Mural Project:
A STENCIL FOR THE MURAL
--BORROWING FROM FRESCO TECHNIQUES
| Rene'
Joseph made the equivalent to a 60 foot by 16 foot drawing by separately making
96 sheets of paper to cover the mural wall. Each 2 1/2" x 3' stencil corresponds to the smaller squares of a grid drawing. By squaring off the original sketch, the artist could blow up each little square to a larger square. |
A section from one of the world's largest drawings
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Dividing the large stencil into manageable sized squares allowed
for the magnification of the much smaller drawing to be quickly traced on the
wall.
All stencils were made freehand and cut by the artist. (The artist taped two retractable knifes together, their handles creating a space between the blades, and easily cut the drawn lines out to make the stencil.) The stencils were all color coded, so the numbers corresponding to the colors were put on the wall along with the sketch in one effort. |
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| The traditional method was chosen to complete the mural as fast as possible (in this case, after freezing temperatures and before gardening began). It involved first laying out a grid on the wall after it had received the priming coats of paint. | Then the wall was proportionally squared off with the use of a plumb line. The stencils could now be placed within the squares. |
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| With the preliminary work almost done, the drawing was effortlessly painted onto the wall. From there, the blocked out picture could be painted by the numbers, and anyone could do that quickly. | With volunteer help expected, the stencils solved the problem of having unskilled workers painting the mural and the artist could remain open to the little accidents that occur to personalize a picture. |
A drawing is divided into squares and areas of color are numbered.
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