Thankfully with a great team working together, we covered the prepared wall with the Beeck Quartz Filler quite rapidly. It is quite time consuming, mostly because of the dabbing action needed for such a bumpy surface, but we loved using the paint.
It was Mufti Day when we painted on the bridging primer, and so, as you can see, there is not a uniform in sight. Just as well really as the paint did tend to go in unexpected places….I have to say, not because the painters were not being sensible, its just the paint seemed to have a life of its own!
I have to say I was very impressed with how quickly those painters who worked with me picked up the way to control the paint…It is quite runny and it’s more like a stain, and so they sure did need to know how to control it!
The decking was very comfortable to sit on, and as you can see, we used rubber gloves to protect our hands and plastic goggles too. There’s nothing unsafe or toxic about the paint, it’s just very alkaline and I know from experience that it dries out your skin, and can sting, though I didn’t find this much with the paint, it was more just the fixative alone. In a school setting we have to do things properly though, and the goggles meant that there were no worries with regard to paint splashing in eyes. However, to be honest, one has to manipulate the paint in such a way that you wouldn’t tend to splash it about anyway.
I started the mural using the Beeck Silicate Mineral paints, and they were fine, but when I got to the linear parts I had discovered Keim Mineral Paints, and most particularly, their Soldalit, which is a third generation sol-silicate paint. This pain was much easier to handle..a very slight difference in consistency but it made all the difference with the lines. It was slightly more viscous. If I were to paint a mural like this again I would just use the Soldalit, as the difference in consistency made it easier to use.
From the Keim website:
Recent developments in mineral silicate paint technology have seen the introduction of sol-silicate mineral paintswhich not only utilise potassium silicate but also silica sol. Silica binders are ‘colloids’, a term originating from the Greek word for glue –‘kolla’. These particles have excellent viscosity, meaning they are well absorbed into a surface and once dry the particles firmly bind to the surfaces. The addition of the silica sol, enhances the already superior adhesion of mineral paints and increases their scope of use to include application onto previously painted surfaces.”
Yes, and an additional bonus, not utilised in this case, as it was silicate on silicate, but something which I will certainly experiment with in different contexts when the mural is done.
Again from the Keim Mineral Paint website:
Mineral Paints have a flat, matt finish, however the crystal structure provides excellent light reflectance which gives a bright, clean apperance. In addition, through the use of earth oxide pigments, there is no colour fade – proven on buildings which were been decorated over 100 years ago where there is still no visible colour fade and no breakdown of the coating itself. Keim Paints are inherently resistant to mould and fungal growth due to their high alkalinity, (pH is approximately 12.3), and therefore can provide long term resistance to mould and fungal growth.
Trafalgar Junior School – Exterior Wall Mural in Playground using Silicate Mineral Paint – Stage 2
May 26, 2011
Art Journal May 2011 by Jenny Meehan
Well, this Tuesday was another fine day with respect to the weather (unlike today!). The wall we are painting the mural on is thankfully not exposed to direct sunlight in the mornings, which means we don’t have to worry about the paint drying too quickly. Not really an issue for this layer, but when we do the colours it could be. On Tuesday, myself and my team of two boys and two girls from Trafalgar painted the first layer of BEECK Quartz Filler, a bridging primer, over the surface of the wall. I couldn’t have done it without them, and what a great team they were. We talked about the paint and the ingredients, and the children loved using the paint. They loved the smell, which is like toothpaste, and as we were using the bottoms of plastic milk cartons as containers, the paint was then referred to as “milk”. They even missed some of their playtime and wanted to carry on for the rest of the morning! We had a great time. Ideally I would have liked the wall to be rendered first, but this was not allowed, and would have cost more money too. The bridging primer does give some smoothness to the surface, but it’s still quite uneven. However, having seen several other murals on the net with silicate on brick, this doesn’t worry me, not for this simple design anyway.
Such was the enthusiastic response that I realise, with hindsight, that the children’s painting shirts were not really sufficient protection, (!!) and I just hope those parents will forgive me for their children coming home with evidence of their painting activities still intact on their clothing. I think it should come out easily though…there’s no acrylic or anything which would make it hard to get out of clothing. The children also wore rubber gloves and goggles for protection (I’m not sure the goggles were really that necessary, but they looked rather scientific!) I’ll post some images up soon.
By the end of the morning the whole area was covered. Everyone worked really hard and enjoyed the process. Amazing work! Over the half term I’ll be marking up some of the design and then some of the children will help me with the colour areas. The paint takes a good 12 hours to dry enough for a second coat, and it seems to take a couple of weeks to fully harden, (based on samples at home) but there’s no rush. I’ve worked out the colours, apart from one which I can’t decide on. I’ll be painting the design on a smaller scale on paper over the half term and post it up here soon. I’m also thinking about some activities that the children might like to participate in related to colour theory and design, which can be used if required by the school.
Images below inserted at a later date!
trafalgar junior school silicate mineral paint mural
trafalgar junior school silicate mineral paint mural by artist Jenny Meehan .. Characters are copies of some of the childrens artwork produced in a drawing workshop tutored by John T Freeman, who then placed and transferred the drawings onto the mural
trafalgar junior school silicate mineral paint mural by artist Jenny Meehan .. Characters are copies of some of the childrens artwork produced in a drawing workshop tutored by John T Freeman, who then placed and transferred the drawings onto the mural
Jenny Meehan - Art Journal 