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Murals As a Whole~  __ Williams, Bernard. "Techniques of Community Murals." //Community Murals//. Chicago Public Art Group, Web. 7 Sep. 2010. . __  1. “ If the wall is only missing mortar in a few spots, tuckpointing can be handled by the artist or by a volunteer. A professional mason should tuck-point the wall if the job is extensive. This is for the benefit of the building and for the longevity of the mural.” (Williams, Bernard; page one) 2. “ A wall need not be perfect before a mural is applied. Minor cracks or uneven brick and concrete can be painted over. Standard procedures should include a washing of the wall to remove loose dirt and dust. This can be done with a large pail of water, brooms for scrubbing, and a mild detergent (dish soap). The wall should be rinsed clean and allowed to dry. A high-pressure water spraying system provides the most effective cleaning.” (page one; Williams, Bernard) 3. “ Walls can also be covered with wood panels or with a canvas covering. This method has the advantage of allowing future people to preserve the mural if there is a need to repair the wall or if the building is torn down” (Williams, Bernard; page one) 4. “ Appropriate permission must be secured at an early stage to avoid disappointment. A signed permission agreement is ideal. You will need to communicate with the owner of the property and discuss the project proposal. The objective here is to obtain  5. " The material you have researched will become the visual reference necessary to start your drawing and compositional studies. The early drawing stage should involve loose gestural imagery that is not too concerned with intricate details. This stage might also be initiated with a cut and paste technique." 6." Photocopies can be cut and juggled into exciting relationships. Even these early drawings should be created in proportion to the size of your actual mural area." 7. "The central purpose in creating a community mural is to give a visual voice to a particular community. The design process should be seen as a collaborative activity that openly involves members of a community learning center, a neighborhood park, a local school, or a senior citizens facility." 8. "There are three main routes to getting your outline up on the wall. You may: 1) project your design using an overhead projector, 2) use a gridding system, or 3) directly draw your image onto the wall."  9. "Drawing can be done with large charcoal sticks or with a paint brush and thinned acrylic paint. Acrylic is recommended because it will dry and not fade or smear into the paint while you are working. Charcoal lines might be mistakenly wiped away or washed away by rain. Watery acrylic will drip down the wall, but these drips are easily covered when color is applied."   10. "Projecting outlines onto the wall is probably the fastest way to transfer the design. If you have a very complex design with lots of small detailed areas, the projector can eliminate the need for meticulous drawing and multiple corrections."   11. "To project a mural, reduce your line drawing to a transparency on a Xerox machine. Make sure the lines are still crisp and dark. Also, create a 1/2 inch line grid transparency to use to check that the image is being projected squarely onto the wall and is not distorted at an angle or elongated by height or width."  12. "Create a grid of squares on your small design and a corresponding grid of squares on the wall. The grid on the design can be drawn on an acetate overlay to avoid damaging your original drawing. After priming the wall, create a grid first using a chalkline and then painting the lines with a brush against a ruler."  13. (grids) "The squares on your small design might be one inch by one inch. This means that the squares on the wall might be one foot by one foot. By copying onto the wall what is in each square of your design, you begin to reconstruct your mural design at a large scale. You will want to render the basic outlines of your mural first and not involve yourself too much with modeling or details."  14. "Establish your overall layout as quickly as possible and begin to check for the correct proportion and “feel” of your major elements. It helps to draw with vine charcoal and a rag as an eraser and then to paint in the drawing as each section is completed and judged as accurate."  15. "Most collaborative murals are painted with good quality acrylic paint, sold in jars. These are suitable for indoor and outdoor use. Enamel and oil paints are not recommended for outdoor use because they are moisture impermeable and do not allow the wall to breathe. (If moisture gets into a wall, it can’t gradually dry out through oil-based paint. During freeze/thaw cycles, the moisture trapped by the oil-based paint can expand and cause damage to the wall.)"