Murals!

Custom murals would be part of my "dream business" in the future- also included would be selling my paintings for profit, and possibly some children's room design in there somewhere, as well as some sort of social work/art in a psychiatric hospital :). I like to think of it as something I could do, and would love to do- during the daytime while my kids are at school.  Right now- my lack of time would make it nearly impossible to pursue:(  So, I spend my free minutes throughout the day- in between baby-chasing, adding touches of paint to the current project (front entryway chinoiserie inspired mural).

Technically my first "mural" was one that I was commissioned to do with a friend in high school for our music teacher. While living in apartments for several years before Donell and I got our first place- I figured it would not be worth the time and effort to add anything permanent to rental spaces.  When I was pregnant with Zella, I painted my first wall mural on the wall of her nursery-although I knew that was not our "forever home".  Luckily we still own that property and the current tenant liked it so I didn't have to paint over it:)

I love what a mural can add to a space.  I love the personal quality of it.  I really enjoy the process of researching, planning and creating murals as well.  Now that we are in our own home- I have taken the liberty of using this space as a trial for all of the various mural visions in my brain.  I would describe the style of painting that I'm doing as modern-eclectic.  I want the paintings to have the look of custom, high-end wallpaper- rather than having "scene-like" traditional murals, or "cartoon-like" murals that you often see in children spaces.  I think this style fits better into the modern design concepts of today's homes.

The first mural I did in this home was in Zella's room- I wanted to created another tree- similar to the one in her original nursery in our multi-family.  I was also inspired by these retro-wallpaper decals that you can purchase at Romp- a super cute children's site with tons of great gift/decor ideas.

These wallpaper silhouettes are fabulous- but I figured I could take the inspiration from these and create a custom mural with the same idea 

I chose to paint a white silhouette tree, and to sit an owl in the tree (I google-image-searched a photograph of an owl in a tree to get the reference for the outline drawing)- then I was able to design the graphic print of the owl to look like one that might be on a wallpaper or fabric swatch.

The print on the owl was inspired by the fabulous Anna Maria Horner fabric- her fabric line is unbelievable!!!  The fabric (Anna Maria Horners Sketchbook Ivory) is what I used for the curtains in Zella's room, it is no longer available on her site but can be found on some online shops.  It also comes in grey/blue color scheme. Still one of my favorite fabrics- I LOVE IT!

In following mural posts I will be covering the process of our bedroom beetle mural, as well as the on going mural in the entryway...stay tuned!