Butterflies and Zebras and Moonbeams and Fairy Tales – Baby Girl Nursery Mural

Another little baby is on the way for our family!  These two lovebirds are expecting a baby girl in June and gave me a little wall space to play with…

Alan loves music and I think the Jimi Hendrix quote is especially perfect for a baby girl (not just because I got to finally paint a unicorn, but yeah!)

Can’t wait to meet my sweet little niece!

Mural Painting 101 – Under the Sea Themed Nursery

People always assume my house is covered with murals.  The fact is, I’m usually painting a wall for someone else and I’m quite indecisive when it comes to my own decor.  That said, I have dreamed of the day I would get to design and paint my own nursery, and the time has finally come!  I thought I’d document some of the process in case in of you DIY folk out there would like to try your hand.  And yes, I’m fully aware that you can buy a vinyl decal these days, slap it on the wall and voila…but where’s the fun in that?  This technique will show you how to take a simple sketch, blow it up, and transfer it to the wall.  All you’ll need is a pencil, some paper, painters tape, acrylic paint, good brushes, and a steady hand.

Since our nursery was already blue, I decided long before we found out we were having a boy that rather than repaint the whole room, we’d go with an Under the Sea theme.  (some of you may recall a similar project I worked on a few years back…click!)  Our nursery is small, so I wanted a focal point over the crib, and decided an Octopus would be fun to paint…

I sketched a few options with my favorite color scheme (blue and yellow-green with accents of red-orange) and chose the version with the white undersides to balance out the white in his sailor cap.

Next I scanned my tiny sketch into photoshop and printed him out to scale on regular letter sized paper.  In the past, I’ve been known to free-hand a mural or two, but in the interest of keeping my proportions and minimizing the amount of touch ups needed, an enlarged template is never a bad idea.

Yep, that’s my big ole belly making a cameo.

After putting all the pieces back together with tape, I flipped over the template and used the side of my pencil to roughly apply graphite to the black lines visible through the paper…

It doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact it’s best if you go a little outside the lines here.  The more graphite applied, the better it will transfer to your wall.

Next, tape your template to the wall using painters tape.  You can move it around until you get it just where you want it…

I measured our crib and marked the height with those little pieces of painters tape to make sure that Ocho (yes, that’s his name) would be properly placed without being cut off.

Next, I took my pencil and traced over the black lines, applying medium pressure.  This will transfer that messy graphite to your wall.  Before you remove your template completely, be sure to sneak a peek and make sure that all of your lines transferred nicely.

The lines will be faint, but they are there!  Those little white spots are patched holes where we had nails from other artwork prior to making this the mural wall.  To save myself from touching up blue paint, I strategically placed Ocho’s arms in the areas where the holes were.

Now it’s time to prime…and prime some more….and some more after that…and some more after that.  Trust me, you don’t want to skip this step if you’re planning on painting a colored wall.  It will save you LOTS of time in the long run.  I used Killz low VOC primer that we had on hand from another project.  (with windows open for good ventilation of course)

Now that you’ve laid quite the foundation, it’s time to start painting the fun stuff. I always paint from the background to the foreground.

I kept my sketch of Ocho nearby for reference.  Oh and I won’t lie…yellow-green, though one of my favorite colors, usually requires many, many coats for a nice opaque layer…this green took 4 coats to cover well…I’d probably still be applying coats if I hadn’t primed!

Here he is!  Spots and all!  I’m really happy with how he turned out!  He’s bright (no pastels for my baby) and he’s the perfect size for over the crib…measuring roughly 3 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide.  I won’t lie, he was definitely time consuming…roughly 20 hrs, start to finish, but totally worth it!

The best part?  He’s completely custom for our lil man.

I’m sure I’ll be adding some additional features to his room as time goes on, but for now, this is about all I have in me…(and standing on a ladder probably isn’t too terribly safe for a pregnant woman anyway)

I’d love to see some pics of your own DIY murals, and hope this little tutorial gives you a few tips to help you create something really spectacular!

Lab Lovers Mural Update

Funny I should have two clients, in close geographic proximity to each other, ask for new dogs to be added to their murals at the same time!  I always love revisiting these folks, and it’s certainly nice to get a warm welcome from the fur babies too.  (Funny how dogs can remember you even after so many years!)  This lab-loving family surprised me with their new addition.  Meet Ritter…

He’s a German Shorthair Pointer (please correct me if I’m wrong), a well-trained hunter, and a bundle of energy.  He has a distinctive bear-shaped patch on his side and all those freckles!  Super fun to paint!  Here’s how we worked him into the existing mural….

a little closer shot….tricky painting those beveled edges!

full view of the doors….

For a more detailed look at the mural and a refresher as to what it looked like before Ritter’s addition, CLICK!

All artwork ©Heather L. Young

 

 

Baby’s First Mural!

I’ve been absent, but with good reason!  We are expecting a little fella late summer, so life has taken on a new urgency if you will.  So many projects to tackle before his arrival.

One of which was finally updating my Dutch Island mural from many years ago.  (see here to refresh your memory.)  Naughty clients decided to remodel, trim down the mural a bit from one side and *gasp* tear a hole in the wall to put in double doors!  (it’s okay Meghan and Bill, I still love you!)

Beveled edges are so tricky!  Matching paint from 8 years ago, even trickier, but I think I successfully brought their waterfall back to life.

Oh and they had one more addition arrive in those 8 years, Sophie.  It wouldn’t be fair to leave her out of the mural…

Here’s a better shot at how she fits into the mix…

Here’s a glimpse at the right side.  I added some embellishments to beef up the silhouette since a few feet had been trimmed on that side of the mural.  Sorry for the split shots, it’s impossible to be a shot of the full mural (roughly 20 feet wide)

For a better idea of the scale of things, take a look at the original mural.

Happy Spring y’all!

Inspiration

I recently spent some time out at my childhood home.   My great-aunt’s property, it has housed nearly every one of my mother’s siblings at some point or another.   I spent the first 8 years of my life in that house and nearly ever summer there after.

Perhaps this wallpaper mural in the foyer (circa 1978) has something to do with my Live Oak fascination?

a detail…

The camellias in bloom and the morning fog off the Vernon River welcomed me home.

Enchanting, no?

 

 

 

rhinestones and glitter oh my!

Maddie was still in the womb when the initial paint job was done.  Now, at the age of four, she has become my youngest client to date.

She needed a little more sparkle…

A little more pink…

And just why is there a giraffe in a garden?

Thankfully, for now, the giraffe stays.

It was such a pleasure to see how much she’d grown and to see how much she enjoyed her room.  I have a feeling I’ll be back in a few years…

Weekend Recap

Nick, Vayda and I took a trip down to Amelia Island this past weekend, where we stayed with my brother and his lovely gal, Liz.  I could not wait to meet my new nephew, Gibson…

at just 14 weeks of age, he is already the size of Vayda…just look at those big dog paws!  It should be noted, that while Vayda was tolerant of the new gangly legged pup, she was less than thrilled to see another Granddog running around her “vacation” home.   I tried in vain to get a picture of them together, but the Diva would not have it.

While there,  I also whipped up a little cursive for Dad’s kitchen wall.  “Bella Cucina” has a nice ring to it…no?I believe the translation is “Beautiful Kitchen” in Italian…

A much easier task than one would think.  If you’d like the step by step tutorial, leave me a comment.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Secret Valentine #2

It’s always fun to paint something that you would fancy in your own home.  It’s even more fun to paint it, knowing that it’s a special Valentine’s Day surprise.  And, as if it could possibly get any better, I got to paint it for the oh so talented Jade McCully. Trust me, her photos will be much better than my sneak peek below…but you get the idea…

Birch trees on a crisp yellow-green.  Loves it!

It’s here! It’s here!

Quicker than I thought even…Did you see it? We hope you’ll enjoy the layout…I’m most excited that you can now view the murals full screen (it did them no justice to have them at 400 px wide, when some are 24 feet  in real life)…Oh and speaking of which, we finally added my Anne Bonny Mural to the site.  Now that it’s all rolled out, I owe Nick about 1000 sketches, so it’s time to get back to work…but in case you’ve forgotten the old layout…here are some before and after shots..

Before on the left…after on the right…

Pirate’s House Mural – Anne Bonny’s Room

Complete?  If not, we’re close.  It’s  bittersweet to say the least.  I mean, how often do you get to paint pirates?

It’s been a great pleasure to work with the folks at the Pirate’s House again.  Everyone is so friendly, and the place is rich with history, ghostly encounters, unique architecture, and of course delicious food.  The photos are rusty at best, but I’m hoping to have some professional shots in the not-so-distant future.

Ever heard of Anne Bonny? I hadn’t.  Here’s a brief summery to give you an idea of where we went with this mural.  Turns out Anne was quite the fierce pirate.  She came from a well-to-do family, who owned a plantation in Charleston.  She fell in love with a small time pirate, and decided the life of a pirate was far too fun to miss out on.  Upon choosing a lifestyle of piracy, her family disowned her, and like many a pirate tale, rumors swirled about the nature of her being.  Legend states that in retaliation, she burned the family  plantation to the ground.  She’s also rumored to have stabbed a servant girl to death at the age of 13.  Sweet lady pirate, right?  As if that wasn’t enough, she also sailed with another female pirate, Mary  Read.  Double the trouble, I’d imagine.  Now that you have a little background (and trust me, there’s more…just google them), here’s the rough final pics.

The mural is roughly 23 feet long.

My cameo as Mary Read.  Let’s face it, I couldn’t subject my mother to such a manly appearance.

I soooo loved painting that flaming red hair!  The quote below, comes from Anne’s reported last words to her husband, before he was hung for piracy.

“…if you had fought like a man, you needn’t be hang’d like a dog. ” ~ Anne Bonny

Anne is modeled after a patron I met while dining at the Pirate’s House.  (If you’re reading this, I’m sorry it didn’t turn out just like you…she kind of took on a life of her own)

map detail…look closely…

Lastly, special thanks to Cathy and Bob for giving me such a wonderful canvas to paint…(and to Buddy for getting my foot in the door)  I look forward to working with you all again sometime soon.

For more information on the fabulous Pirate’s House.  CLICK

All images are ©2009 Heather L. Young