Fresh Creative Co. was commissioned by The Hefty Chest in Swansea, to paint a selection of interior murals as well as painting a large mural on the exterior of their premises.
we were tasked with giving their toilets a tropical beach makeover as well as painting some signage and a mural at the end of the alleyway that they’re situated down to help raise their visibility from the main road. The Hefty Chest is a new bar on Wind street that offers a pirate themed venue with a large selection of boards games to play and entertainment for people to enjoy.
PROCESS
We started this project by doing some research into the theme, looking at both pirate themed images and even watching Pirates of the Caribbean for reference. Based on this research and the references we’d curated during it, we then created a custom design based on the different elements that were desired for the different murals.
We prepared the different areas by masking taping off any areas where we didn’t want paint to avoid any possible over spray from the spray paint. We then filled any holes and sanded that back where possible to ensure we had as good a surface as we could. We then proceeded to mark up and paint the pirate themed murals using spray-paint.
Inside we were asked to paint three smaller elements in different parts of the venue. First, a cartoon style pirate lady laying in a treasure chest. We decide to contain this within a frame so we opted for displaying it as if seen through a large porthole in the wall. This larger porthole was flanked by two smaller ones, allowing us to complete the image by extending the background throughout these smaller two to really help sell the idea of looking out over a view.
Next on the agenda for inside was a more photo realistic skull which was to be painted at the other end of the bar, close to the final element, some giant octopus tentacles coming out from between the floorboards in front of the stage. We used spray paint to achieve all these elements.
We approached this job with the view to painting it in a two day window, so it was important that we knew exactly how we were going to use that time most efficiently. We began, as always with a design phase, creating mockups of the front wall in photoshop, as well as roughing out the plan for tackling the toilet area.
Once on site we began day one by focussing on the toilets, masking off any areas that we didn’t want paint on as well as having a general tidy up of the area. Next we laid down a foundation of the base colours for the wall using emulsion. We used three different blues which we blended together to create the fade in the sky, as well as a riviera for the water and a sandstone colour for the beach. We also repainted the ceiling white. Once this base coat was in place we worked back into it with spray paint to help add in the finer details, clouds, foliage and the hills on the horizon line. Once we had the bulk of this done, we split our attention in the afternoon, with one of us continuing to add the finishing touches to the toilets whilst the other headed down the alley to start laying down a base coat on the front wall which would serve as a background colour for the main event on day two. Following this we headed back to the workshop and set about creating a pattern for the lettering that would feature on the wall.
Once back at the Fresh Creative HQ we used adobe illustrator to layout the lettering design before using our plotter machine to draw out a life size representation of the lettering which we then cut out to use as a stencil to help ensure that everything was as accurate as possible when it came to day two.
In the morning we headed back to site and set about using spray paint and the stencil we’d created to mark up a rough outline of the letters on the wall. We then once again divided our efforts, one of us continuing with the signage element, finishing off the lettering by hand with a brush and adding in a subtle drop shadow to the sign, which we also did by hand with a brush. Whilst this was happening our other artist was busy using spray paint to paint the skull and octopus below to complete the wall.
We really enjoyed painting this project and look forward to working with them again in the future. You can find The Hefty Chest through the following Links:
On the exterior of the building we created an underwater themed art mural featuring a large octopus whose tentacles would extend out and seem to wrap around the whole building. We decided to also include some more skulls and an underwater treasure chest as main features before finishing off the design with a variety of different underwater elements including jellyfish, fish, rock formations, corals and plant life.
FINISHED PIECES
We were really pleased with how this project came together, transforming two separate spaces over the course of two days. This was our second visit to The Heft Chest in the past few months and we’re looking forwards to heading back again soon to complete some more projects they have in mind.
It’s always an enjoyable challenge when you get to paint in different styles on the same job. The interior skull and the pirate lady in the treasure chest, also inside, were vastly different in terms of style, the skull being painted realistically created a pleasing juxtaposition to the more cartoony elements in the porthole pirate lady that really worked together to unify the theme but also help separate the different areas of the bar.
We really enjoyed painting this project and look forward to checking out The Hefty Chest in the future! You can find The Hefty Chest through the following Links:
Why not pop down, have a drink, play a game and take a look at their new murals!
