Dairy Maid @ Cisco Brewers

Client: Dairy Maid
Location: New Bedford, MA | 2024

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!!!

When I got the opportunity to work with Dairy Maid, an ice cream brand local to New England, I was thrilled for two reasons.

1. The job site (and mural) would live at Cisco Brewers, which takes me back to my glory days lifeguarding on the beaches of Nantucket.

2. Ice cream, duh.

I brought on a muralist (and now great friend!) local to Massachusetts, Annadidathing, to help install this project and we had so much fun painting over the course of two days. Knowing we wanted to have time in the evenings to eat as many lobster rolls and oysters as we could manage, we opted to forego projecting this design, allowing us to work in broad daylight rather than wait until the sun set enough that a projector would, you know, project. Instead, we gridded out the design using what we at Pandr refer to as the “doodle method” (click here for a more in-depth guide to the doodle grid method).

The doodle method is a great way to ensure that your mural looks exactly as it should - and is especially useful for beginner muralists who might not be able to afford a projector (yet!). The premise to the doodle method is simple: paint your background, and then once it is dried use a light colored chalk to draw doodles all over your surface. Letters, numbers, stars, hearts - doesn’t matter, just make sure they’re different so you can easily anchor yourself in a space. The doodles helps us to layout the design before we paint, acting as a grid. What’s difficult about a regular grid is that counting spaces and keeping track of where you need to paint mentally can be tough. When you have different shapes in different areas, it’s much easier to stay on track, paint in the right areas, and ultimately save yourself a lot of time!

Once Anna and I finished our doodles, the painting came easy and we just love how it turned out. The team at Dairy Maid was amazing, the views we had while painting were gorgeous, and the sea breeze was the metaphorical cherry on top.

If you’re ever in the Boston area, I highly recommend making a trip to New Bedford. Just an hour’s drive from Logan Airport, this is a hidden gem of a summer destination spot and I will definitely be back!!

If you find yourself at Cisco Brewers, be sure to take a pic and tag me @pandrdesignco - as always, we love to see you guys in front of our murals!