I started the tropical mural at Portland Chiropractic Group today. After three hours, the wall was sketched out. I used a brown art marker. I like using brown to outline instead of black. It makes a softer line. I also picked out the Benjamin Moore Aura paints this morning. I really love this line of paints. They come in beautiful colors and they’re the lowest VOC paint and colorants on the market. This fits nicely with my green needs.
Here are the sketches.
Beach boy builds a sandcastle while crab watches.
Dr. Elise Hewitt who commissioned the piece loves sea turtles so this beautiful, endangered creature is the focal piece of the mural as the little girl reaches out in wonder.
Dr. Hewitt asked that the center of the mural have lots to look at. This way children can keep busy during treatment. Here I’ve added my favorite sea creature, the octopus. I think I’ll make it purple because someone recently told me they saw a purple octopus while snorkeling. There are tropical fish and crab, too.
A long mirror is mounted on the right side of the wall. I had to figure out a way to incorporate the mirror so I made a tropical island. Palm trees with coconuts sway on top while jellyfish, starfish and crab cling to the sides.
Palm trees sway in the tropical breeze while kites dance in the sky with seagulls.
Pelicans are such cool birds. When I watch them fly over the water, they almost look like pterodactyls. I couldn’t resist including a pelican under a cheery sun!
I used to want to be Jacques Cousteau…or at least related to him…or at least an oceanographer. This is what I imagined it would have been like swimming with sea creatures. This, of course, is before I saw Jaws which pretty much ruined my chances of going in the ocean any further than ankle deep.
Tomorrow…I paint!