mural – Crafted in Carhartt

Perhaps one of the most intriguing and mesmerizing qualities of an artists’ spirit is the ability to see the world in a completely different light. Through their eyes, everything is art—be it the right light bouncing of a brick or trash squished into a storm drain. Take a look at how the talented Ellen Rutt sees everything around her through the lens of her instagram account.

Based out of the ever offbeat Detroit, the murals and graffiti splashed around this colorful city filled her with a love for art that fully encompasses the viewer. Ellen works on a large scale quite often. Take a look at a few of her past projects here.

I got to watch as Ellen sprayed a few finishing touches onto this bewitching mural. Active lines dance around the surface with colors abuzz, inspired by a clipping from Life magazine published in the 1940’s. This piece sits in the middle of the Eastern Market District, accompanied by many other murals and giants works.

Tips for Mural Painting from Ellen Rutt:

Give yourself at least twice as much time to paint it as you think.
2. It might look dorky but always have a headlamp, a work belt, and a respirator. If you’re really in the zone and it gets dark, a headlamp allows you to keep working, the work belt keeps you from constantly going up and down ladders unnecessarily, and the respirator is just good to have whenever you use aerosols.
3. Ask people to help you. It’s super fun to work with other people and it’s way easier to carry ladders and big buckets of paint with more than one person.
4. Sketch it out ahead of time. If you plan ahead in the beginning, it will get easier to improvise later on.
5. Get comfortable with the idea of peeing outside. It’s actually super fun.
6. Also BRING RAGS!!!!! LOTS OF RAGS. If you are clumsy like me, you will inevitably spill paint, or step in it, or just somehow get it on your face.

A word of advice from Ellen to other young women hoping to get out there and leave mark on their community:

“Just go out and do it! Start small, maybe paint a wooden fence, or see if a neighbor will let you paint their garage door. Once you get one project under your belt, it’s much easier to approach people and propose something larger. Plus, you will learn soooo much after the first time.”

Ellen is wearing Carhartt Women’s Milam Shirt, Weathered Wildwood Jacket, Slim Double Front, & Watch Hat.

Painting on a large scale can be intimidating. But if you take small steps, you can achieve a massive mural with ease. I went from a 11″x14″ drawing on a sheet of paper to a 9’x15′ mural. Here’s how.

You’ll need: pencils, paint, paint brushes, tape, a projector, a large surface like a wall or a giant roll of paper, and artwork you want to enlarge. (You can easily find a tracer projector at your local craft store or online.)

Step One: Draw a sketch or print out an image of what you’d like your mural to portray. You’ll eventually need to fit your projector’s base over this image, so it’s best to keep it small. Use an 8.5″x11″ or 11″x14″ sheet of paper.

Step Two: Use a light projector to cast the sketch or printed image onto the wall. To make the projected image larger or smaller, move the projector closer or further from the surface you’ll be painting on. Make sure you’re in a room that can get fairly dark so you can see the light from your projector with ease.

Step Three: Use a pencil and trace the projected image onto your mural’s surface. Turn the lights on an off a lot during this process to make sure that you’ve traced all of the lines. It’s easy to miss some in the dark.

Step Four: Start painting in small sections until it’s all filled in. I did the outlines first, in this case, to make sure I didn’t lose the pencil lines under paint. Then I filled in the buildings with color.

Step Five: Keep going till you’re done! That’s when I moved on to the background and lastly cleaned up the outline in a few places.
What I wore: The Hayward Zip Front Hoodie & Series 1889 Slim Double Front Dungaree.