Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
  • art & stories
    • black horses
    • Sea Ponies of Chincoteague
    • Just Animals
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • Assateague ponies
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • just animals: photography
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • That Darn Elf, a musing or two
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • Skyfire
      • Leyover and Bardic Circle
      • Following Raven
      • The Merrow's Cap >
        • Merrows Cap credits
      • Manannan's Horses
      • Fins
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
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        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
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            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
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        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • murals
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  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • back to the islands 2021 >
      • Ponies 2021
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague Carousel
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • photo your toys >
      • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
      • Lokigator and Throg's Epic Adventure
      • Sam and Bucky's Excellent Adventure
      • Mando and Grogu
      • paint and wet snow pants
      • Legolas and Hwin, snow
      • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
      • Wonder Horse repaint
      • wild Breyers >
        • printable prints and downloads
        • water horses
        • beach Breyers
        • Lotus Legolas and Arod
        • teeny tiny Breyers
        • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
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        • Black Horses
      • educational display
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      • beach party
      • advenatureData
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      • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
        • Hounded in Baskerville
      • how to photograph your dragon
    • Rich Toy hobby horse rehab
    • ModPodge rules
    • paint pours
    • flour salt clay
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    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
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    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
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        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • Planet fish tank
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        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
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    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
        • how to be a kayaking Gramma
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
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      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • horseshoe crab spawn 2021
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • Santa, You're Doomed
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad

Mural: painting

Our photos from the Manheim Township Recreational Dept mural class here show the steps in the painting process.

Any water-based paint (that dries insoluble) will work: house paint, artists' acrylics, craft paints, water-mixable oils. You can paint oil over latex or acrylic but not (as I remember) water-based paints over oil.

Techniques:

Wet into wet;
paint color A...add some of color B while A is still wet, blend. Blend several colors at once. Be careful not to get too many colors going...that = mud. You can use two brushes: one full of paint, one wet with water to blend the colors. You can also use a dry brush to blend colors.

Wet into dry: let the layer below dry before adding more color. Hair dryers are my friend. Layers can be opaque, translucent, or transparent. Use acrylics for transparent or translucent colors, house paints are made with a lot of opaque white, so they thin rather chalky. You can thin with water, or with one of the clear mediums found at art supply stores (they are usually thicker and more gel-like).

Drybrush: this means a DRY brush. Just enough paint on the bristles to fall off onto the wall. It doesn't flow, as in a wet brush. It scratches, bristles, makes cool textures. A scratchy, bristly, even chewed up brush works great for this technique. Fur, treebark...

Get wierd: try the dog-fur-mat cutter (like a big bent fork) one of our artists used to scratch paint off the wall, creating hair textures. Or use a bent fork, a garden tool, tree bark, anything that creates texture. You can also attach, glue, screw, nail stuff to the wall as part of your mural. That's called collage, or bas relief.

Opaque: like wall paint, you can't see through it. Most house paints are designed to be very opaque, so they cover the color (or lack of it) underneath. This quality makes them quite (yuck!) chalky when you thin them down.
Translucent: you can see through it, sort of. Like sea glass. Like shower curtains. Some craft paints and oils, and acrylics are good.
Transparent: like stained glass. Diet soda. Grape juice. Jellyfish. This is the Way of Watercolor. Which doesn't work on walls. However, some acrylics thin down nicely (there are mediums at art supply stores, sort of jellyish, to thin them without maing them runny). You can use transparent techniques to lay a glaze of color over part of your painting, or for background effects, to add layers of depth of color to a figure.

Plant slapping: cut a small branch with a few leaves on it, use a paint tray (for a paint roller), roll out a thin layer of paint, slap the leaves on it (coat them with paint), slap on wall: with some practice (on cardboard or newspaper) you should get a neat plant print. You can also sponge or roll paint onto leaves and press onto the wall. You'll use a lot of newspaper to press leaf prints onto the wall: you need a clean surface behind your leaves each time. You can use spray paint (ventilation!) in several colors; the leaves will "leave" a shadow as you spray them. Alternating lighter and darker colors as you move your leaves across the wall will create a wonderful sense of foresty depth.

Spongebob: use natural sponges, or shred a square yellow one. Experiment with textures: dab, splat, stroke, streak, toss, use wetter, dryer. Wrap something (wire, twigs, rope, tape) around part of a paint roller to create a texture. 

Use interruptions in your wall to your advantage. We couldn't get rid of the pipe below (seems to be an important part of the plumbing or something), so we turned it into a tree. Wrap something around a window, grow vines over the windowsill, turn a door into a cave entrance, perch an owl on the air conditioner..
click here to enter the bat cave
click here for arctic adventure
leaf smacking and other textures
click here to enter the jungle
dive into 'ocean'
here kitty kitty...
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