At some point in time I got the idea to paint a faux exposed brick backsplash in the kitchen. It seemed more attainable than either a real brick wall or tiling for any number of reasons. I did underestimate the time it would take, which despite succesfully not rendering every little brick detail, ended up being a bit of a journey. But as Teddy R said, "Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty..."



The process began with two coats of drywall compound, in rows of brick strokes. The natural stopping and starting, as well as overlap, created the 3-D shape of bricks, along with some interesting textures. I sponged it as it was drying for more texture. Next I gave the area a warm basecoat and  began laying my yellows following the basic brick pattern. I used about 7 different warm colours in total, being particular about which colours I mixed and trying to keep a realistic pattern. Some of each colour was saved to drybrush over top of the solids and work some colour harmony and texture in. I followed that with some toothbrush spatters.

The step of painting in the mortar took a while, as I followed the existing texture to seperate the bricks. As I worked, I drybrushed over certain areas, to add aging and crumble and fade out pieces of brick. Finally, I completed the look with a light airbrushed shadow underneath each brick. Overall it turned out surprisingly well, actually more so in person than photos. One of the stranger murals I've done.