Summer Moon Coffee Mural Process

This week I wanted to share the process of painting Tulsa’s latest coffee shop addition, Summer Moon Coffee on Cherry Street. Have you heard of them yet? I couldn’t believe I hadn’t at the time they approached me, because I am such a sucker for incredible branding AND a great sweet cream latte. It turns out, we do have Summer Moon Coffee locations in Oklahoma, but this was their first location in Tulsa and I felt so lucky to be a part of it.

Summer Moon Coffee features oak-roasted beans that they produce themselves which is already a standout quality for any coffee shop. Their signature Moon Milk is another claim to fame. It’s a wonderfully balanced sweet cream that is added to many of their menu items, and lends its name to their unique drink names, like Full Moon Latte, Winter Moon Latte, etc. You’ll see what I mean in just a moment by their incredible brand design as well.

The owners of the Oklahoma Summer Moon franchises, Tori and Chad Arnold, made it their mission to source local vendors for as many projects as possible. I was told my neighboring mural at Cycle Bar on Cherry Street is what brought me into consideration, and I so appreciate the thoughtfulness of considering the existing culture in their new neighborhood! I’m also so stoked that you can simply cross the street to visit another Kelci Buss Design mural. Mural neighbors!

As you can see, this was an extremely detailed design that was provided to me by the company. That’s not uncommon for franchises like this to work within the branded artwork created by the company. For me, this meant foregoing the design process and getting straight to the painting.

Full view of the branded mural at Summer Moon Coffee in Tulsa, OK hand-painted by Kelci Bus Design and assistant Destiny Pricer.

This mural is 90 square feet and sits between the menu and the window, meaning customers get up close and personal, and if there is ever a backed up line, they have a view to enjoy. For my purposes, this also meant getting those details and lines super crispy and clean since viewers will be up close and personal in their cars.

This western scene is actually made up of a bunch of smaller shapes and blobs that form the larger image. Essentially, this meant that I was playing a really confusing game of paint by numbers. In the beginning stages, I had to do a lot of stepping back and referencing the original design to make sure I wasn’t mixing up colors and shapes.

Speaking of all that hard work, I was so grateful to have a great mind and painting partner on the job with me. This semester I’ve worked with a talented emerging artist who signed on as the first Kelci Buss Design intern, ever. Check out Destiny Pricer on her Instagram @deseo.dp to watch her progress as she is about to graduate with her art degree and set off on her own very soon!

Close up of the cowboy focal point in the Summer Moon Coffee mural in Tulsa, OK hand-painted by Kelci Buss Design and assistant Destiny Pricer.

This project took about eleven days of painting but was interrupted by quite a few days of questionable weather. I got a sunburn during this job AND froze my toes and fingers off. That’s Oklahoma for you.

Now let’s talk about that wall texture. See all the bumps and the wave texture? I’ve worked with this texture once before, see the previous blog post on The Inviting Place. They also had a white wall with this stucco wave pattern. Personally, I really enjoy working with these textures. It doesn’t soak up the paint like some materials and adds even more visual interest to the final piece.

My tip for painting on irregular textures? Load up your brush extremely generously. You want to be able to cut opaque, clean lines and with all the bumps and crevices there to interrupt your flow, the only way to do that is with the right balance of paint on your brush. Dip generously into your paint bucket!

The end result is very clean thanks to two solid coats and touchups, and I love that it integrates the gutter for a more immersive environment. And that’s the thing about murals- people don’t realize in actuality, you have to paint it twice by doing the second coat. This can be extremely tedious but rewarding work. There is a lot here to keep the eye moving as you’re waiting for your delicious moon milk lattes. Go try one out and visit the mural! Bonus points for tagging me @kelcibussdesign and Summer Moon @summermoontulsa.

Kelci Buss of Kelci Buss Design painting the hand-painted logo for Summer Moon Coffee in their brand new Tulsa location.

I also hand-painted their logo on a brick wall above their fireplace mantle on the interior. This serves as a focal point in the room and calls out Tulsa in the logo which is a running tradition in their franchise- all locations have a logo on brick with the city name. So fun to see Tulsa in the mix!

This process requires a projector, because I never approximate someone’s logo. It’s very important that it looks precisely like the true logo. I outlined the logo with white water-based paint pens because the small nibs and visibility of the paint helped it stand out. Of course, this means no real room for error. This type of brick is extremely absorbent and so it takes a lot of care and skill to ensure no unexpected drips or shaky hands. You can tell from my locked jaw and laser focus in the photo above that I had no choice but to stay in the zone. With the actual painting, of course, the added challenge of course is the uneven texture and gaps in the brick, but I love the character it adds to the final piece. I used Behr white latex paint for this work, but you can use any white house paint to reliably paint on brick. It will always require two coats to get it completely solid.

Hand-painted logo on brick by Kelci Buss Design for Summer Moon Coffee in Tulsa, OK.

Even though this paint was applied opaquely, the gaps in the brick still give it an interesting weathered texture which I think is very charming. The only drawback to painting logos on brick, is that fine lines can often get lost with all the competing visual information of the background. A branding designer can help you edit your logo to have enough contrast against backgrounds like this! With this design, at a certain distance some of the details may get lost, but much of the seating is placed close to the fireplace.

Photo by @summermoontulsa. Hand-painted logo on brick. (Photo taken prior to second coat of paint)

That’s the synopsis on this really fun project. I’m honored to work with a brand and company I totally admire and can honestly say I am so hooked on the Half Moon Latte I might just spend the rest of my wages from this project on coffee! Again, I’d love to see the work through your eyes, so give us a tag when you visit Summer Moon next! @kelcibussdesign and @summermooncoffeetulsa

To chat about a mural or sign-painting project for your business, head to the inquiry form here.

Talk soon!