Feb 114 min read

Confidence to go BIG

Some ask, how do you go from painting a canvas to painting an entire building? Well my answer is, I have no idea, you just do it.

Do all the things you’re too scared to do

That statement right there is what got me where I am now. I had NO IDEA how to paint a mural when I painted my first one. All I knew was the “starving artist” term and I knew if I didn’t take that opportunity then I may be giving up a big opportunity and fall into that category.

This opportunity happened right when I moved home from college and living back with my dad. I went home to him that night and told him about this opportunity that was just offered to me. He told me that painting murals was just too much for me. He said “honey that’s too big of a job” and I was so confused that he wasn’t as excited for the job as I was as I really thought he’d be through the roof about this. Later I believe he was more concerned about what it’d do to me if it didn’t work out. And that right there scared the hell out of me. My father who always pushed me to be the best I can be is telling me an opportunity is TOO big. After that, I just wanted to do it more. “Do all the things you are too scared to do”.

Taking a leap of faith. Photo credits to Pexels.com Mael Balland

I was definitely scared, wondering what would happen if I were to fail or what I was going to do if this first mural I’m doing wasn’t going to bring me more jobs like it. I had no choice but to just go for it so that’s what I did. Before I knew it I had about 20 people looking up at me in the scissor lift taking pictures. I left the whole world behind when I was up there and did the only thing I knew how to do and did it the best I could. That’s all you can really do in a situation like this.

The project

I used the grid method to trace out an anchor above a restaurant. I had no idea how else I was going to do it at the time but it worked out. Kind of. I used black chalk for the grid which I couldn’t get all the way off afterwards. After scrubbing it I was able to remove it all but it took some time. Let alone I ran the lift into a table that people were sitting at and knocked a light off the wall. Then I was so nervous to operate it in front of everyone that I just went back and forth without just moving it the hell out of there and aborting the mission. It was also New Years Eve so they were packed and I’m over here trying to remove chalk after the fact.

That learning experience was something I never did again. If I were to do the same mural today I would use a doodle grid. I’ll go over grid/tracing methods in a future post.

My first mural, The Hampton Social. Mural by Summer DeSalvo

Mess up

With all of this being said, you have two choices. Be mediocre your whole life or get out there, mess up a bit, and build a successful career off of your mistakes. I still learn something new with almost every job I get. Every job is different which is one of my favorite parts of this job. The learning doesn’t stop.

My advice to you when it comes to having the confidence to do something “out of your league” it would be, don’t be afraid to mess up. You’ll never learn if you don’t get intimidated and learn through mishaps. If you’re making a little too many mistakes it okay, breathe, take a day off (its healthy for your soul), figure out what you’re doing wrong, reach out for advice, and study what others are doing to make them successful. You can always ask me, I’m here for you.

Practice

Borrow a wall from a friend or family member. Get all your practice in on actual walls so you know what you’re dealing with when it comes to texture and size. If you don’t have your first commission yet then do this for free just to feel it out. If they don’t like it then paint over it, no big deal. If everyone loves it then yay! You have your first mural to advertise! Your first mural is your gateway to a life of art commissions so make sure it’s a subject you want to keep painting. If there’s a certain image or style that you’re good at, paint it. You want to show your best work first then practice everything you want to do in the future afterwards. After that, ask someone else for another wall 🙂 before you know it people will be paying you. Then you’re making money off of what used to just be a hobby!

Photo credits to pexels.com, Dids.

Please don’t be afraid to reach out to me with any questions, concerns or future topics you’d like to learn about. I’m all ears! Subscribe to my email list as well for your chance to win a FREE PAINTING from yours truly, have offers to courses on painting and forms and inventory lists for all your business needs. These will all be offered in the following months so stay tuned!

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