- 1). Prepare your wall for painting. Lay drop cloths, and use painter's tape to tape off corners, the ceiling, molding and any areas you don't want painted. Remove electrical plate covers, nails, filling holes and dents with spackle, and sand any rough areas. Prime your walls with one or two coats of a latex interior primer and allow it to dry for 24 hours.
- 2). Decide what you want your mountains to look like. You might prefer realistic mountain scenery, or since it's a child's room you might like to make cartoon mountains. Look for images in magazines or books or on websites, or sketch out images with colored pencils to illustrate what you have in mind.
- 3). Create a grid on your image with a ruler and pencil, making the squares exactly one inch by one inch. Be sure the lines are straight and all spaced exactly the same.
- 4). Make a grid on your wall, with squares one foot by one foot. Use a pencil and yardstick or a chalk line to mark these lines. Use a level as you do it to ensure all lines are straight.
- 5). Transfer your design to the scale of the wall by making an outline with light pencil or chalk marks. You don't have to transfer every detail at this point, just guidelines for the shapes of the mountain. Select a square in your image, go to the corresponding bigger square on your wall, and copy the design outline. Do this until you have a guideline transferred.
- 6). Select latex interior paint in the colors needed for the image. You can use white or black paint to darken or lighten colors, or mix colors to create more variety. Mix your colors in a paint bucket or disposable cup to achieve the hue you desire.
- 7). Paint the sky. If there are large areas of sky, you can use a roller. Use a brush for smaller areas and corners and for painting around the mountains. Allow the sky portion of the mural to dry.
- 8). Paint the base color of the mountains. The base color should be the most neutral background color. Add darker colors for shadowing, while the base color is still wet. The shadowy parts of the mountains should be on one side, and if more than one mountain peak is in your image the shadows should be all on the same side. Imagine which side the sun would be shining from, and the shadowy side would be the opposite.
- 9). Blend the shadow colors by taking a clean, dry two- or three-inch brush (or smaller, if it's a smaller scene). Brush it back and forth where the shadow meets the base color in an "X" pattern, until the two colors have blended thoroughly.
- 10
Allow the base colors to dry. Use lighter colors to paint on highlights and any snow caps. Use your image as your guide as to where to place these. Add some very, very pale blue or lavender shadows to the snowy areas and blend them in with a dry brush technique. - 11
Add the foreground, if desired, Paint images of trees, bushes, a lake or grassy field leading up to the mountain. Again, use your image as your guide, and add the finishing touches.
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