ORANGE : Wall Mural Dinosaurs Run Amok

Out near the edge of the school parking lot, where the weeds grow high, is where the dinosaurs roam.

A pair of pteranodons fly overhead. Two younger tyrannosaurus rexes are locked in combat. Wisely, farther down the plains, a stegosaurus and a styracosaurus mind their own business.

Luckily, for the 225 students who attend Southern California Christian High School in Orange, the fearsome but colorful prehistoric reptiles are confined to a mural on a campus retaining wall.

Painted by Laguna Beach artist Brian Murphy, 32, the mural is 10 feet high and 130 feet long. With help from fellow artists Dave Vornberger, 30, of Lake Forest and Peter Howell, 38, of Orange, the trio spent three weeks in late May and June completing the work.

A boyhood interest in dinosaurs, a desire to work on a large art project and the release of the film “Jurassic Park” served as Murphy’s inspirations for the mural.

“I enjoyed dinosaurs as a kid,” said Murphy, primarily a wildlife artist who uses watercolors. “It’s fun that I can do something this big and people can enjoy it.”

School Principal Tom Trueblood welcomed the artists’ offer to transform the nondescript wall into an animated and educational trip back into Earth’s past.

“The kids love it,” Trueblood said. “They assured me that if we didn’t like it, they’d paint over it. But I like it. In fact, we’d like them to do more.”

The school’s students, in grades 7 through 12, are also warmly greeting the new visitors on campus.

“I think it’s neat to come into school and see those (dinosaurs) instead of the blank walls,” said Les Allen, a 10th-grader from Tustin. “It shows the attitude of the school, that we like dinosaurs, stand up for what we believe in.”

Accustomed to working on surfaces intended to be looked at from 10 feet away or less, Murphy had to adjust to painting a piece meant to be viewed from 100 feet or more.

“We had to learn to be a little broader, wilder and freer,” Vornberger said. “It was really a lot of fun.”

“With a piece this size, our brush strokes really had to be aerobic,” added Howell, who lives across the street from the mural.

Detailing the stegosaurus proved to one of the more challenging aspects on the mural.

“Everybody draws dinosaurs differently,” Murphy said. “The yellows on them (stegosaurus) may or may not have existed, but it fits the mural. I mean, hot pink may have looked great, but I don’t think anyone would have believed it.”

The three artists are planning to paint other dinosaurs murals, but are searching for an even larger area on which to put them.

“We are just waiting to find a bigger wall, something four-stories high at least,” Vornberger said. “We want to paint a life size T. rex.”

Murphy said he wants to reserve parts of future murals for kids, so they can experiment with their artistic interpretations of the dinosaurs.

“I never had the chance to paint, get messy on something this big, and have this activity be OK,” he said.