Murals - Their Impact, Joy and Purpose
“Painting is the most direct thing you can do, the touch of our finger on a surface, the first trace of our thinking. We can watch ourselves thinking and acting at the same time, there’s no interval, there’s no interface.”
I am happiest when I am painting murals. And, I’m most anxious just before starting!
It’s an ambitious endeavour, to suspend your body from a huge building, with a brush and a tin of paint - in order to dramatically change the way it’s perceived.
Why do I love it?
Because, the transformations that are possible with paint are magical, and yet so simple - just coloured mud on a wall. My need to decorate walls in this way connects me to a human activity that has been practised for millennia.
My mother discovered this one day when she came home to find I had locked myself in my room and painted over my (prettily wallpapered) wardrobe doors with a dramatic landscape painting. I needed to declare that I’d outgrown the florals.
How Murals Transform Public Spaces
My murals are deliberately simple. They rely on my good sense of colour and my sensitivity to place, yes. But there are no tricks or special tools involved - I don’t put complicated pictures on walls. I create abstract, architecturally integrated works that make public places more beautiful and engaging, to make spaces people want to be in.
Just ask my client Laurel - whose terrace I painted in Newtown. Every day she speaks to neighbours and visitors who stop to admire her mural.
They tell her their children learned their colours there. Or that they smile each time they walk past, or to ask if they can have a photoshoot, or to congratulate her on making the street more memorable. The neighbours decided to have a street party when the mural was finished.
One neighbour complained about ‘street art’ being inappropriate in a heritage area when we started painting, before apologising later, saying how much she loved the work and how it celebrated the beauty of heritage buildings.
(Side note: this same neighbour was outraged when the mural suffered its first tagging attack recently. My client said “she was more angry than I was!”)
Another outcome of the tagging incident was an outpouring of support from the community for my client - including from the local nursery school kids who walk past every day. Their teachers used the incident as a wonderful ‘teachable moment’ leading to a class discussion about why someone might tag a wall and how it makes other people feel. In an email Laurel reflected that “As I was removing the first section of graffiti this morning, I had no fewer than 15 people plus the preschool kids & teachers stop and talk to me. I met several new neighbours! So, even this is community building and connection.”
“I find it fascinating that colour has the ability to touch you so directly, almost like the voice of someone singing or speaking before you understand what the person says.”
Commission a Custom Mural
I LOVE all the work I do in colour design collaborations, and teaching - but murals are extra special. They are often my most visible and joyful projects, and I get to challenge myself physically and mentally in order to make them happen.
I design murals for visionary clients who understand the potential of this democratic artform to create joyful encounters and connect communities.
If you are ready to invest in your community and create something memorable, I'm now accepting new mural enquiries. You can download my Mural Guide or email me by responding to this email.
Browse LYMESMITH’S mural work
Check out some of my past mural commissions. Click on each project below to learn more about it.
