ARTSCO Mural Painting

Mixing paints

On February 22nd I participated in an ARTSCO mural painting at ISK. There were around five other people present, and we met at 9:00 and ended at 12:00. We had originally designed a mural that consisted of a paintbrush with various tendrils coming out of it, and revolving around community service. However, after we met we made the decision to paint the cheshire cat instead. We had a spot just by the art centre, by the two windows looking into the construction site, and so we decided to use the two windows as eyes and paint the cat around it. The cheshire cat was based on the one in the disney cartoon of Alice in Wonderland.

Basis for our design

We collected our paints, plastic sheets, and other materials and headed over to the site of our mural. Sabrina and I used charcoal to sketch the design onto the metal, and then we prepared to paint. However, Ms Lillis arrived and informed us that we had to first label and do lines where each mural ended. We went around painting numbers in little boxes on each set of boards and black lines where each mural ended, which took an hour or so. However, this made it a lot easier for Ms Lillis to organise which club would get each set of boards. We decided against painting the remainder of the boards blue, as it would of been more of an inconvenience than a convenience at that point.

Our mural thus far

After we had finished this task we all got together to start the ARTSCO mural. We painted the cat with pink and purple stripes, and worked together really well. The atmosphere while we worked was very relaxed and friendly, and I enjoyed working in a small group of people. Ms Lillis and the art teacher were also present, and Ms Lillis got us all juice boxes at one point. We finished most of the cat, but we still had to do the tail and background. Furthermore, outlining and small details needed to be added (such as the whiskers and teeth), but Cora said that she had some large sharpies that she could use for it.

This was a really fun activity, and it really brought the group closer. I'm glad that we got to 'make our mark' and aid in the organisation of the mural painting. I hope that ARTSCO carries out more projects like this, as it is an excellent way to be creative and help the community at the same time - if only in a small way.