What is probably Utah's largest painting is housed in a Provo industrial building -- permanently.

Salem artist Russell Ricks, 48, is putting the finishing touches on a 26-foot by 150-foot mural on an inside wall of the Intelliserve industrial factory building on Larsen Parkway.

"I like working big," Ricks said.

While at work, Ricks wears a pair of Dickies overalls so splattered with paint it's hard to tell they were once white. He speaks from between a bushy, reddish mustache and a spot of sky-colored paint on his chin.

It has taken him nearly four months and 35 gallons of paint to cover the wall with an original landscape painting. Now, rain or shine, the company's employees have a good view of Mt. Nebo as seen from Mona, without leaving their workstations.

"Some of them say it looks like they could just go lie down in the grass," Ricks said. "That's nice, but I hope it doesn't make them daydream too much. As long as they get their work done, it's OK."

As the project has progressed, Ricks said he's heard workers' comments progress from, "That looks like a mess," to "Hey, that's a pretty picture."

Ricks said Intelliserve's owner commissioned the work because he believes art in the workplace has a positive effect on the workers' morale. This is actually the second mural Ricks has painted at Intelliserve, the other one being in an adjacent building. That mural is nearly as large (18 feet by 120 feet), he said, but it didn't turn out as well as this latest one.

"They ended up putting a crane right down the middle of Rock Canyon," Ricks said. "This time they told me their equipment wouldn't cover up the painting."

Vern Swanson, director of the renowned Springville Museum of Art, called Ricks's mural the most monumental painting project ever attempted in Utah.

"If I was to use one word to express it, it would be 'expansive,' " Swanson said. "When I stood back and gathered it all in, it worked. I was impressed. There's very few Utah artists that could have pulled that off."

In the beginning

Ricks started by sketching a smaller version of the mural, where one-quarter inch equaled one foot. Then he made a charcoal mark every foot on the wall to help him gauge distances. He said if the painting were more detailed he might have drawn a complete grid, but the landscape didn't require it.

After covering the wall with a few coats of base paint using a paint roller, Ricks used 3- and 4-inch brushes to paint the 3,900-square-foot mural. He said the paint is between six and 10 layers thick in some places because of adjustments he made.

"Painting is adjusting your color, adjusting your composition," Ricks said. "When you blow it up, you have to make changes. But you have to make the right adjustments. That just takes a little experience. You have to paint long enough."

And experience and time are two things he's had. Ricks has been planning the Mt. Nebo mural for about five years now, and has known he wanted to paint murals for much longer than that.

Ricks's father was an artist and a sign painter by trade. When he was 11 years old, Ricks helped his father run a painting school. The elder Ricks organized "painting vacations," where a group of artists-in-training went to paint landscapes on location. The younger Ricks set up easels and other equipment, and then got to paint on his own. Tears come to his eyes as he remembers his artistic roots.

"I grew up with this art culture in our family," Ricks said. "I always knew this is what I wanted to do. Paint is in my blood."

Apparently, it runs in the family, a little. Ricks is the fifth of six children and he said three of his siblings paint and all of them have talents in art or music.

Falling in love with art

Ricks painted his first mural at age 16. He was asked to paint his high school mascot, a bobcat on the wall of the gym. It was 16 feet wide by 10 feet high, and it took him two and a half months to complete.

He used scaffolding to reach the highest parts of the mural, and one day was so concentrated on the mural he forgot where he was. Ricks stepped back to look at his work and stepped right off the scaffolding. He fell flat on his back and his can of paint splattered over the ground next to him, but he wasn't seriously injured.

"Ever since that first mural I fell in love with mural painting," Ricks said. "It's fun to work on the big scale. I think I paint faster and the paintings have a fresher quality when I paint big."

But even after years of experience, Ricks's projects aren't free from mishap. He said he's dropped a few brushes, which can be a hassle when painting 20 feet up in the air. One day he was positioning the man-lift and he drove it right into the wall. Bryce Walker, who is filming a documentary about the project, came quickly with his camera.

"I told him not to patch it, not to paint over it until I could film it," Walker said.

Walker has about seven hours of film from the project which he will edit down to 60 minutes for distribution to local cable channels. He and Ricks will then start work on a cable painting program called "Creative Journey."

Ricks likes to paint landscapes in oil, and has his paintings in galleries in Utah County (Brownstone and Repartee galleries), Salt Lake City and Texas.

Ricks's brother Marty Ricks, who owns Krieger-Ricks Frame in Springville, also paints landscapes. He doesn't paint murals, but he thinks it's great his brother can.

"I think there's very few people who could take on a project of that magnitude," Marty Ricks said. "The logistics of what you have to go through make it a difficult process."

The two brothers sometimes critique each other's work. Russell Ricks said part of the reason he paints is to carry on the family legacy. The other part is for the sake of his viewers.

"If my work makes someone feel good," Ricks said, "then I feel like I've done my job."

Russell Ricks's Six Steps to Painting (briefly)

1. Concept -- Come up with an idea.

2. Composition -- Sketch it out.

3. Establish dark and light patterns -- Don't add any detail yet, but make your idea strong in an abstract form.

4. Middle-tone state -- Further establish values and colors in the middle range.

5. Color harmony -- Refine the colors and middle tones. Add highlights.

6. Final accents -- Tweak the design, colors and values, putting on the brightest highlights.

If You Go

Open House with Russell Ricks

When: June 14, 7-9 p.m.

Where: Intelliserve, 2287 S. Larsen Parkway in Provo. Go to the southwest corner of the building.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.