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Those of you who have been following my blog know that I am "Federal Income Tax challenged." The task has engulfed my mind for the past few weeks now. Well, I am relieved to say that the chore is behind me and my mind is free to wonder in a colorful realm.
When Murals & Design paints a mural for children, I strive to make it more that just a pretty picture. I want it to be a prop that sparks the imagination of a young explorer on a safari in the African Jungle. As the sun sets on the Serengeti, the explorer rests in his tent and watches the creatures roam the floor of the jungle through the open door flap. At nightfall he snuggles down into his sleeping bag and is lulled to sleep by the melodic sounds of jungle bugs, and dreaming of the next days adventure...
While four year old Rachel depends on a grown-up to help her cross the street, "Queen Rachel" rules a kingdom, lives in a castle and rides her horse wherever she wants to go. The life of three year old Darren might be boring, but "Darren the fireman" is a hero.
I fear that TV and video games are robbing our children of the ability to think creativity as adults. Imagination is developed by interacting and re-acting to the world around them, not sitting passively.
Remember the days when we played for hours with a refrigerator box? It was a house and a cabin and a grocery store. If the memory of your experiences in the cardboard house are only a vapor - maybe you need to follow a child and see where his imagination takes you!
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy 972-814-5856
I never thought that I would be using the phrase "back in the day..." I guess I am older than I think - if that makes any sense!
Well, back in the day, all signs were made by hand. With the technology we have today, hand painted signs are becoming a lost art. Historically, apprenticeships were the means of learning the craft. Learning how to manipulate a lettering brush was the core of the process. Achieving this skill alone could take years depending on the proficiency of the "master." An artist who had accomplished the skill of hand lettering signs was called a Letterhead. With the advent of computer generated signs the craft has taken a back seat position. However, most professional sign painters are quite passionate about their work; computer generated signs are both a blessing and a curse.
Murals & Design occasionally gets a request for a hand painted sign. I am in no way considered a Letterhead, but I enjoy creating this type of sign.
The two signs in the post today were hand painted for a boutique in Forney, Texas. The large sign is done on a 4'x8' sign board. I am seen putting the finishing touches on it after installation. The smaller sign for the front of the building was mounted inside an old dresser mirror frame, which added interest and a touch of whimsy.
So why do I enjoy spending the many hours required to complete a painted sign? (not to mention the stinky paint and turpentine) I guess it is because it resembles painting a mural, which I love to do. Or maybe it's because I have a touch of that passion to keep alive a craft from "back in the day."
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy 972-814-5856
Trompe l'oeil is a French word meaning "to fool the eye." It is a style of painting that gives the illusion of reality.
Shadow and perspective are the two key elements to a trompe l'oeil painting. Perspective is a drawing on a flat surface of an image as it is perceived dimensionally by the eye. Shadows are added to give the appearance of directional light hitting the object.
Shadow Painting Tips: Squinting at a subject helps make the areas of light and dark clearer. Remember, shadows are not simply ‘black’. Use darker tones of the colors in the objects, or dark complementary colours.
The post today is another laundry room created by Murals & Design and also an example of tromplel'oeil. Everything below the shelves and the clock are real objects in the room. The shelves and items on them are painted.
At first glance I think I have "fooled your eye!"
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
This is a definite sign that the wedding ceremony has gone on too long! With the click of the shutter Kevin caught this little guy about to fall asleep on the job! It is also the best representation of what this time of year does to me. I know that I am not the only one who has to "do taxes". To you "normal" people who breeze through the task with nary a yawn...I am jealous.
Now I see where the term starving artist comes from. Put a paint brush in my hand and I am on top of the world; a confident, get-er-done kind of gal, but I can't seem to wrap my mind around compiling numbers for any length of time before the yawns begin.
This condition has been with me for two weeks now and I can't seem so shake it. Each day I enter the den and look at the mounds of folders and receipts that surround my chair. My mind goes into a daze and all I see is a white blur - no color here! I feel like a stranger in this black and white world. Avoiding the room altogether seems make me feel better. I find myself needing to play Frisbee with the fur kids, darning socks and baking brownies.
Today I have determined to conquer this disease. I will enter the room and swap out the colorless manila folders with the new red, yellow and blue ones so maybe I will have a new perspective on the evil three letter word.
Hmmm, what's that I hear? I think it's my phone ringing. I'm pretty sure that it's my neighbor needing me to go to lunch with her!
Ever wonder why the IRS calls it Form 1040? Because for every $50.00 you earn, you get 10 and they get 40!
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
I'm seeing spots! Can you see them? Look closely at the walls. Uh ha! Now you see spots too!(and stripes)
This finish is surely a labor of love because it is so time consuming. Murals & Design calls this finish tone on tone. We call it that because the base color and the dots are the same paint color. No, I'm not pulling your leg, it is the same! The reason it looks different is because of the sheen. Paints are available in different sheens from flat to high gloss. In this case the base coat is flat and the dots and stripes are high gloss.
Now, let's talk about "matchy- matchy." It is our tendency, to make everything in the room match. When we do that we create a room that looks more like it came from the JC Penney catalog rather than a designer room. Take note of all the different patterns going on in this tween girls room. It takes courage to put dots, stripes, zebra, harlequin and checks all in one space! (not to mention different shades of green, pink, black and ivory) But it works! It just takes some basic decorator knowledge on color tone and pattern scale and you are on your way...
The next layer to the room is the placement of the accessories. Notice how nothing is placed on the same plane. In other words, they are not all going to Hawaii, but they are all placed at different heights and nothing makes a straight line. This adds interest and makes for a happy traveler.
So don't get bit by the "matchy-matchy" bug.
Bee courageous!
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
They say that variety is the spice of life, and maybe that is why Kevin and I seem to do so many different things. Our life is never boring that's for sure!
Kevin brings so much to Murals & Design. He is definitely the brains and technical side of the business and what makes him so unique is that he has an incredible creative side too!
I would be content to just play in the paint, but my precious husband causes me to "stretch." Sometimes it is a painful process but always the outcome takes me to new levels, hence this blog and my upcoming Photoshop class.
The post today is an advertisement done for Focused Eye Care and published in D Magazine. We were provided with the glasses. Then together we designed the ad from original concept to final out-put. I learned so much from Kevin by doing this project and look forward to what lies around the bend...
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
Where do I begin? I've been asked this question hundreds of times so I chose this mural to tell you all about it!
One evening I took a call from a pastor in St Louis. He saw my work in Nashville and wanted Murals & Design to create some art in their new church facility. This huge image was on a focal wall for their 8th grade Sunday school classroom. (I will share some of the other art I did for them at a future date.) Normally I interview some of the principal players in a project to get an idea what they envision. Other times (really fun) I have full rein to create what ever comes to me. It is never easy and often times there is a lot of effort required to come up with the perfect final output for the client.
The painting part can be hard and laborious. You are often way up off the ground. I am not my happiest up there between Heaven and earth; painting with one hand and holding on for dear life with the other. But running one of those "high lifts" can be loads of fun!
Typically my work day is very long since the painting schedule is a compressed segment of time, especially in new construction. My work is usually done near the end of the project but so are the finish people and the make ready and clean up crews. Rush, rush, rush and I am here to confirm, you can only fit a few "behinds" in a small space at any one time without running into one another. This makes it "loads of fun." Plus when I pick up a paint brush I get really, really, no I mean REALLY focused. Talk about a circus act when you have all the other subs running around. Timing really is key to a calm and peaceful outcome. But hey this is what I do and for me the painting is the most fun part of the project.
At times there is a request that I do a "proof of concept design" prior to a large piece like this. My example (above) to the Sunday school class was very well received. The young people came up with the saying and they really liked the "modern swing" I put into the design. It went up well and is quite striking as you enter the room. Proof of concept images are used as a guide for the finished product. It gives the client something to hold and to visualize. (I really love email and the internet, no fax machine needed here!) Typically the final output is pretty close to the proof and that is our goal in creating it. When pricing projects that requires a proof, additional hours are added to the cost the client must pay but in these special cases it is money well spent.
A very challenging part of an exercise of this size is the layout. Just like putting up wall paper or laying floor tile, you must find the logical center of your space and work out from there. It would be disastrous for me to get painting and run out of room at either end. This is something we just can't afford to do. So just like going to the Moon, timing and preparation are everything to the success of the outcome.
Like so many careers, one would think this is all just "pedicures, new doos, and high heel shoes," but as you can see, the most glamorous part of being an artist, designer, and color matching "diva" is my own comfy warm bed, my two whippets and Kevin Lee when I get home after one of these "out of town painting marathons."
So we get back to the question, "Where do I begin?" Well, simply right here at home, usually late at night, thinking, dreaming, and creating till a cold wet nose (or two) causes me pause and I realize tomorrow is closer to me now than yesterday...
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
I don't know about you, but I spend a considerable amount of my precious time in the laundry room. There is the sorting and the washing and the ironing. Not to mention those those oh so pretty garments that require the dreaded "hand washing."
Unfortunately, just ignoring that room in our home does not make the chore go away. I decided years ago that Monday would be laundry day at our house. If you didn't deposit the dirty clothes in the basket by Monday morning, you were out of luck until next week. When this past Monday came along I thought about the laundry then went to have a facial. Feeling guilty, I did not even look in the direction of the laundry room as I tip-toed quietly by. Once I arrived at the salon the thoughts of whites and darks vanished from my mind. Then the attendant pulled a wash cloth from a warming unit that looked exactly like the ones I use at home! Instantly I was reminded of the place where I should be right now! This is torture! She then has the nerve to place the warm cloth over my face and told me to go to my happy place. I searched the vacation brochures of my mind and could not find Trudy's destination resort. The only thing I could think about were socks and how they enter the laundry room together but one of them seems to always get lost. Did that one sock go to it's happy place?! Is there something in my laundry room that I am not aware of? Hmmm it's a mystery..
I guess we might as well face the issue and learn to accept the smell of Downy permeating through the house at least once a week. So let's make the laundry room a pleasant place to enter. Decorate it like any other room in your home. This is a great place to have fun with color and design. The painting in today's post was done to create a calming botanical environment. The walls were painted a lovely blue/green color and the cabinets were glazed in a minty shade.
I will be sharing more examples of decorated laundry rooms in the future but till then...
create your own "happy place" - join the socks!
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
This is that day of the year when everyone chooses sides. I am not really a football fan, with the exception of the year that my brother Wade Roe was the kicker for the University of Alabama. That year they won the championship. I'm not a football party pooper either. So today I will choose my favorite team. My choice is based on two reasons.
1. Because I was born and raised just south of Pittsburgh, Pa. and the name Steelers was just apart of growing up there.
2. Because of the room featured in today's post.
Murals & Design does many sports theme rooms, but this one is special. It's not just because it is a Steelers room in the middle of Cowboy country or that it made me reminisce about my growing up years back home with Terry Bradshaw and the "Steel Curtain." Lets not forget about the "Terrible Towel" either! Oh yea now we are talking Steelers baby! It was a great experience! Let me give you the "play by play"...
It all started with my client Laura. She wanted to do one of those "while you were out" kind of rooms like seen on TV. Yep, Murals and Design does those too! She wanted to surprise her husband with his very own "man room," decorated in the theme of his favorite professional football team. Time was short so we had to get a game plan in place. Did you know Home Depot sells Team Colors? This little secret makes choosing the perfect colors a breeze. Coach Laura offered to do the base painting, and called on her first string for assistance. So with the help of her daughter and some friends we were on our way to first and down!
Once the base work was completed our team was up by a goal. I came in with an end run (art work) consisting of a life size likeness of Terry Bradshaw. I also crafted two team logos on the sloping ceiling / walls. With the clock running and no time outs left, Laura and I scored the final TD by merchandising the space with various Steelers memorabilia elements. We placed the furniture and workout equipment and put a recorded Steelers game on the TV. (how is that for some real man ambiance?)
Final score!!!
Just in time, Laura slipped into her official Steelers football jersey. I quietly slipped out the back door as one lucky Steelers fan come home from a tough few days on business. As I hit the shower, I could hear cheers for the winning team!
I have a pretty good feeling, now that this years Superbowl is over and we can "chalk up" one more win for Pittsburgh, this special Steelers room got its workout tonight.
GO STEELERS!!!
That's all for now but as always...
Have a colorful day!
Murals & Design
Trudy
972-814-5856
Those of you who have been following my blog know that I am "Federal Income Tax challenged." The task has engulfed my mind for the past few weeks now. Well, I am relieved to say that the chore is behind me and my mind is free to wonder in a colorful realm.
