I was hired by a client who had seen one of my existing works and she wanted it on her bathroom wall! I was a little nervous trying to figure out how to get it on the wall since my art is usually done on a table and is poured on canvas.
The wall in question was 13 feet high and 11 feet wide!
This is the original artwork that inspired the mural.
I said let's go for it! I wrote up a contract, had her sign and make the first payment and got to planning. She wanted it to match the rest of the house so I got samples of those colors.
I wanted to test it out to make sure the design would work on the wall and roughly how long it would take. I grabbed a full sheet of drywall, shoved it in my van, hauled it up to the studio and got busy. I loved how soft this sample turned out but the client wanted it more bold as you will see in the final design.
Here we are Day 1 with the primed wall ready to get started!
First layer going on, starting at the bottom. Blending the colors as I went not even cleaning the brush was so satisfying.
The white space on the left of the door will be mostly covered by cabinets so the mural won't be fully to the wall and all the way down. I was actually given the wrong dimensions of the cabinets and had to go back after cabinets were installed to add a little more to the mural. It was a quick fix and still within the contract agreements.
Luckily they already had scaffolding in the house that I could use. The wall was still too high for my 5'2"self that had to put a step ladder on TOP of the scaffolding. Shhh, don't tell. I did have the clients husband help me get it up and down. But yeah, it was pretty high. It's a good thing I am not scared of heights!
Day 2: adding more detail in the veining, more blending. More up and down, moving the scaffolding back and forth over the gorgeous tile that I was so scared I was going to break or damage somehow. Or kick over all of the paint on the top! There wasn't supposed to be any tile down yet when I was to start but there was, so I just adapted and worked as best as I could around it. I broke so many of the spacers off moving around the floor!
The client wanted gold veins instead of silver. I used DecoArt metallic paint in 24K gold. So shiny, but oh so tedious to paint with. You learn as you go and while I love this product next time I would probably use a paint pen instead of a brush. But for this project, the brush worked great with the fine details of the veining.
Day 3: You can see we are almost there! Adding the final gold touches and then to let it dry and come back to seal it. This mural was in the master bath. She has a great soaking tub she is going to install along this wall so it'll feel like she's really surrounded by the water.
Finished wall before sealing! Again, lighting isn't great since it was getting near evening time. During the day there was great light with windows all along the right side.
Day 4: Signature and sealing the wall!
I always sign my work. It's usually small and hidden, but still there to say I left my mark on the world. It feels weird but cool at the same time.
Here's the view from the master closet going into the master bath. I need to go back and visit to see it all finished!
As always you can email me if you are interested in a commercial or residential mural and to schedule a consult.
