Memorial Hospital for Children, in partnership with The Children’s Hospital is located at Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs and houses a Level IIIb NICU which is able to take care of the most fragile newborns. This hospital has some of the most professional nurses and doctors, men and women, I’ve had the privilage of meeting.
It was an honor to be asked to paint murals in such a beautiful new structure. Because of the severity of the cases in this unit it was decided that a child-like theme would be inappropriate. Flowers indigenous to Colorado would be the preferred theme.
Aspen nurses station Memorial Hospital, Colorado Springs
The nurses’ stations had been named Aspen and Spruce. The floor in the Aspen area had accents of bright orange, red and yellow with a background of tans and medium brown. The walls were neutral. The Spruce station had neutral walls and the floors had accents of subtle blues and greens with shades of tan and medium browns.
Entering into the Aspen area you see an Aspen branch with a chickadee in flight. Upon entering the area with the nurses’ station there were five corridors leading to the areas where the babies were being cared for. My job was to paint four foot tall flowers at each corner of those corridors. The flowers I chose to paint were Woodland Lilies, Poppies, Blackeyed Susans, rust colored columbines and yellow prickly pear cactus.
Woodland Lily, Colorado wild flower
Gentian, native Colorado wild flower
The entrance to the Spruce area had a Spruce bough with finches and a bird nest with eggs. The Spruce nurses’ station was set up the same as the Aspen station. Taking the colors of the area into consideration I chose blue columbines, butterfly bushes, Rocky Mountain Iris’, Lupin, and Gentian.
Entrance into Spruce station
After finishing the Spruce and Aspen areas I was asked to paint a ten foot tall scene in the hall leading to the nurses stations.
Colorado scene near guest hand washing station
The twenty-one areas took about twenty-eight days to complete and I enjoyed every minute. Additional close-up photos of this area can be found on my website. Click on the website link above then click on “Murals” and then “New Work”.
Your questions and comments are always welcome. Just click on comment above or on one of the photos.
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