It is one skill to paint well. It is another to paint on a large scale. More accurately, painting on a large scale such as murals and ceilings requires a whole set of additional skills. The process has to be broken down and enlarged as if the painter is painting individual pixels or grid units of the painting. Large scale may require access to high walls or ceilings. There are a number of ways to get to hard-to-reach places, from the ways used by Michelangelo to the modern scissor lift.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding has been the solution for large scale paintings for centuries. Michelangelo and his assistants used scaffolding to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel --- which was 68 feet high.
Michelangelo's scaffolding was not the traditional scaffolding used today. Instead of a framework built from the floor much like metal shelving, Michelangelo's scaffolding spanned from wall to wall; it was held up by brackets.
There are many types of scaffolding. Most are temporary structures that give the artist some mobility once they are built. Today, commercial scaffolding is available for contractors and through equipment rental stores.
Ladder Scaffolds
There are a couple types of ladder scaffolding ideal for relatively small murals and ceilings. Whereas a scaffold involves a crew of people or at least two hands on assemblers, a ladder scaffolding can be setup mostly by a single person with one person briefly giving them a hand. Ladder scaffolding rely on ladders for vertical support --- either extension ladders or fold-out painter's ladders. As with other scaffolding there are remanufactured planks, usually with lightweight aluminum reinforcement, that span from ladder to ladder and often connect with a lightweight bracket designed to set upon the ladders.
Scissor Lift
Scissor lifts include hydraulics that lift a platform vertically. They have a mechanism scissor-type extension that keeps the platform parallel to the ground. The lift is mounted on four hard wheels, similar to a forklift. Controls are typically mounted on the platform so it can be maneuvered while extended. A scissor allows a painter to essentially paint in a large scale much like a plotter. They can move in a left/right axis. And they can move along an up/down axis, giving the painter access to a wide area of space.
One potential drawback to a scissor lift is that it must have a smooth surface to operate on. For example, the semi-excavated exterior of a construction site will do for scaffolding, but not a scissor lift. They would do better on a flat concrete slab.
Bucket Lift
Electric companies use bucket lifts to service overhead power infrastructure. They are called bucket lifts because the worker stands in what is essentially a large bucket. As with scissor lifts, the worker usually has hydraulic controls to navigate the bucket. The hydraulic armature and bucket assembly are typically mounted on a work truck, though they can be mounted on a base similar to a scissor lift or a base similar to a track hoe, often with rubber tracks for lighter duty.
A bucket lift doesn't give a painter the mobility to walk around like a scaffold. It doesn't give her the ability to lie down to paint ceilings. What it does very well is get a painter to a very high and difficult to reach location with little or no setup or assembly.
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