Closeup of the hand mural - one of 3 murals painted inside Rodizio Brazilian Steakhouse in Chattanooga, TN, and often the favorite. It's an interesting thing painting a hand with fingers that are as much as 12" in height! One of the techniques employed to get the soft, but very realistic hand texture was the use of a small piece of sponge in multiple layers and tones. The edges of the sponge was also used to create texture.
The three gaucho murals. No pure black or pure white was used in the restaurant murals, even though it appears that way. The slightly softer colors provide a softer, yet high contrast look.
Closeup of the gaucho on the horse mural. Another interesting technique used in this grayscale mural was the use of a whisk broom to paint the grass. Multiple layers of grayscale tones were applied to the wall. The whisk broom was used for the top layers only.
The third of the Rodizio murals was the huge face of a gaucho.