Category Archives: Commisioned Work

Commisioned Work, Murals

Sports Locker Mural on closet doors

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This mural began with two brand new plain closet doors! It is painted in Trompe L’oeil style to look like a real bank of lockers just jam packed with sporting equipment. I had a ball doing these doors (pun intended!!)  The client and I collected all sorts of sports paraphernalia to use as models.  We added in anything we could think of!     Who’d ever have thought painting smelly old sneakers could be such a great idea?  Did all of you UConn fans notice the ‘old’ Husky sticker peeling off? Even the masking tape names and the door handles are painted on.  I have included a photo of one of the doors ajar, just to help you understand the illusion.  To open the closet however, one pulls on real combination locks and a real golf ball which were added after the doors were hung.  I am particularly proud and fond of this project.

Chair, Children's, Commisioned Work

Light house children’s chair

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This little child’s chair is painted as if it were a mural. The chair belonged to the client who gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted and this was the result.  The beach scene wraps around all surfaces of the chair.  The light house is a famous one, I am sure you recognize it.  The model for the hyper-realistic copper sand pail was a miniature pail that I stuck into rice to capture the look I wanted. The seagulls were taken from photos a friend took at the beach.  The sand castle which I painted on one of the sides was a particularly difficult challenge.

Commisioned Work, Table

Stones on a Vanity Table

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What a joy it was to paint this table!  I worked from real stones and photographs of real stones. It was a challenge to make the randomness of the stones both natural and artistically placed.  Painting realistic stones takes a combination of technique, patience and old brushes that can be handled ‘roughly.’ Doing the stripes that naturally occur in some stones is not easy, if done wrong the stripe would seem painted’ on the outside.   The client requested “No pink or brown stones”, but the piece needed the hints of rust, yellow and green or else the all gray palette would have been too cold.   Of course there has to be a bug on the stones! A delicate Damselfly was perfect for what appears to be a scene from the water’s edge.  Everyone who has seen this table points to a different stone as their favorite. Which one is your favorite?   I painted the legs in four alternating shades of gray.  When this table was originally brought to me it was painted an ugly bright yellow, what a transformation!

Do you want to know more about this piece? Send me an email or leave a comment.