This mural will ultimately be about 13 feet high and 7 feet wide; this is one of 4 canvas panels that I am painting at my home studio. I will install all four at the clients home when they are completed.
The technique of painting the mural on canvas and gluing it to the wall is known as marouflage and it has been in use for centuries. This time-lapse video shows the early stages of the development of this mural. The client collects artifacts from medieval Europe, hence the knights helmet.
Experienced collectors of art may roll there eyes at this post, because the reasons are very obvious to them. But I still run into new collectors all the time who actually still worry about having an oil painting match their furniture.
Here are a few quick reasons why you should never consider whether a painting matches the decor in a room:
1. Art is not an accessory! It is not like a vase of silk flowers or some fabric covered thing that adds interest. Its beyond that. Art is about meaning, beauty and spirit.
2. Not everything in a room should match perfectly anyway. Otherwise it looks too coordinated. A room that is perfectly coordinated is like a flawless woman who is conventionally attractive, with perfect hair, etc. but is somehow bland. Je ne sais quoi is not achieved by obsessing on matching, it is achieved by trusting your gut and putting some soul into what you are doing.
3. A fine art painting is like a window to another world. It’s supposed to be transformative. It’s not supposed to keep you safely in the room (the couch has that covered), its supposed to take you somewhere else.
4. Paintings are not to be ignored. That doesn’t mean that they have to be like an annoying theatre major who’s addicted to attention, but it does mean that the painting should be noticed and it should intrigue the viewer. If the only thing a guest says about your art is that it matches your decor really well, you may want to re-think your priorities.
For more about collecting art, please check out some of my earlier posts.
Thanks for reading.
I had fun with this one. The sugar on the donut and the reflections in the black mug were fun to play around with. I was originally going to go with a white background, but I decided to add the red to punch it up.
Anyway, I hope you like it. I still haven’t gotten going with the ebay account to sell these. I also need to get a paypal account set up for this blog and the gallery. Lots to do.
I am now in the midst of the challenge I was expecting when I began the quest to be a daily painter. The challenge is staying consistent with the little daily paintings while being busy with the mural jobs. 
This painting is a 9X12, oil on canvas I did of several corks left over from some of my favorite wines. They are sitting in front of a small wrought iron grate thing that is for pots to sit on (it has a name that escapes me). Behind the grate is a kitchen window, causing the little still life to be strongly back-lit.
Here are a few more images of the Castle Ruins and Trees mural I am working on. This is a combination of faded mural effects, trompe l’oeil effects and some basic, standard mural painting. The goal is to work with the existing wall structure to create an environment that is conducive to creative play and imagination.
There are very few things you can do with the decor of a room that have the transformative power on a mural. You can put up impressive drapes. You can put up wall paper. You can do a venetian plaster finish for the walls. You can put in new carpet or a wood floor. That’s all fine and it can have a nice effect. But having a mural painted on one or several walls in a room truly alters your perception of the space of the room.
During the past couple of weeks I have been fortunate enough to be working for some great people in University Park, transforming a large play room with a mural that is a combination of castle ruins and trees. Here is a photo of the work in progress.
Play Room Castle and Trees Mural
