CASPER — Creating a huge 60-by-22-foot outdoor mural in the Oil City’s historic downtown district involves a lot of planning, imagination and lot of time on a long ladder.
But Laramie artist Dan Toro is OK with that.
His box of high-grade art paint in spray cans continued to empty this past week as he worked toward a long-lasting artistic salute to the volunteers who made Casper Mountain’s Hogadon Basin Ski Area what it is today.
“It will be be an old pair of skis with a scarf wrapped around it and old poles,” Toro said, describing the work as he was nearly a week into the project. “And inside the scarf is the hill, with a guy skiing down it, kind of. It’s just an outdoor skiing theme mural for Casper Mountain.”
Perhaps the wintery scene and subject matter helped keep the artist cool with temperatures topping 90 degrees.
The artwork represents the Casper Mural Project’s latest commissioned wall. Group treasurer Beth Andress said the mural is meant as a salute to community volunteer efforts that led to the establishment and operation of the mountain’s ski resort.
“It’s been years and years of regular people making things for people to enjoy,” Andress said. “It’s the story of our community.”
Andress said her group put out a “call for walls” last year, and the owner of 42 Degrees North store at 128 St. Center St. had been asking for a mural. The store’s north wall was selected because of this year’s theme.
The mural group asked artists to send concepts and Toro’s was selected. Andress said the building’s owner provided input in the process of choosing the mural.
Full-Time Muralist
Toro, 42, said he started painting murals full-time about six or seven years ago.
After graduating from the University of Wyoming with an art degree, he built houses for a while. As he pursued his art, he took a job as a bus driver to give him time to paint and draw.
“Then, our community started a mural project and that’s when it kind of clicked,” he said. “I am so detail oriented and this doesn’t let me get detailed. I really like it; it changes the way I think.”
Laramie has since blossomed with murals, more than 20 now highlight buildings through its historic downtown.
When he left his bus driver job to go on the road, Toro started doing murals across the state and in other places around the nation. He quickly learned through murals projects in Indiana and Salt Lake City, where he didn’t make any money, that the business side of estimating his costs required more thought.
In addition to murals in Laramie, he said has painted walls in Jackson, Green River, Rock River, Cheyenne, Cody, Saratoga and Buffalo. His next stop will be a small town in Nebraska.
When he arrived in Casper, Toro found the space provided was a little larger than he initially thought. But the artist said it posed no problem. He centered the art more and is making the edges different; that’s all part of being a mural artist.
Toro uses paint rollers to apply background colors and has a long pole with a marker to draw on the brick. Once the background paint is applied, he grabs one of his paint cans, specially made for art such as murals.
“It’s really low pressure. It’s not like the stuff you buy at Home Depot,” he said. “So, it goes slower so you can just draw with it.”
Coloring Lines
To do edges of the work, Toro uses a piece of cardboard to block the paint or just goes back over his edge with the background color. The larger the project, the “blurrier you can be.”
He said fine detail really doesn’t matter when dealing with a space that is 60 feet.
As a muralist, he must also be physically fit to keep going up and down the ladder to paint, but also to check his work. He carries a small painted piece of paper depicting the mural’s portion of the wall he is addressing in the moment. Making the color right can be difficult.
“It’s a challenge, because you draw it on paper and it looks great, but everything is different out here. You have to adjust your blues here and there to make it look better,” he said.
While some projects require him to use a lift, the Casper project is within the reach of a ladder.
Another part of being a muralist is one has to be a conversationalist. He finds in nearly every city he paints that people want to come up and talk to him — and he’s OK with that, but “you don’t get much done.”
“At home, you can work because you can figure out your hours. But on a mural you can’t because you talk all day,” he said. “And that’s just how it is. The community can see it and wants to know what is going on. This is your guys’ town, I will talk to you all day.”
Heat on the Casper project has been an issue, but Toro tries to get to work early.
He said he typically sleeps in his pickup. He drove up the mountain he’s painting and found it a great place to spend the night.
Competitive Gigs
The mural business is competitive when Toro tries go out of state. He has submitted for projects in Denver that contained a rejection letter indicating there were more than 400 applicants.
In the winter, the artist takes time for oil paintings, but he feels like his niche is now clear.
“I kind of like murals now, I kind of moved to spray paint,” Toro said. “I do it enough so that it’s all I think on.”
Andress said Toro’s work is being financed through private donations and fundraising efforts.
The Casper Mural Project began with the Rev. James Reeb Memorial Mural at 225 St. David St. in 2019. Reeb was a native of Casper who was murdered by segregationists in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.
“Our goal is a mural every year,” Andress said.
While murals can run from $10,000 to $70,000, the murals in Casper have been created with budgets in the $10,000 to $15,000 range.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
