CHEYENNE – After nearly two months of work, the first of the two murals in the Cheyenne Water Tank Mural Project was completed on Friday.
Murals on the tanks on the hill overlooking Storey Boulevard are almost entirely funded by donations, with the first mural installed on the newer water tower, also known as the North City Tower. The design features a herd of horses galloping side by side, with two meadowlarks flying in the sky above.
The second tank, known as the old tower or Buffalo Ridge Tower, will feature a Native American woman on the left and two bison running side by side on the right.
The project committee, which includes members from Arts Cheyenne, Visit Cheyenne, Cheyenne City Council, and other organizations, was formed in October and has been working on funding, advertising, and planning since then.
By the winter, they had chosen Jordan Dean, a local artist who had previously painted murals throughout the capital city, including the “Buffalo Mural” on the back side of Paramount Café and the “Cheyenne” mural at Lincolnway and Pioneer Avenue.
According to fund development director Cortney Johnson, even though Dean finished his outlines and finishing touches more than three weeks ago, CHP Paint Company still had work to do.
Throughout the project, Dean would outline the design in spray paint or marker, which was then lightly sanded and painted with rollers by the 16-member CHP team.
According to Eric McDonald, founder of CHP Paint Company, the tools used were not particularly fancy. Aside from the boom lifts and Dean’s projector at night, the team used standard tools such as sanding sponges, paint thinner, drill mixers, and four-inch or one-inch rollers and brushes.
“There weren’t any big blocks of color in one area,” McDonald explained. “There were a lot of sharp edges, especially when we got to the horse’s mane … we had to get pretty detailed.”
The sky, which has two different shades of blue, was the final thing that needed to be completed.
Since July 21, CHP and Dean have faced a number of challenges, including rain, turning off their two boom lifts, translating the art to a tank-sized scale, and more. Another major reason the tank took so long was waiting for more paint to arrive.
Each gallon of weatherproof paint costs $400, and the first tank alone cost $25,000 to paint.
“Ordering the product takes about two weeks,” McDonald said. “They make all of the colors in the factory (via a two-part mixing process) and ship them out of Kansas City… But it’s great stuff. It is bulletproof… And in terms of color retention, it’s the best you can buy.”
In addition to weatherproof paint, the tank needed to be roughed out beforehand so that the paint could adhere to something. McDonald said the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities told them the tank would not need to be touched up for another 20 to 30 years.
By then, the tanks will have to be completely stripped and repainted. He also stated that if it fades, it will fade evenly, with no area showing more wear and tear than another.
McDonald also stated that the initial black outline and sky likely took the longest, owing to the amount of paint required to complete them.
The crew has some leftover paint, and while it cannot be returned, many of the colors can be used on the second tank. McDonald also stated that the red checkered pattern on top of the Buffalo Ridge Tower would not be painted over or altered.
The second mural is expected to be painted early next summer. They expected to spend $140,000 on the first tank and $130,000 on the second; as of August 14, they still had $73,000 to raise.
