TAH DAH, Part 5

Here are some more detailed photos. There is a lot going on in this little community. The stairway wall faces the front door and will have a mirror in the center of the wall over a writing desk. The only details on this wall are to the right and left sides of the wall. On the left side is a school house. Since my husband is a school administrator, it seemed appropriate to include a school in the mural. Notice the swing in the tree for the children to use at recess.

On the right side of the wall, you will find a little cabin nestled in the woods on the side of the mountain..

TAH DAH, Part 3

There are a lot of details in the mural that are not easy to see in the full photos. Here are some of the detailed pictures. One of the important aspects of Rufus Porter's murals was that he made an effort to keep perspective in his work. Hills and mountains that are further away from the viewer are more blue and lighter. Buildings that are further away are smaller and those that are closer are larger. The trees and bushes are sized to match the buildings one the plane in which they appear. The whole mural is framed by the foreground trees that are as tall as the wall and the foreground bushes that are nearly life size. If you look at the previous posts, hopefully you will be able to pick out the various planes in the landscape and notice how the foreground trees and bushes frame the entire work and help establish perspective.

Here is the Grist Mill. It is the building that is closest to the viewer in the mural. Notice the detail in the stones that make up the building wall and the swan in the mill pond.

As you move further back into the mural, you will find a small grove of trees and the farmer's dog is wandering by.

TAH DAH, Part 2

Here are some additional pictures of the mural. These pictures show the entry alcove. Because the wall areas are narrow, I chose not to do a lot of background landscape and instead just used trees and bushes to fill the spaces.

This entire mural was painted using DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint in 2-ounce bottles. It took 2-3 bottles of the greens and golds, but far less than a bottle of each of the other colors. The foliage on the foreground bushes and trees were painted with sponges. All of the rest of the work was done with a variety of types and sizes of brushes.

The Big TAH DAH!!!

The mural is finished! It covers every wall in my foyer. Here are the two main walls. These are the walls you see as you come in the front door. There will be a mirror in the center of the narrow wall and a small writing desk in front of it. The large wall will be home ot a Windsor Bench. More photos to come.

My Foyer

We have been working on our house ever since we moved in 3 years ago. There have been big projects and small projects--difficult and easy. One of our current projects is the foyer. Several months ago I started a mural in the style of Rufus Porter but had to stop as we started a construction project in another part of the house that required putting furniture in front of my work. Over the weekend we removed a tile floor from the foyer in preparation for laying new flooring so the mural MUST be finished. Today I started working on it again.

Rufus Porter was an itinerant artist who worked in New England and traveled as far south as Virginia between 1820 and 1840. It was less expensive for people to have a mural painted than to import wallpaper, so he found a lot of work. Some of his murals are still in existence and have been preserved. His style was what we call today New England Primitive. In addition to being an artist, he was a teacher and an inventor. He also founded the Scientific American magazine. He was a really interesting man.

So, here is my mural so far. It still needs a lot of trees and bushes, some sheep on the hillsides, a duck in the millpond. Once all the details are painted it will be time to paint the foreground bushes and trees to finish it off.

Garage project finished!

We finally had a sunny, dry day with enough time to finish the garage. Would you believe it is all just paint except for the hinges and the handles? We've fooled a lot of folks.

Trompe l'Oeill Carriage House Doors

Bunnies

In keeping with the Easter theme, here are a couple of bunnies. I served on the Board of Directors for a non-profit organization that served victims of abuse where I used to live. We relocated the offices for this organization and the lobby was to be used as a play area for children while they were in the building with their Mothers. When we moved in, the room was totally black and white and depressing. I donated paint and my time. The employees painted the walls and I came in and painted a mural that gave the room the look of a garden--but quite stylized and child-like. Included in the mural were two bunnies. One is peeking out from under a bush. The other is standing up in front of the counter looking up at the receptionist.