Fresh Creative Co. were commissioned by the Ivy Bush Hotel to paint a graffiti style piece on board that would then be hung in their bar area. The brief was to include a brick background and some graffiti style lettering.
PROCESS
As with all our projects we started out on paper with a design phase. We drew out some letters for the board and made the decision that it would be great to have some vines of ivy leaves trailing through the piece. We found some nice images of Ivy leaves to use as reference and created a small stencil for the leaves to help us get the effect that we wanted for the wall.
Once on site we primed the board with emulsion and marked out a rough sketch of the letters using spray paint. Once that was in place we set about creating the brickwork effect for the background. This was accomplished by laying out a grid of masking tape which would form the pattern of mortar between the bricks. We then used spray paint to paint in the bricks on top of this framework, using a selection of beiges and sandstone colours to create the effect, before finally removing the tape and revealing the grey mortar lines between them. We then touched up these mortar lines anywhere that the paint from the bricks had managed to get in underneath the tape.
The next phase was to fill in the letters. We chose to do a classic graffiti style faded fill for this piece, using five different shades of blue in each letter, blending them together to create a smooth gradient from light to dark. Next we added a dark blue 3D to the letters followed by a black outline and a very pale blue second outline surrounding this to help separate the letters from the brick background. Lastly we added white highlights to the letters to help give them a slightly more 3 dimensional appearance.
The final piece of the puzzle was to add the ivy into the letters. First we added the vine itself using a middle brown spray paint and adding some lighter brown highlights onto it. We tried to give the appearance of the vine hanging from the letters, snaking in and out of them through the negative spaces between the letters themselves. Finally we added on the ivy leaves using the stencil we’d prepared earlier to give the piece it’s finishing touches. We used three different shades of green on the leaves, blending them together in different combinations on different leaves to help add a little individuality to each leaf, whilst at the same time maintaining their natural uniformity.
FINISHED PIECE
We really enjoyed painting this small piece for the Ivy Bush in Pontardawe and we hope to return soon to do some more traditional sign painting to add to the ever growing collection of art they display on their walls. you can find out more about the Ivy Bush here https://www.facebook.com/pg/ivybushhotel/
