Tag Archives: favorites

Garden Mural

Harness Park on the Connecticut shore was the inspiration for this intense, hyper-realism mural, a most ambitious project.  I painted it on the wall of a small breakfast nook, creating the sensation of a garden being accessible right from the kitchen.  In preparation, I took photos from all over the park  and worked them into an imaginary ideal garden.  I painted the path and the base board to match the real stone tile floor.    The real gate you see is an antique wrought iron piece that the owner of the mural eventually attached to the wall so that it could swing open in welcome. The balance of the design is completed by the gate.

Many of the photos posted here were taken while the mural was in progress and you can discern my process in some of them.  If you look close you can see differences between views such as unfinished edges, butterflies that were added last and white spaces for the Peonies which were not yet painted.  Unfortunately these photos were taken in the days before I owned a digital camera, so I apologize for some fuzziness.

Pedestal Table With Faux Delft Tile

I painted this graceful pedestal table so that it would appear as if it was covered with real  blue and white Delft tiles. The inspiration for the center classic windmill scene was an old delft plate and the  border tile designs, and the pedestal motifs, are loosely based on real tiles which I found in my research.  All the varying shades of blue and ‘gold’ leaf are are carried into the table base and legs as well.   The table is 24″ tall and the top is 14″ across.   If you are interested in possibly commissioning a similar piece or  you want to know more about this piece  Send me an email or leave a comment.

Faux “China” Cabinet

All this china is painted on the front of a simple jelly cabinet. There are teacups, teapots and lace doilies.  The door has two panels each of which I divided into two faux shelves.  I created some of the china patterns while other designs are from taken from well known patterns such as the teapot with the Cherub. Searching out china patterns was such fun!   The Chinese spoons are part of my personal collection. The green and pink spoon is very old and I tried to preserve that when I painted it. I added a ‘real’ Hydrangea blossom for a change of texture.  The jelly cabinet was originally found at a yard sale and likely started out life as unpainted furniture.  It came to me in pieces, painted half brown and half red. Now its blue with gold edging and is “filled” with faux china!   Open the door to find a surprise butterfly painted inside.  This piece is currently a focal point in my own living room.

Sports Locker Mural on closet doors

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.