MURAL MAKERS
A Splash of Color
Mural Artists: Tony and Brandy Klindworth
Location: Lake City, MN
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Our most recent project was designing and installing a large-scale mural on the side of a pharmacy building, Kennedy Drug by Sterling, in Lake City, MN to honor Lake City’s 150th anniversary celebration by adding “a splash of color” to the downtown area. The client’s goals were to feature Lake City’s unique scenery and water transportation methods, while the building owner desired to incorporate pharmaceutical and building history into the design.
The design was inspired by the spirit of Lake City itself, a small lakefront town nestled into a bluff-land river valley full of unique water transportation methods and picturesque nautical scenery. We incorporated pharmaceutical and building history into the scenic design by utilizing the concept of a location-based vintage postcard. This allowed us to create a “Greetings from the Pharmacy of Lake City, MN” postcard tagline in the upper left of the mural, seamlessly incorporating the building’s original signage. We designed a postage stamp in the upper right of the mural to display elements of pharmaceutical history (an apothecary jar, mortar and pestle, and weigh scale) in the style of vintage hand-illustrated apothecary posters. The apothecary jar label features the establishment date of the Pharmacy building.
About the Mural:
Name: A Splash of Color
Size: 60.5’ width x 20.5’ height
Products used: Kilz Premium White Flat Water-Based Stain Blocking Primer, Golden Paintworks Mural and Theme Paints, Golden Artist Acrylics, Golden MSA Varnish with UVLS mixed with MSA Mural Formula Solvent (VOC Compliant)
See it at:
223 S Lakeshore Drive, Lake City, MN 55041
(southeast facing wall along Marion St.)
The mural is located one block away from Lake Pepin, so we had the unique opportunity of being surrounded by inspirational reference material like the shifting of fluffy clouds, flocks of seagulls and bald eagles swirling overhead, sunlight casting over the riverside bluffs, and sailboats heading into the marina while installing the mural on-site. We hope the mural leaves a lasting visual legacy in Lake City, decorates the downtown area, and enhances enticing photo opportunities for locals and tourists to develop a draw to local businesses.
About the Makers
We are Tony and Brandy Klindworth, a husband and wife muralist team. We currently live in our hometown of Lake City, MN. We run an art and design studio, Ladder Mouse, turning dusty plans into dream projects by creating attractive artwork and design direction for blossoming businesses and personal passion projects. Our work repertoire ranges from hand-painted logo designs, to signage, to large-scale mural installations. We specialize in highly-detailed work made custom for our clients.
pose with their mural supplies featuring Golden Paintworks Mural and Theme paint line.
What is your creative process like when making murals?
When creating a mural for a client, our creative process is collaborative. We start our mural design process with an initial discovery meeting to uncover our client’s desires and goals for the mural. This information allows us to create three initial design concepts to be presented and further revised with the client’s feedback and collaboration. Upon reaching an agreed upon mural design, we select paint colors to curate a palette with limited color-fading potential in the short term. We then prepare and prime a wall for painting, use a projector to trace the design onto the wall, and begin painting the mural.
We have discovered it most efficient and encouraging to cover as much square footage of a wall as quickly as possible to keep up momentum and avoid seeing daunting white space for an extended time. This often means color blocking background mid-tone colors first, adding layers for highlights and shadows second, and painting small details last, especially if trying to meet a project deadline. Finally, we seal our murals with a varnish topcoat.
Do you have any other projects coming up that you’d like to share anything about?
Next, we would like to paint a mural in a restaurant, hotel, elevator lobby, or on the sides of barns and silos. We recently finished sign-painting a vintage Mobil oil gas truck. Brandy is publishing a watercolor hand-illustrated children’s book called “Hobo Bart” with author Bonnie Sandberg, available on Amazon.
See more of Ladder Mouse’s work:
Website: laddermouse.com
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