Steve Wilson tells stories without words. Steve Wilson paints big pictures with broad strokes. Steve Wilson uses colors to express emotions.

He is an artist. He is a mural artist.

"A mural is typically a large painting on a wall or part of (a) building," said Wilson. "Murals bring color and the use of beautiful art into the community. They beautify an existing area or building, convey a message, enhance the purpose of the building or business residing within or honor an historic figure."

Wilson is the owner of Wilson Design Group and a partner with Masterpiece Murals, who also paints fine art, designs graphics and illustrates books and magazines. In addition, Wilson, who earned a communication design degree from Kutztown University, teaches watercolor painting classes.

"A mural is a large piece of public art," said Wilson. "They can depict almost anything. A lot of times they represent the area where they are located."

Murals aren't just some spontaneous, freelanced oversized painting; they are deliberate, well-thought-out, detail-oriented works of art. Wilson's murals can take a few months to complete, and the process can include between 10 and 30 hours of design and planning.

That process also includes budgets, customer meetings, photos of the walls and buildings, photoshopped images, preparing the surface to accept the paint, painting and finally a finishing varnish.

"I start with the customer input, then design from there," said Wilson. "Every mural is different. The design really drives the style of the mural. I have designed murals that look like a fine art painting, and others are very graphic, with large shapes and bright color."

"Murals are very time consuming, and the painting is the fun part of the process," he added. "I enjoy any type of painting, and to see the finished product is always exciting. For my customers to see a mural on a small piece of paper and then imagine it as a 100-foot painting is tough to visualize. I have been painting murals long enough to know that as you work sometimes you have to adjust on the fly. Can it be seen from 50 or 100 feet and be read from that distance? If not, we change the size of certain items to be more pleasing."

Wilson has been planning, designing and painting murals for more than 30 years, and in that time has produced more than 100 murals, some on exterior walls and some on interior walls. More than half of those murals adorn Lancaster County, and a vast majority of Wilson's local murals can be found in the city and on Manheim Pike.

"Art helps to beautify and inform the community," said Wilson, a resident of Millersville. "There are probably several hundred total murals in Lancaster County. Some murals have a common theme, depending on where they are located and the customer. Many are one-time murals that honor or portray a specific theme. Murals can be done by most artists, if they are willing to paint something large and sometimes outside."