This picture is a close-up of a small part, of a desert scene wall mural that was painted on a wooden garage door over 20 years ago, by another artist.
It’s in need of repair. Paint is peeling off in many places.
The previous artist couldn’t be found, so I was commissioned to restore this mural to it’s former glory.
Over time murals need touch-ups, especially when painted outside on a wooden surface.
And this exterior mural definitely needs some repairs.
Here’s a picture of the wall mural painted on garage door – the desert scene that I was hired to renovate.
(below) Original mural – when viewed closely has lots of peeling paint.
My client loves this mural so he hired me to fix the peeling paint.
First, I scrape loose paint off the entire mural, apply wood putty where needed, and sand the surface.
(below) Image of peeling paint scraped off.
(below) Image of wood putty applied and sanded.
And here’s a picture of the mural with putty covering all the damaged spots.
As you can see, a significant amount of the mural surface needs touch-ups.
Everywhere I scrape and/or patch needs primer. I apply thin coats of primer and tinted primer until all putty spots are coated.
(below) Look how much of the original mural got covered up. Quite a bit!
I made sure to coat everything with primer. Then paint in base colors to match what was left.
Tip: If you scrape peeling paint off an exterior surface, cover the edges of all areas scraped, as soon as possible with primer. If you don’t prime quick enough, the edges will continue to peel. And then when you go back to your project, you’ll need to scrape the edges all over again.
My client loves the colors and style of his original, desert mural and also wants to customize it some more.
The center of the mural previously had a simple road and a few bushes. Since much of the mural was painted over, it could be repainted exactly the same way, or we could change a few things.
We brainstorm together about potential changes.
My client asks me to add a water element to his desert landscape mural.
I think a stream with rocks would look great below the plateau. Water could naturally collect here after a heavy rain. My client likes this idea.
More things desired: Add more cactus and trees, colorful desert flowers in the foreground, a rabbit, and a desert lizard.
I sketched in these new landscape elements, and continued painting in the mural.
I took great care match the colors and style, of the remaining, original, mural elements.
Here is the mural makeover.
Adding a stream, flowers and cactus, really made this desert landscape come alive.
I truly did match the styles and colors of the existing cactus, rocks and trees. The mural looks cohesive. Everything looks like it belongs.
Renovation complete – No more peeling paint!
And the new version of this desert landscape mural, looks beautiful.
Video shows closer details of the renovated wall mural on garage door.
Garage doors are a great place to paint a mural. And this desert landscape mural sure adds a lot of character to my client’s backyard area.
I could paint a mural on your garage door or the side of your garage that faces your backyard.
If you live in the Los Angeles, CA area, give me a call. I’d love to brainstorm with you about customizing a mural.
Call 818-994-1441
Ask for Colette.
See more exterior wall murals.