low-down, and how to assess wall health. Today? I’m just saying the wall needs to be cleaned before you paint on it.  Yep, perhaps this goes in the “obviously” corner, but I’m posting anyway. I devote an entire blog post to cleaning the wall because this step is absolutely vital despite being so plain and simple. Removing dust and grease will allow the mural paint to actually adhere to the wall, rather than to dirt… and dirt falls off the wall, so of course the mural will come off with it. Soap and water will do for a wall that is already on the clean side. If the surface has some dirty history to it, use a degreaser in order to get off all the grease. Liquitex suggests trisodium phosphate (aka TSP) mixed with warm water for this purpose. Another option is a household abrasive cleaner which will abrade the surface to help it accept your subsequent layers of paint.

Just make sure you’re painting on the wall, and not on grime, and your paint strokes will keep you company for a lot longer.

Mural Technique: Assessing Wall Health

The second in the mural technique series, this post deals with assessing the health of your wall. Which helps answer the nagging question: if I paint a mural here, how do I know it won’t peel off in 6 months… My take? A mural can go *anywhere* - just gotta take the proper steps before it is painted to ensure it will last for years to come. The first of those steps is assessing the wall.

These four points are all key to consider. So take a look at your wall, and take notes on the following:

• First things first, what kind of paint is currently on the wall? Investigate. The most important aspect to the current paint job is if it is water-based or oil-based paint. A water-based paint is ideal, as it can handle a variety of mediums placed upon it – acrylics, for one - my favorite paint to use for mural purposes. Oils, watercolors, and most house paint can also be used. A wall covered in oil-based paint is a different story, as many mural mediums will simply not adhere to this. The basic rule of thumb is that water-based paints like acrylics and latex house paints will not survive long if painted on top of an oil-based painted surface. If your surface is oil-based (or if it is simply not known) the surface should be abraded or stripped.

• Is the paint peeling or deteriorating? If so, this again means its time to strip or abrade the paint. Use abrasive cleaner, scraping, sandblasting or powerwashing.

• Is there mold or mildew on the wall? Such impurities will wreak havoc on a mural. Get rid of mold by scrubbing with a mixture of bleach (1 part) and water (3 parts). (Do not ever mix bleach with ammonia products. Bad things will happen.) Scrub, and then leave your bleach solution on the surface for 10 minutes before rinsing. Be sure to figure out the source of the mold, else this problem could spring up again — fix the leak or moisture source.

• Are there cracks and grooves? These can be filled, but the methodology and material depends greatly upon the type of wall surface. Feel free to consult with area professionals. Golden Acrylics, my favorite experts in mural painting technique, suggest you check with an area architectural coatings store for recommendations on the best product available.