My First Mural – the magical forest

May 8, 2019 | Rooms of the Rebellion | 0 comments

   I decided to launch this blog with the project that ended-up becoming the visual inspiration for it - a reproduction of a fairly obscure René Magritte painting called Le Blanc Seing that I translated into a mural in the hallway to the master bedroom in my home.

   But first, a little background. I was well into adulthood before I was able and ready to take the plunge into real estate but I'd been waiting impatiently for years for a large canvas on which I could express my love of color and comfort. So when I finally had the chance I spent much of my copious energy transforming it.

  I'd kept pretty detailed visual documentation of house projects since I bought it at the end of 2007, mostly for my own edification (before and after photos are so very satisfying to revisit). Then, earlier this year, prompted by the interest and curosity of folks who have visited my home (the gift of being part of an international martial arts community means I frequently host friends from all over the world), I started an instagram account in order publish these and other projects. But I found the format patently unsatifying. I wanted to post more pics to a single post than was allowed, I had no control of the format they were displayed - in short I felt that in order to show the projects at their best, I needed more control over the design. Of course I did, I'm a designer and artist, I spend most of my waking hours thinking about how to make things look and feel outstandingly singular. And while making things is the intial pleasure, sharing them is crucial to my process. I also wanted to present what has actually become 'a body of work' all in one place. In short, as complete as possible representation of who I am as a creative.

    Making stuff is truly my reason for living. I have often described it as akin to breathing for me. I do it as therapy when I'm down, I revel in it when I feel great. But spending the countless hours it takes make stuff like this can also be a bit isolating. Don't get me wrong, I am mostly quite content creating, but I am a person that tends to extremes, and tend to have 'blinders on' focus - it can be too much of a good thing at times. So, I thought that this might be a cool way of connecting and reaching out to the greater comunity of people who find this sort of stuff inspiring. So welcome to my world...

         -The Chatelaine

A Magical Forest - the beginning: While an outstanding piece of architecture, when I bought it, the house was replete with banal wallpaper, white walls(inside and out) and NO personality.  It has been my privilege and pleasure to transform it into a unique and colorful refuge. While this wasn't the very first project I got to. it remains one of my favorites.  So this is what I started with - I think this wallpaper dated back to the 40's  
  This was my inspiration - I LOVE surrealist art! It seems to me that in its fanciful absurdity and exaggeration that it speaks to some truth of how I think the world should look and behave - a concrete way of living within our dreaming selves. This piece struck me as a young person, speaking to me of magical realism long before I immersed myself in that genre of literature, or even knew its name. But I don't actually know what made me think of it for this room. I can only say that once it came to mind I thought, yes, I need a magical forest leading to my bedroom.  
  This was project of building up layers of colors and texture. Lets call this layer one. After sketching the the broad strokes of forest, I layed down structure and shapes. And, before I go any further, here's a shout out to my Mom who as a retired expat comes back to my house several weeks a year to help me prep and do some of these projects. She is the one who stripped all the wallpaper and primed the wall and woodwork - so I got to start with the beautifully prepped tabula rasa. When I started this project I hadn't painted in years. Taking the entrepreneurial plunge a few years before had pretty much taken most of my energy. So I was a little intimidated. But I felt this was a good project to get my provervial feet wet because most of it consists of building up an image with 'blobs' of color. The only really 'painterly' and figurative part was the figure on horse back - so I left to last when I was feeling more conifident.
  Stage two: completing background color - which is not a single color but several tones sponged and dabbed over each other to create a blue/green surface and beginning the 'blobs' that build up into the forest greenery. Next, roughing out the outline and basic shapes of horse and rider.
  Stage three: adding more depth and detail - expanding texturing to tree trunks, ceiling(leaf canopy) and grass.
  Stage four: building up the darks for greater epth and contrast, sponging the 'leaves' to the ceiling forest canopy.
  Stage five:
  And finally after several months of work...
A close-up
The ceiling
Ta-da!

Please leave a comment below! I'm creating this in a bit of a vacuum and the whole purpose is to share - I'd love to know what you think! And if you love it sign up to get email notices of new posts.

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