"If you're a wisher, a dreamer, a magic bean buyer...Come in!"

---Shel Silverstein

There is something magical about doing children's rooms that brings me to my full imagination where any type of fiction is capable of being lived.  The Scapes of Fairy Princesses, Thumbellinas, Knights and Dragons, Cowboys and Open Wilderness all become my own little storybook as I create them.

Some murals are triggered from places and experiences of my own life, while others are from wonderful worlds experienced through beautifully crafted tales of talented authors.

Murals are never just pictures.  They are fed by words and visions of experiences, both by way of life and of literature.  What the brain has gazed upon and grazed upon seems to find its way out onto the walls... recreated.

Though clients may come to me with ideas and direction, it seems as what they are doing is stirring the pool; tapping the well-spring.

The parents who have the ability to give this bit of visual luxury to their children, seem to also want to feed their own children's imaginations and in a sense begin the stirring of the well-spring for them.  It is similar to exposing them to the imaginitave world of literature.  Nothing is dictating the image but the conjuring of words and experience.  The ideas that are presented to me had already begun a life of their own because the children had previously experienced something that created the desire for another place...a familiar place...in their minds.

I love my job.  While I can leave a mark on some growing minds, I get to participate in the beginning of exploration -- the search for life. 

...and I get to relive it myself.

Imagination takes us everywhere when we let it.

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." -- John Lennon

Painting Your Interior Landscape

Need more space?  Create some!

Instead of using demolition tools, trowels, tillers or backhoes, paint can be the "tool."

 With paint, entire rooms can become landscapes, or holes can be put into walls to create a new window or into the ceiling to create a

skylight.

Imagine...

...building stone walls and tilling vineyards,



...tunneling underground without shovels,



...growing a garden without dirt.



These tricks of tromp l'oeil (fooling the eye) are best accentuated with a foreground to increase the "visual" depth of the painting.  The painting MUST come toward the viewer in some manner.

Frame your distant landscapes with painted window frames and ledges to push the middle and backgrounds back further.  But, bring the painting forward with a vase on the ledge....

...or, create stone and mortar with paint to create a textured wall one wants to reach out to touch,

...or use ironwork & ledges to frame, but use shadows to bring it into the room.  Always use shadows.

Let the lanscape feel like it flows "inside."

Another exaggerated visual help can also be created by using trim.  Here, by using a darker trim, the visually push is exaggerated to push this cloud mural back in depth.

Inspiration is so easy to find with murals.  Triggers can be treasured vacation memories, homesteads or simply dreams.  

Occassionally, you may see a landscape mural and want to mimic it for your own home, but be sure to use it as an inspiration only and make the actual painting become yours.  One reason is for the connection you will feel with the painting if it has elements of your own life in it, but most importantly...respect the original artist enough to have his/her painting be merely an inspiration to you.  Use elements of the design you admire, but, don't steal the work.  All art and invention is inspired from a previous plan, be it man or nature, but talent lies in taking that inspiration and making it new. 

                                                        Let your talent reflect You.



...And, How Do We Fix This Floor?

 Remodels can so often have little problem glitches that seem to get in the way of creativity.  However, those little road blocks can actually be paving the way to that creativity.

This kitchen remodel required moving the island.  The problem arose when the floor under the island had no tile and the existing tile was discontinued. 

The fix:  Purchase a neutral tile in the same
undertones as the original and use paints made for ceramic to create a matching tile.

There are so many wonderful products on the market now that stick to everything.  There is very little that can be considered impossible.  The ceramic finish has been on this floor for two years in the main traffic area and is still holding strong.




  


This problem:  Rugs in kitchens may not be practical for cleanliness.
The solution:  Paint one, distress it and seal it. 
Painted floors require the same cleaning treatment and maintenance that wood floors do.


Here is a more formal stained treatment to wood floors. 
This entry hall was actually stained in the harlequin pattern prior to sealing, when the wood was still raw.  First, the base color stain was applied, then the pattern was mapped out, taped and stained with the darker gel stain.  Gel stains don't bleed under the tape like the penetrating stains will.

  This tiny kitchen floor (below) of a small bungalow belonged to two imaginative owners that loved color.  The goal was to make this kitchen feel like something other than a walk-in closet.  We not only "blew" an opening in the ceiling via tromp l'oeil paintings and treated the walls with textured stones, but completed a grotto feel by adding a fishpond.  Each three dimensional stone was plotted out by where each step would "need" to be taken by the chef to get to each appliance without getting "wet".

Here again is an example of faux stones done in a three dimensional application. 
This floor was over a garage and the problem was to use a flooring that would be warmer than ceramic or stone. 






Carefully weigh the cost of paint and labor to work over an existing surface versus a complete replacement.  Each situation will determine its own best scenario.  There are so many instances where the headache of a re-do can be avoided and in fact, may be completely unnecessary. 

Don't forget the ceilings!

We spend so much time and effort in our decisons as to how the floor should be treated...wood, carpet, tile... and then there are area rugs.  The walls require thought for paint color, treatment, picture placement, etc.  The windows and doors are treated with design respect.  The ceiling...hmmm.  Why white?  Who said?

Has the authority on this subject been properly questioned?

Drama and intrigue are not the only reasons to use ceiling treatments.                                          

Did you know that softening the contrast of colors will hide the definitions of the room that a white ceiling can create? 

Simple border edges and a soft grey blue can open up a dim space.

How about raising the ceiling with tricks to the eye? 

Architectural detail can be quickly and inexpensively achieved with an artistic accent to this higher surface.

At the end of the day, things pleasing to the eye can bring great comfort to the soul. Personally, when I sit back and put my feet up, I choose to feed on more than a field of white.

Contemporary Accent Walls

This year has brought me wonderful opportunities to find complements for contemporary interiors.  This avenue of art has brought me both a new excitement and also a gratitude for those who have let me use this art form.

This piece was painted directly on the wall for a "no fear of paintings falling in the night" approach.

This space needed something to fill it, yet not take away from the beautiful simplicity of the bust and pedestal.

The geometric style of the artwork in this home became inspiration for this colorful focal wall.

                                                    

     Here, again, is a piece painted directly onto a wall, per the client's request.

The design for this accent wall was inspired by the design of the bed coverlet.