June 2012

Poppies & Iris Mural
Trompe l’oell planter filled with 3 ft. tall flowers

Anytime I can paint tall glorious flower murals I am happy. Another thing that makes me happy is repeat clients. Several years ago I was commissioned to paint a master bedroom. The room was painted a wonderful, rich gold with an accent wall above the headboard of opulent red. A beautiful classic paisley duvet covered the bed with adorning pillows. Here are a couple of pics of the final mural.

  

My client moved a year or so ago. This time the living room was in need of a color. The focal point was the fireplace with all of its built-ins. The mantel was about 10 ft. wide and the room had ten foot ceilings. Are you seeing the picture? The room could definitely use something large and colorful on that mantel. The initial plan was to have flowers growing from behind the mantle. After finishing the leaves and placement of the flowers I stepped back and realized the design would be much more grounded if they were in a planter. So here you go . . .

Flower of the Month of June is the Rose

The hidden message of your birth flower, the Rose, so favored during the Victorian era varied according to color.

• (White and red together) – Unity
• Red – I love you, passion
• Rose (Tea) – I’ll remember always
• White- I am worthy of you, innocence, you are heavenly
• Orange – You are my secret love
• Yellow – Friendship, jealousy, I am worthy of you
• Peach – Desire, excitement
• Thornless – Love at first site
• Rosebud – Beauty and youth
• Bouquet of full blooms – Gratitude
• Single full bloom – I love you

This rose is another from my perpetual calendar. A client asked if I could design all the stationary products for her wedding and this is the rose she requested on invitations, table tents, gift cards, etc. It was a perfect choice for their wedding.

Last month I had someone who couldn’t read the quote on the painting I had done. It read: Nothing will ever be attempted if all objections must be overcome first.

Q Hi, I have a ‘mural’ question as a ‘how to’. I saw some of your videos and am, obviously, quite impressed enough to see if you’ll share a trade secret or two. I’m wondering if when you do a wall mural, are you using a reference painting and free handing it? Or a grid system of some sort? I’ve tried a few–and think a grid may be simplest for me….if I could get straight lines. Do you have any suggestions? (Please?) -Kerra

A Hi Kerra, happy to answer your questions. I don’t have a system written in stone. My preference is to let the mural evolve as I paint but your client has to trust that you understand what they are wanting. I have never used a grid. However, if a client had something very specific they wanted, without variations, I might. If I need straight lines I use levels or you could run a chalk-line. Another option is to use a projector and trace the design onto the wall.

I work from my sketches which may begin from several photos, picking and choosing what best fits with a clients decor and the feeling they are trying to create. Most often I freehand my designs and I sometime make patterns.

Kerra, I tried to keep this simple and to the point but am happy to give more detail if you like. Hope this was helpful. Good luck ~ your work is lovely!

On a personal note . . .

Passion and Permissible Pleasures

This is a short chapter in my life about finding my passion. The dictionary defines passion as:
1. strong and barely controllable emotion
2. an intense desire or enthusiasm for something
3. abandonment of reason in reckless pursuit of pleasure

Sara Ban Breathnick calls it the Authentic Muse. John Boorman says, “It is surely the becoming of a person.” Passion for some is permissive, excessive or even obsessive but for most of us real life is staring at us upon awakening each day and we don’t allow ourselves the time to give in to our passions. Few realize that it’s our passions that energize our lives filling us with the energy it takes to deal with the trials and tribulations of life.

In my mid twenties my husband asked if I would help with his new business . . for a year. This would mean a huge change in my life. Our sons were in school full time by now and I loved the life of painting and teaching I had created. So I said to him. “I can do that but if you see that I am not painting you need to remind me because something would be very wrong.”

A few years prior I had been depressed to the point of sleeping over fifteen hours a day. After I began drawing and painting again and making changes to my diet I totally loved life again. You can understand the fear I had around giving up the things that had reawakened my zest for life. Considering how I felt I decided to continue teaching two nights a week. This kept me painting and creating new techniques for my students. It is true, these classes energized me. Eight years later . . . we sold the business and relocated in beautiful Colorado Springs.

There are always learning experiences ahead when your life makes a turn in a direction you don’t particularly want to go. Inside I went kicking and screaming but the business aspects proved to be great tools for my future. Learning more complex bookkeeping, payroll, etc., making sales calls on existing and perspective customers, collecting on bad debts (yuck), and interacting with copious personality types. I so enjoyed meeting people and interacting with regular customers. That was over twenty-five years ago and I still stay in touch with several. It took a few years and several detours but I have recreated the life I have dreamed of, thankful for each turn in the road.

What is your sacred fire that burns within? Your passion may not be chaotic and wild; it could be planting an exotic new variety of rose in your garden, searching for and finding a delectable recipe for your family and preparing it with love, browsing an antique store and discovering the perfect table for that empty corner in your bedroom, caring for a close friend when they are ill or hurting, taking your grandchild to a park or museum, taking a dance lesson, permitting that picture in your mind to find its way to your canvas.

How many permissible pleasures presented to you have you refused to enjoy? Looking back I remember several. Would you allow yourself to indulge in your passion if it were a sin not to? Go. Create joy. Be joyful.

Bella’s Insight

Hi Everybody! What a month June has been so far. As you may remember I HATE WIND! (Mom doesn’t like me to use that word, sorry mom) So what happened last week? WIND & HAIL! HAIL is now officially on my list of things I don’t like. Some parts of Colorado Springs had that stuff larger than golf balls. Just in case you are the “show me” kind of person, check this out.

At our house the hail was only about the size of a dime but the noise it made was very scary. When it was over mom went out to take a look and if that wasn’t enough – she tried to get me out there. She can’t be serious, like I haven’t been traumatized enough? NOT happening.

Safe and sound,
Bella ~