Experience: What I've Learned From Four Years of Painting Mural Backdrops

Nothing I’m going to say in this blog post is something you haven’t heard before. It’s a basic concept that seems pretty obvious, but I find that myself and others forget it often. It is this:

The best way to learn is through experience.

I had some time to think about this last month when I took a trip to Palm Springs to the Alt Summit Conference where I had a hand painted mural. This was my fourth time attending the Alt Summit conference as a featured artist. This is always one of my favorite jobs of the year, because I get quite a bit of creative liberty to make whatever I like, however there are several distinct challenges that come with this project each year.

The challenges are these: How do I create a good design in Utah that can then be taken to California?

How do I make a design that is large in scale but also small enough to pack up into my car?

(or suitcase in one instance.)

How do I do all of this while keeping the supply cost under the client’s supply budget of $250?

On paper these might not seem like terribly difficult questions but in practice it’s been tricky.

In 2019 I decided the best thing to do would be to paint the murals on something that could be rolled up and to use photo backdrop poles. Canvas was too expensive and fabric doesn’t come in large enough sizes, so the solution I found was to paint on some big pieces of drop cloth which are pretty cheap, about $12 each.

I soon discovered that painting on drop cloth is tricky and that it absorbs the paint like crazy. But I got it done and hauled it over to California. Although the design was fun, it looked a bit wonky on the backdrop poles and the whole thing would blow over in the wind every couple of hours. I also didn’t have a good use for the backdrop when I was done and nowhere to store it. It ended up being left out in the rain, grew mold, and had to be thrown out.

In 2020 I had learned my lesson. I now had to add some constraints to my work. The design still needed to be painted in Utah and small enough to pack up, but now I knew it could also not be made of a material that would blow over easily. I also wanted to have a good use for it after the conference was over.

My solution was to paint a bunch of small signs in Utah and pack those signs up in my car to take to California. Once I was there, I bought some large pieces of plywood and some two by fours and assembled the actual backdrop at the conference. I then painted the backdrop blue and screwed the smaller signs onto it.

Building everything in California was hard, but the design was much more sturdy than the year before and had a good impact. I was also able to sell the individual signs afterwards and make some extra cash which was an unexpected bonus.

In 2022 a new challenge arose. This time the conference was being held in New York City rather than California. I wasn’t about to drive to New York, so I needed a design that would fit inside of a suitcase. I knew making something out of wood was out of the question and a giant piece of canvas wouldn’t work either. The solution I came up with was to sew about 50 pennants and to hand letter fun words on to each of them. When they were rolled up, they fit in my bag easily. I then bought a king sized white sheet and some backdrop poles and was good to go! Since the design was inside, I didn’t need to worry about the wind. I also learned my lesson from last year and after the conference was able to sell all the individual flags.

This year the Alt Summit was back in California, and I knew exactly what to do. I painted the design onto 4, 4x4 foot pieces of plywood (small enough to fit in my car!) and then reassembled the whole thing in Palm Springs. It was sturdy, compact, and looked great. Plus, I was able to sell the finished hand painted mural to one of my Airbnb clients in Palm Springs after the conference was over.

So what was the point of me telling you all that? The point is, this year, I knew exactly what to do. The only way I knew, is because I had done it before. In the first year I spent hours researching, brainstorming and trying to find a good solution for the problem I had based on the experiences of others, and I still made a bunch of mistakes.

In the end, just trying it out for myself is how I really learned.

There’s nothing wrong with learning from the experiences of others. That’s partly why I share my own experiences here, but at the end of the day, nothing beats experience. No matter what you want to do, the best way to learn how to do it is just to do it. You won’t be perfect the first time, but it will get easier as you go.

My hope is that if there’s something you’ve been wanting to try or to do, that you’ll stop waiting and worrying and will just go for it. Actually doing things is the best learning experience and I think you’ll be impressed with how many problems you’ll be able to solve.

Have you ever had a tricky problem to solve? How did you do it? What did you learn? Leave your thoughts below!

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Experience: What I've Learned From Four Years of Painting Mural Backdrops