Historically, paint has provided the lifeblood for sign graphics. Signpainters of yore plied their trade with curdled milk, animal blood, vegetable dyes and other organic pigments (good luck passing an OSHA inspection with those materials today). During ST’s early years, commercial paints were far less homogenous than they are today. White lead (now banned), linseed oil and other additives were required to give the paint the texture, durability and sheen required to deliver an effective sign or mural. Even today, hardeners, reducers and other additives facilitate the painting process, oracclimate coatings to certain environments. So, using paint does require some knowledge of chemistry. Mixture calculations aside, the right brain drives murals’ creation. They don’t merely present a logo or brand; rather, they artistically express a mood, a place, an idea – whatever the artist wishes to bestow to the public.
Erik Nicolaisen, proprietor of Old City Artists (Portland, OR and Los Angeles), began his traditional signpainters’ education during the mid-’90s – shortly before digital printing gained its dominant foothold. His best friend’s father owned a mural-painting company, and Nicolaisen learned the business’ grunt work.
“I cleaned brushes, carried paint, precoated the wall, made patterns, applied basic lettering – whatever was required,” he said. “After I earned my fine-arts degree, my role within that company evolved. I was fortunate to receive a top-to-bottom education in the tradition of murals.”
In 2010, Nicolaisen founded his own mural-painting company, and is proud to preserve the craft: “With the proliferation of computer-designed and printed graphics, handpainted murals and traditional signage neared extinction – as did the livelihoods of the artists who painted them. We’re proud to support fine artists who don’t have to look outside their area of expertise to pay the bills.”
He continued, “Handpainted murals aren’t the solution for every job, but their vibrancy and versatility is unmatched as a design solution. Public appreciation and support for handpainted murals serves as a real marketing perk. When we’re painting in public, we draw crowds of hundreds. People look on in disbelief that we’re doing our work by hand.”
Although Nicolaisen wishes he could conduct a site survey before every project, he said Old City’s nationwide portfolio often makes it impossible. However, he said paint’s versatility reliably overcomes this hurdle: “We’ve done projects on all kind of rough or uneven surfaces – metal, tile, stone, concrete, deep stucco and others. A coat of premium-quality, industrial-grade primer provides a solid ‘blank canvas’ to which the paint will readily bond.”
He said his painters work in various media: oil-based enamels, acrylics and epoxies, with oil-based coatings being the preferred media because they allow blending colors without a quick dry-time. Murals with commercial messages are typically short-lived and don’t require protectants; long-term projects require spray-on, UV protectants. Old City applies them with various sizes and shapes of china-bristle brushes, with rollers and airless sprayers to cover large areas.
One of their more recently projects, a vivid mural, adorned a San Francisco wall near Union Square and spanned 22 x 33 ft. It promoted Seattle’s Museum Month, and was sponsored by the Seattle Convention and Visitors’ Bureau. The imagery juxtaposed Seattle’s frequently gloomy, rainy weather with the depiction of a colorful, many-tentacled glass sculpture by legendary artist Dale Chihuly (if you’re ever been to the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas, you’re well acquainted with Chihuly’s work).
Another of its murals promoted Shock Top, the St. Louis-based beer purveyor whose Belgian white ale and seasonal-wheat brews have gained a national following. To promote the custom of serving the beer with an orange slice, Nicolaisen and his crew depicted an anthropomorphous, mohawked, sunglass-clad orange slice as the focal point (along with the requisite beer bottle and full Pilsner glass) of a 21 x 18-ft. mural that graces the side wall of a bar in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood.
Nicolaisen acknowledged that business moves at a much faster pace than in bygone “Walldog” days: “Show-stopping finished work is important, but so is painting it quickly and efficiently. Our jobs rarely take longer than six days, regardless of size, but it depends on the artwork complexity. Our largest job, a 230 x 80-ft., photorealistic mural that decorated the side of a Los Angeles skyscraper, didn’t require more than seven painting days.”
One of Old City’s more challenging projects involved painting a mural that depicts characters from The Simpsons for an event in Springfield, OR (according to Simpsons creator and native Oregonian Matt Groening, the legendary animated series was based on that town).
“The characters were so recognizable – and trademarked – that they had to be perfect for FOX and Matt Groening,” Nicolaisen recalled. “The stucco wall that we painted it on was more pitted than we’d expected, and we had to finish a day earlier than planned because city officials planned a press conference and unveiling with 3,000 in attendance.”
He continued, “With our tight schedule, skim-coating the wall wasn’t an option. We compensated for the pitted surface with extra base layers of masonry primer and topcoat to fill in and smooth out the stucco’s peaks and valleys. What would normally require a single brush stroke required several to cover the stucco surface. The team worked hard and won the battle against the stucco, and delivered a beautiful mural on time.”