In the Garden, Part 1

About two months ago I received my first mural commission! The lovely Grandma Lois asked for a painted tree or garden-type scenery in her bathroom. I didn't know much about mural making, my only experience was what I had learned from painting the abstract mural in our bedroom and doing the stenciled wall in my office. So I got started on my research and learned a lot about the right types of paint and mediums to use on walls and I made two "Practice Paintings". I put that in quotes because they were really drawings that I created and put into photoshop, adjusting them to scale to make it easier to visualize the painting in her space. Take a look at the two options I presented her with:

Option 1:
Willow Tree

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Option 2:
Morning Glory Arbor

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Grandma chose Option 2, so I ordered my supplies and got started! Her bathroom was a pretty dark shade of green, and since it was small (this is just the room with the toilet, it's separate from the shower/bathtub/sink room) it felt smaller that it really was, even though the ceiling was high. I wanted to make the space appear larger, so we agreed that I should leave the back wall (behind the toilet) the shade of green it was, and paint the other three walls a lighter shade. We chose Valspar's "White Scallion" in Eggshell and it's such a pretty shade of green - very spring-y and bright! As soon as I painted the walls the room looked bigger!

After two coats of "White Scallion" I began outlining the arbor on the back wall, and priming it with Kilz2.

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I referenced my practice sketch along with a small practice painting I had made using the mural paints so that I could get a better feel for their texture and ensure that I wouldn't be blindly painting Grandma's walls with a foreign material:

Initially I thought having the toilet in the middle of my painting space would be annoying, but it turned out to be a very convenient seat & step stool! ;)

After painting lots of leaves and a bunch of morning glories, sometimes I'd start to get a little impatient and need to work on something else. That's when I would make a smiley friend or two for Grandma :) A hummingbird & a bluebird were the first ones, then I snuck in a butterfly in a tiny corner:

Be sure to check back on the blog tomorrow to see the finished product! :)