After months of planning, permits and painting, Ames C.art’s Campustown mural is complete.

“It feels really good. I’m just relieved that we were able to finish,” said Kristin Roach, creative director for Ames C.art [Ames Collaborative art].

Roach said “Thinking of Ames” — the colorful, 80-by-12-foot work on the wall of T-Galaxy — cost nearly $10,000 to complete, most of which was donated or received through grants.

The owner of T-Galaxy donated the wall on the condition the name of the store be featured in the mural. Paint was donated through Diamond Vogel and a Keep Iowa Beautiful grant.

Still, Roach said there were many obstacles in completing the project.

For example, the wall the mural was painted on was private property, but the ground the painters would stand on to paint was public property. So, the group was ineligible for city grants to support the project, but still had to go through red tape to use city land.

Then, Ames C.art had to officially incorporate to get the proper types of insurance and permits.

“Now we know all the steps that need to happen,” Roach said. Other steps included finding the right supplies: swimming pool paint and bridge sealant.

So, even though the mural had been planned for months, Roach said they didn’t actually have final permission for the project until days before they were scheduled to begin painting.

They were allotted 16 days to complete the mural, four of which were rained out.

Nevertheless, 50 volunteers completed the project on schedule.

“I’ve had a great group of people supporting me,” Roach said.

She said the Ames Fire Department was among the first to help with the project, and continued to help by providing a storage space for the group’s painting supplies.

After seeing their dedication, Roach asked the lieutenant to pose for a photo so she could incorporate his silhouette into the mural. She said this lead to a bit of playful bantering from the police department.

Overall, Roach said the community response has been very positive. She said the only criticism she’s received was a comment the project looked like “Pleasantville,”  but Roach said she didn’t see anything wrong with being optimistic.

“It’s so great to expose the community to public artists,” Roach said.

Ames C.art plans to create a mural per year in the future. Roach said they hope to establish an artist-in-residency program to help design future projects.

Though the location for next year’s mural hasn’t been determined, Roach said they were considering the other side of T-Galaxy, the new Fighting Burrito location or possibly a school — the group isn’t only focused on Campustown.