CHEYENNE — When artist Jordan Dean announced that he would paint 80-foot-tall murals on two of Cheyenne’s water towers, he received numerous suggestions for how to accomplish the feat.
Like standing on scaffolding or rappelling off the tank, Dean hung by a rope while painting the image of two massive, 60- to 70-foot-tall horses galloping over a hill.
Neither of these ideas were logistically feasible for such a project.
Jordan uses a boom lift and a projector to complete the task.
There are actually two boom lifts. One 60-foot boom is set up further back to project the image he wants to paint on the water tank, and another 80-foot boom serves as a platform for him to paint from.
Wyoming Rents donated the boom lifts, which helped make the mural possible.
“The day rate for those is in the thousands,” Dean told me. “So having those for a couple of weeks is huge, and it’s what makes this possible.”
It also means that he will no longer be able to swing through the trees like Tarzan.
That is fine with him. Dean may be a human pen in the sky, but he prefers to feel like his feet are on solid ground.
“I’ve drawn (the horses) a few times by now,” the man said. “So, when I draw, I’m right there with the tip of my pen. In some ways, riding the lift makes me feel like I’m only scratching the surface.”
Unlike scaffolding, the boom lift can be raised and lowered as needed, allowing Jordan to move his “pen” — actually spray paint cans — wherever he needs it.
“I kind of get there at sunset and I put the projector up on a lift, and I stick it out in the air pretty far,” he told me. “And, even still, it’s a big enough water tank that I have to do it in sections.”
After each section, he will get off the lift and reposition the projection on the other boom as needed before returning to the other lift to continue his work, outlining shapes for the day crew to color in.
“There was one of the nights that I was working on it where I had a goal to finish two horses, and one of them was very large,” he remembered. “So that night, I got to watch the sun rise from the boom lift, which is fun.”
Dean enjoys working late at night.
“In some ways, I’m a bit of a night owl,” he told me. “I feel like it’s always peaceful and there are no distractions. It’s kind of cool out there, and you can see the city at night. Nobody is awake, so I’m just out there painting.”
It’s A Team Effort
During the day, Dean runs errands and catches up on other graphic design projects while his day crew comes along and fills in the areas he’s outlined with color.
Water tank paint is typically commercial grade, designed to slough off any debris that may adhere to it. That means the tanks must be thoroughly scrubbed before any new paint will adhere.
It also entails using the same paint that is typically used for water towers, which is not inexpensive. The paint costs $400 per gallon. And this pair of gigantic horses will require a lot of paint.
“You only have about an hour after you mix the paint up before it starts to harden and become solid,” Dean told me. “And so, because of that I wanted to partner with (CHP Tank Co.) out of Cheyenne because they work with products like this and it’s such a huge project, there’s no way I can do it by myself.”
Dean’s role in the process entails creating outlines with spray paint that are similar to the colors he wants CHP Tank Co. to use to fill in the spaces he has defined.
“The spray paint, they are mostly scuffing off,” Dean was saying. “They can still tell where the outline was. But they have to scuff the surface enough that it is no longer glossy so that the new product can adhere to it.”
Dean once attempted to draw the outlines with a Sharpie. However, after the scuffing process was completed, the lines proved to be too thin and difficult to see.
“They also kind of have a map of what all the colors will be, and they will reference that with the outlines that I put up at night,” Dean told me. “So, they’ll be able to tell where the colors go.”
There are five shades of brown paint, two shades of blue paint, a cream color for the field, and various colors for the grass.
“Those five shades of brown are what makes the horse have kind of depth and feel full,” Dean told me. “That makes it come to life more, which is fun.”
He uses the tank’s existing white color to create the clouds.
After filling in the basic color shapes, Dean will go over the entire mural piece by piece, adding highlights and shading as well as other fine details, particularly around the eyes and nose, but also hair.
Coming Round The Mountain
The paint Jordan is using is rated to last at least 30 years, but he fully expects the murals to last longer than that.
“In life, all things fade,” he said. “But when I was a kid, I saw a mural being painted on an aquarium in California. And I happened to see it last year, 30 years later, and it’s still there, which is very cool. It’s obvious that it’s 30 years old, which is typical for these things.”
It is up to future generations to decide whether to update the existing mural or simply paint over it with a new image. However, Jordan has chosen subjects that he hopes will stand the test of time for Cheyenne.
“For this project, I was thinking about something that all of Cheyenne could look at — people from all walks of life, different demographics, different ages — and it would be appreciated by all, and they would feel that it belonged up there,” said the filmmaker. “I wanted something everyone could relate to and feel it’s part of their town.”
Dean also wanted the hill on which the tanks stood to be incorporated into the mural.
“So, then you kind of narrow things down to a handful of ingredients and things that are special to Cheyenne,” he explained.” “So it was like, ‘Oh, should we do trains or rodeo for Frontier Days? “And should we do the Capitol, you know?”
But, in the end, Dean decided he wanted something timeless, so he returned to what existed before modern things began to change the world.
“I grew up with horses here in Cheyenne, and Cheyenne has got the wild horse race,” he told me. “And I think horses are beautiful creatures.”
He imagined giant horses rounding the top of the hill and knew it was the correct image. He added a meadowlark, the state bird, to the scene.
“Those are ingredients that were here before Cheyenne was really developed,” he told me. “So that was the goal, and that’s how all those pieces came together, and that’s where we ended up.”
Second Tank Next Year
The tank Dean is painting now is the city’s new one, which will remain empty until he’s finished to prevent any condensation.
“Once this one is finished, then they’ll fill the tank and empty the other one,” Dean said. “And so, we can paint that one probably next summer.”
That’s assuming enough money is raised for the project. Dean said that Cheyenne officials were insistent that no taxpayer money be used on the murals, so it’s down to private fundraising to make the tank murals a reality.
Dean’s plan for the other tank is an American Indian girl with a proud, confident, peaceful look about her, as well as some bison and some Indian paintbrush.
The word “Cheyenne” will be painted on one of the tanks in a manner similar to the Visit Cheyenne logo, a subtle reference to tourism.
Artists often like to stand back from their work to view it critically, making sure all the proportions line up as needed. Dean still does that, even though this is 80 feet tall. It just takes a little more effort.
He has to get down off the boom and walk a good distance away to do that.
“It’s become a habit as I drive by during the day to kind of look and see how things are going,” he said. “I will check on the guys and view it from the road and make notes to work on at night.”
Beyond Wyoming
The mural is about 20% complete, but progressing as quickly as weather allows, and will be complete soon, Dean said.
The project is Dean’s tallest to date, though the Cheyenne artist has previously worked on large murals.
His first, for example, measured 60 feet tall and 80 feet wide. He has also created several works that are approximately 30 feet tall.
Jordan has recently been asked to do more murals outside of Wyoming, allowing him to expand his Western sensibilities.
“I’ve been working on a big mural project in Alabama, and I just have a couple days left on it,” the man said. “I had to get back here to start the water tank project, but now that one is in a good spot and the guys have enough to work on for a few days, I’ll probably go to Alabama and finish that project.”
He’ll return to Cheyenne to finish the water tanks before traveling to Maryland at the end of August or early September to work on another mural.
Dean credits a mural he created in Cheyenne for an upcoming trampoline park.
“There was a guy named Matt Hubbard who worked for the installation company,” he told me. “And when he saw the murals I’d done on the walls, he said, ‘I’m gonna hire you someday.'”
A year later, Hubbard invited Dean to paint a mural for a group therapy clinic he was launching in South Carolina, and he contacted him again when he opened a second location in North Carolina.
Dean’s reputation spread, and he began to work in other states.
“It’s taken off a little bit,” he said. “I am excited to see where these projects will take me in the future. I’m grateful that I can do what I love for a living while also helping to care for my children.”
Boom lifts and all.
