Fire Station Mural

Hello! I scooted away for a few days to our cabin near Lake Tahoe. It's absolutely gorgeous, but it's totally tech-unplugged. No TV. No internet. {gulp!} I did manage to bring my paints, however! While I'm recharging my creative batteries, I'll rewind some past posts. Hope you're enjoying your summer and finding a way to stay cool!

When you think of firemen and a firehouse, what images come to mind? The alarm rings and the firemen all jump into their suits and slide down the pole, right? Ah, but what if it’s a one-story firehouse?



One of my clients had a decorative painting solution – paint a fake hole. The station had already installed the brass pole, but it looked funny just attached to the blank ceiling. He called and wanted to know if I could paint a mural on the ceiling that looked like a hole. Since I’m always up for a challenge, I said ‘sure’.

 

Since children are the frequent visitors to the firehouse, they wanted kids looking down the hole.






Notice anything strange about these pictures? Look at the bottom of each one – see the green & white stuff? It’s my oilcloth drop.

This mural was painted on canvas in my studio. Then we Hubby applied it to the ceiling of the firehouse with wallpaper paste. Of course, that meant it had to be slit and the edges joined, but it worked and no one was the wiser.



That’s him pretending to slide down the pole. (I don’t think that pole would actually hold him, but don’t tell him that.)



Oh, I just have to put a close up in of ‘Roxie’, my client’s dog.



I mean, what fire station is complete without a dalmation?



And the station chief.

Fun stuff, huh?