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I've tackled a very large and very plain master suite to
begin to crate a room of elegance that we will enjoy not only sleeping in,
but using as our personal escape.
Outside the large double doors to the deck, the scenery
is of exquisite evergreens. But inside, the walls were plain and bland.
I cast our new plaster column tops and created columns on
the walls, each 8 feet apart from the other to give me a "framed" area for
my mural idea.
I started with the background of far away trees and added
the woody portion of what would become a weeping willow.
Once I had painted the background, I "dry brushed" over
it with wall paint to mute the background severely.
(Dry brushing is dipping
your brush in to paint, wiping off ALL excess, then with a light touch, go
over your design to mute it).
I then began adding elements to the garden in the
foreground. Upright flowers in the background of the stone pathway, a stone
urn filled with plants and flowers, tulips around the base of the willow and
a lilac bush to the left.
Little by little I built this mural as if it were a
house. From the ground up....
I stared with the background and then began adding
elements to the foreground. My vision kept changing and so did the mural.
Sometimes, the simplest strokes of a brush can create the
most beautiful and realistic effects when it comes to murals.
For instance, simple "blobs" of paint become the willow
leaves. They were nothing special, just "blobs" on long, thin, painted
lines:

Now, when you wake in the room in the morning, no matter
what time of year, you wake to a refreshing and colorful garden staring you
in the face and inviting you to wake up and "smell the coffee.... smell the
roses".

Click Photos to enlarge.
For those of you who are afraid to try a large mural by
hand, or don't have any painting experience at all, this is the very reason
we designers create the elements you need in stencil form.... "stencil" your
tree! "Stencil" your tulips, "Stencil" your urn filled with flowers.... you
too can have a mural to be proud of.
Remember: stenciling is like coloring in a color book.
You just don't get outside the lines!
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