Sonoran Skylines Desert Mural

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Arizona’s largest outdoor mural, Sonoran Skylines, is located at Tucson’s Park Place Mall. The 26,400-sf mural depicts elements native to the Southwestern desert, such as a howling coyote with a backdrop of twisty saguaro cacti and the starry Sonoran Desert sky. The complex project, which involved rolling lightly textured masonry, used 13 vibrant Dunn-Edwards colors and took nearly three months to complete. Local muralist, Jessica Gonzales, enlisted the help of her husband, Dakin Martin and a few other local painters in the project’s final stages to bring Sonoran Skylines to life.

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Customer

Jessica Gonzales Art

Location

Tucson, AZ

Completion Date

Nov, 2024

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Project Challenges:

The mural size is approximately 450′ wide by 62′ tall, so a special boom lift was required to reach the top section of the building, which is inset and contains fire exits. The paint needed to perform as expected, so Gonzales depended on her Dunn-Edwards Representative to recommend the right products, sheen and colors that would endure and hold their vibrancy in the desert sun. She also relied on her Representative to make sure the product was there when she needed it so she could meet the tight deadline.

Sonoran Skylines involved a diverse color palette. The coyote, sky and even the cacti were not singular colors; their schemes shifted at different sections of the flowing mural. So, the effort needed a paint partner with a wide range of colors to choose from, who could also be relied upon for perfect color-matching throughout the project. Navigating mall traffic was difficult, so Gonzales often needed to work graveyard shifts, especially in the early days.

"There’s something about the reliability and consistency with Dunn-Edwards. Our rep was amazing; very responsive. I could put orders in and he would get them to me immediately, and he even showed up on site several times, and answered all my questions".

Artist Qualifications:

A long-time local artist, Gonzales committed to doing strictly mural work nearly a decade ago, and has created more than 150 of them across the Southwest and beyond. In the Old Pueblo alone, her work can be found at The Loft Cinema, Rialto Theatre, as well as the Rillito River’s flood control mural project (the largest mural in Pima County), to name a few. When Sonoran Skylines was initially envisioned, the idea was to transform an empty wall into an art piece. Responding to a call to artists in the community, Gonzales was chosen to help mall owners flesh out concepts, as she specializes in expressive, bold colors and patterns that engage.

"One time, we ran out of some supplies, and our rep brought them out for us without even having to ask him. He was really part of our support system.”

Why Dunn-Edwards?

Gonzales has a strong working relationship with Dunn-Edwards. She appreciates the responsiveness from her Dunn-Edwards Representative, who, in addition to assuring all paint was delivered on time, also recommended ULTRA-GRIP® Select, a primer with excellent adhesion and enamel holdout, as well as very good stain blocking and hide. Gonzales was especially impressed by its heightened opacity, which allowed her vibrant colors to really stand out with fewer coats.

Gonzales has a history of creating complex mural color palettes using Dunn-Edwards paints, so she appreciates the company’s wide range of colors, as well as its superior (and timely) color-matching services.