Anatomy of a Mural – Completed Project

Finished! Finis! Done! I finished this mural yesterday afternoon.

How. Lay. Loo. Yah.

It’s not that it was a tough project, or a particularly long one. Just over 5 days and I had breaks in between each working day. So it was a little easier on my body. The clients were wonderful. And are very pleased with their new mural.

It’s just that I always love finishing a project. It means I get to start a new one! But first, do you want to take a little tour with me?

The wildlife animal paintings take center stage in this landscape mural, even though they’re spread all over the round room.

This painting of a red hawk is actually only about 7 inches big.

 

He’s perched on an oak tree branch. If you look at the top picture of this post now, you’ll see him. I like that he’s kinda hard to see. It’ll give the clients’ guest that are over for an evening of cards something to discover.

That’s what they use the room for – playing cards. They’re retired and the Mr. teaches Bridge and Poker. How cool is that? Having a dedicated room for playing cards? And with a huge mural in it? I know!

This was a last minute addition yesterday. Not the white egret painting, but what he appears to be looking at.

Mr. Client asked me to paint two little fishies swimming under water. You don’t notice these guys right off either.

BBH noticed them right away when he came to help me pack up. Of course, he’s a huge fisherman.

Let me rephrase that. He’s an avid fisherman. He just happens to be huge too. {ggg}

To the right of the egret, I painted two flying Canadian Geese.  They’re right in the deepest curve of the room so it was impossible for me to get a clear shot.

I’ll do some step-by-step posts later this week to show you how to paint these wildlife animals on walls. They’re really not that hard!

Across the room on the other wall is a soaring hawk. In Sacramento and El Dorado counties you see tons and tons of soaring hawks. They’re absolutely magnificent.

This is a blue heron which, frankly, I’d never even heard of. Behind the heron is a Mama Goose and three babies.

What? You only see two babies? Look on the right side of the tree. See that little grey blip in the water? That’s a baby goose booty. He wasn’t paying attention to Mom and his siblings and is about to get left behind.

That’s an homage to me and my three stepsons (now grown). When they were small, my youngest was always dillydallying in his own little world. Do you have one of those types too?

Here’s a full view of the mural on that wall. The light blue and green patches on the oak tree are moss – green and lichen. Mrs. Client loves moss so it went everywhere – trees, rocks. Okay, not everywhere, but just on trees and rocks.

They asked me to curve one of the branches into the inset window. You can see this little branch when you’re sitting in the family room now.

And, finally, my helper, Medusa. I’ve said before, one of the best perks of painting murals is getting to know the clients’ pets. Medusa adopted me by the end of the week and would traipse thru the room periodically, just to say hi.

So, that’s my Show & Tell for the weekend. What did you do? Any fun Spring projects? Do tell!

I’m linking up to Transform Your Home with Paint at The Inspired Room. Check out the party for all the great paint projects!