I decided to create Sol Lewitt’s [Wall Drawing 797](https://www.artsy.net/artwork/sol-lewitt-wall-drawing-number-797) on a big, empty wall in my new bedroom...

The finished product:

Here’s what I did.

1. Prime the wall.

Two layers of white primer. No need for visuals here.

2. Mockups in Sketch

I read that the draftsman who did the Mass Moca drawing was inspired by the surrounding Berkshires when he drew the initial black line. Similarly, I wanted to use my own surroundings–New York City–to create a skyline-like first line. From that, I knew the subsequent lines would evolve into curvier, more organic shapes. Here are some of my original mockups in Sketch.

3. Outline the wall

Happy with the digital mockup, I drafted the first line on the wall with pencil.

4. Colors!

With the all-important first line done, next up was drawing the colored lines. For these, I got some paint pens from a tiny paint shop in SoHo that was obviously intended for graffiti artists and folks much cooler than me. Nonetheless, the pens were perfect for the job. From here on out, it was a lot of attentive line drawing in alternating reds, yellows, and blues. The process was somewhat slow-going, but also meditative and really, really fun.

Progress.

And after two long afternoons of work, the finished product: