Color Block Sunrise

I painted this entryway color-block mural in Etna, California… a small mountain town on the PCT trail. I bought a hat a couple weeks prior and it turned out to be my inspiration…

I used my iPad pro, apple pencil, and the Procreate app to put together the design. The wall is 6x7 feet, so I made the Procreate canvas 6x7 inches. That way, when you project your image, it will be the same dimensions of your wall.

I used the Akaso Mini Projector to transfer my design onto the wall. It was during the day, so I closed all the curtains to try to make the room as dark as possible. You don’t need the projector image to be perfect… just visible enough to get your guidelines.

If you know your room won’t be very dark, a trick is to change your colors on the iPad to really bright, contrasting colors - they’ll be easier to see on the wall!

After I had tracked the whole design with pencil (was still using pencil at this point… my go-to is chalk now!) I taped my paint samples onto each section where I planned to use them. It’s a nice way to keep track of all your pencil lines.

I used sample jars of Behr (eggshell) from Home Depot for all of my paint (only a few bucks for an 8oz. jar… I had more than enough of each color for this one. (8 oz. usually covers about 25 square feet). I didn’t use any primer because these paints already have primer included in it… most paints now do!

Final paint lineup… Terra Cotta Clay, Compass Blue, Splendor Gold, Charismatic Sky, Florida Sunrise, Tahoe Blue, Brilliant Blue, Shipyard, Sizzling Sunset, and Colorful Leaves.