My “Art Gallery” House Tour

I’ve never had the opportunity to paint in a Designer Showhouse. My paintings have never hung in an art gallery {shudder}. The closest thing to either is this house where I just painted the master bedroom ceiling and master bath.

The owners of this home have truly been my patron ‘angels’. They believed in my artwork long before I ever did and have been commissioning my work for nearly 10 years, bless their hearts.

Rather than continuing on with bathroom murals (yes, I’ve painted another mural in a bathroom here!), I thought I should give you a proper tour, starting with the front door.
Take a look at the photo above. Look at the transom window in relation to the door and the trim. Do you see how the window wasn’t wide enough to line up with the door trim? Yeah, well, it always bothered the homeowner and once she pointed it out to me, it bugged me to.

So we came up with a solution using decorative art and I painted a faux wrought iron grille to match their chandelier and balance the window and door.

My ‘saints’ grow grapes on their property and even have a small winery so most of their décor is tuscan or grapevine-related.

This faux ‘grille’ is one of my all-time favorite paintings because a) it’s unique and b) it solves an architectural problem. Cool, huh?

Standing in the foyer you look directly into the dining room.

So we continued the faux wrought iron with just a touch of grape leaves here and there in the tray ceiling.
The tray and the wall with windows both have a light wash on them that, yes, the Hubs painted for me once again. I believe this was the first ceiling I’d ever painted, save for a cloud or two in kids’ rooms, and I didn’t bother to rent a scaffold ‘cause I thought we’d knock it out in a day.

I should’ve bothered because, let me tell ya, our necks certainly bothered us after this project.



Note to Self: however long you think a job will take, add another day.


Or two.

I really wish I had kept track of when I painted what in this house. But it was way before I was blogging. Shoot, it was way before I had a digital camera!

Well, at some point I painted this triptych (painting in 3 sections) wall hanging for the dining room.



Again, this isn’t just a painted tapestry. I backed the canvas in heavy felt to absorb some of the sound from the high ceilings and porcelain floor tiles. The homeowners don’t like fabric window coverings and this wall hanging helped mute the sound quite a bit.


Digital camera or not, I still can’t take a clear photo. I had wanted to show you all the personal elements in this painting. All three kitties are on the ‘patio’. The tablecloth was chosen out of a catalog by the homeowner. Even down to the wine labels and glasses which Mr. Homeowner chose.


This painted tapestry is one of my all-time favorite pieces. Dang, I just said the door was. Hmm. I haven’t even shown you the whole house yet either!

Come back tomorrow for the rest of the tour and more of my all-time favorites .