CARLSBAD — A San Diego muralist says she was finally paid for a Carlsbad mural commissioned by Rusty Surfboards last summer after her social media post claiming she was stiffed $15,000 by the global surf company went viral.
San Diego-based artist Hanna Daly posted a reel on Instagram on Sunday, showing her painting over the Rusty logo at the corner of a large mural on the side of the Big Pig Liquor building in Carlsbad Village. The caption read, “That sweet moment when you paint over a company’s logo because they never paid you for the mural you painted a year ago.”
Within hours, the video had garnered millions of views and thousands of comments, many supporting Daly and demanding a response from Rusty Surfboards. Soon after, a lawyer representing company founder Rusty Preisendorfer and his businesses sent Daly a letter that she said contained legal threats connected to her post.
On Tuesday, Daly confirmed that after a whirlwind couple of days, she had been paid the full amount of $15,750 that she was owed, not by Rusty Surfboards, but by the Rusty corporate office based out of Australia, which operates separately.
“Rusty Australia @rustyworldwide stepped in and did the right thing by paying me. This was not their responsibility and they have handled this situation with dignity and fairness,” Daly said in an Instagram reel on Tuesday morning.
Representatives for Rusty Surfboards stated that they are not commenting on the situation at this time, but a statement is forthcoming. This story will be updated with their response.
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Daly has been a muralist for 20 years and has completed over 1,500 murals in San Diego County and beyond through her company, Hanna’s Murals. She said she was hired last summer by San Diego-based Rusty Surfboards to complete a mural on the side of Big Pig Liquor along Carlsbad Village Drive.
Although she didn’t have a written contract with the company, she exchanged several emails with them, and she stated that it was mutually understood that she would be paid for her work.
“Essentially, they hired me to paint this mural, and they just wanted a surfboard and their logo and this really sick wave. It’s just a really beautiful thing on this great street corner,” she said.
Daly said Rusty Surfboards gave her positive feedback about the mural, but never followed through on paying her despite a back-and-forth over the following months.
While she was patient and tried to work with them at first, Daly said she indicated in January or February that she was prepared to take them to court. The company insisted again that they would pay her within a few weeks, she said, but the payment never came.
Daly said she spent around $1,000 of her own money on supplies and a scissor lift rental for the mural. While the financial loss didn’t break her bank, she said it was the principle of not being paid that bothered her.
“Luckily, I’m in a position where my business is doing really well — it didn’t ruin me. But at a different time in my career, $500 would’ve ruined me,” Daly said.
This month, Daly returned to Big Pig Liquor to complete another mural commissioned by a different company on the opposite side of the building. She decided to paint over the Rusty logo on her original mural, as she had never been paid, and then posted about it online.
She was shocked when the post garnered as much attention as it did. The video had over 10 million views, with people from all over the world leaving comments of support for her, and also calling out Rusty Surfboards.
While all the attention has been overwhelming, Daly said the support has given her faith in humanity. To her, the letter threatening legal action felt like a bullying tactic, and she believes she did the right thing.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I painted this gorgeous mural for them, they loved it, and all I want is for them to pay for it,” she said.
The muralist said she is relieved to finally have the situation over with, and noted that some individuals were leaving harassing messages for ambassadors of Rusty who are not connected with the situation, which she does not condone.
Daly said she is grateful to the community for their support and to the Rusty global office, which was extremely helpful even though they had nothing to do with commissioning the mural.
She shared on social media that she is donating all of the money from the Rusty mural to two local charities.
“I did it to show them, this isn’t about the money, it’s about treating creatives well,” Daly said.
Rusty Surfboards was founded in 1985 by Preisendorfer and is now one of the highest-grossing surf brands in the world. Preisendorfer still manages the surfboard business out of San Diego, with an additional storefront in Del Mar.
