Winding down on the mural work

I did some work on the west north of the mural today. I am just about done with the east wall of the mural and the south wall is almost done too. I have a bit of work to do on the west side and then some touch ups and I will be done with this project. Given how nice it is starting to get outside, it will be good to get ready to attack some outdoor projects. 

One year - and only a couple weeks to go

 It was this weekend, last year, that I began painting the mural in the dining room. I really thought I'd be done by now but given the number of long breaks I gave myself and the fact that I started the project when the yard was just becoming workable, I shouldn't be surprised.

Yesterday, I inched closer with a lot of work on the west wall. It is one of the more difficult walls because the coloring is quite different from the other walls. In the image I am working from, this is where the light was hitting so much of it is well lit or washed out.   

I really don't have much to go before I am finished and that is great since I am hoping the weather will turn soon so that I can do some work outside. 

 

Progress on the South Wall Mural

The past two weeks were spent working on the south wall. I had some drawing troubles in the southeast corner and wasn't happy with how a fallen branch seemed to be floating in the painting. I re-drew it twice and re-worked the color in this area and am now happy with the outcome.  

The overall perspective on this side is also greatly improved. I will move on to the west wall next weekend. After that, I should only have a couple weeks of finishing touches on the south, east and north walls and I should be done.  

 I took some time to get an overall dining room view as part of a magazine article I was asked to contribute to. You can see how the room is shaping up in this shot. 

Mural Progress - A busy month

I am coming up on my one year anniversary for this project and I would love to get it completed before that milestone. Luckily I have little planned this month and should be able to take the time and focus on painting.

I am now about 90% done with the east wall and maybe half-done with the north and south walls. The one-year completion is an achievable goal if I can stick with it.

More Mural Progress

I got in about six hours of painting this weekend so the mural saw a lot of progress. If all goes well, I should be done with the first coat of paint on all sides of the mural. This might not sound like much but I consider it a huge accomplishment. It is time consuming and, for me, the least fun part of the painting because it doesn't look like much at that stage. 

The east wall is still the furthest along. A few more hours and I will be finished with it. 

The next furthest along is the south wall. I have several more days to finish work on this one and didn't do any work on it this past weekend. 

The west wall is the least finished of the walls and I spent some time laying down the first layer of colors on it this weekend.

I also did a lot of work on the north wall this weekend. It is the darkest toned of the walls and much of this part of the view is in shadows. It is a bit more difficult to paint for me but I think it is finally coming along. 

Mural Progress - First Weekend of the New Year

I had some free time this weekend to spend painting. The east wall is progressing further than the others. Here are some pics over time so you can see how it is developing. I am happy with how it is coming out and it is starting to finally look like something. I am also still trying to figure out how to photograph this thing. I guess I should have picked some spots to photograph it over time but I never seem to plan such things out very well.  

February 2014

 March 2014

October 2014

January 2015

October 2014

January 2015

January 2015

Dining Room Mural Progress

Now that the mural is starting to progress, the magnitude of this project is finally starting to settle in on me. I have a good chunk underway on one wall and over the past few weeks, I completed a terpintine wash on the other three walls and have started to fill in some of the major color areas. 

In order to save some time, I spent a day mixing all of the major colors in the painting: a yellow, orange, two greens, a dark brown and lighter brown, and two cooler blue and pink grays. I begin filling in the darkest areas and worked my way around the room trying not to make one part seem much more finished or different than the others. 

I am very happy with how it is coming but knowing how much more work I have to do to get to the level of finish I want, I am sure this is going to take me a long time to finish. So far, I think I have put roughly 48 hours into it. If only I had that kind of free time in large chunks.   

All in all, I am pretty happy with how it is coming along though. I've worked all of the areas with a very large brush but am happy with the drawing and the way that the colors are laying out. I will work the areas a couple more times with a finer brush in order to get to the level of detail I want. I don't want it to look hyper-real but still hope that folks can discern the depth of the landscape and comprehend that this is an "actual" scene.

Here is the best overall I can get at the moment. 

Mural Progress - Second Week of Painting

Only the second week into it and I am wondering what I've gotten myself into. I like how things are coming but am starting to realize how long it is going to take to fully realize this project. I guess it gives me something to post about; which is more than I could say for the past six months.  

The setup and paint mixing is the most daunting part for me. I am color-blind so I have to be careful and I have my daughter help me match colors from week to week. It also means I need to be more rigorous with cleaning and switching out brushes so that the paints don't start to meld together.

I finished the first coat on the east wall and have started to add a little more detail. I don't want to get to far along before starting the other waslls because I don't want the walls to look too different from one another.

My portable scaffolding is coming in handy again but I think I may need to do something about the lighting and figure out a better way to hold the photos I am painting from. It is a little aggravating at the moment.

All in all, I am happy with the progress and wish I could do more than just paint on the weekends but the set up and clean up take so long that it precludes me from painting during the week. I guess I'll just have to be patient.

Starting the Mural

Back in 2008, I had an idea that I would paint a mural in the dining room, above the high dado, like a frieze. I even did a little Photoshop image of what it might look like. In 2011, we finished the plaster work, repainting and refinishing the woodwork in the rooms. Last year, we added in beam lighting. Since 2011, that area below the ceiling has remained white and has been the subject of conversation for anyone visiting. 

A couple weeks ago, I figured it was about time that I started on that mural. I laid out a photograph I took of the DesPlaines River, in River Forest, Illinois. It is a beautiful spot nearby and seemed appropriate for the location. I scaled it to fit the area and then drew a grid over the image to act as a guide for my painting. 

I drew another grid on the wall to correspond to the one on the image. The image is half the size of the actual painting. The wall was prepped with two coats of primer prior to laying out the grid.  

Yesterday, I finally started painting. I began with a turpentine wash of yellow and brown to outline the lightest and darkest parts of the painting on the east wall of the dining room. It is all being done free-hand by looking at the image so that it has as natural an appearance as possible. Though I went to art school, I've never attempted anything quite like this so I am a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing.  

After completing the initial outline on the wall, I began a second layer of roughly filling in broad color areas within the painting. There are roughly six colors that I am using for this. It is all in oils and being painted directly to the wall. Once I complete these two layers on all four walls, I will go back into the painting with additional colors and add more detail adn depth to the painting.  

In a weekend, I laid out one wall and painted a section that is roughly four feet long. Given the time it takes to mix paints and clean up, I won't be doing any painting during the week but I think I will use the next two weeks to lay out the grids and arrange the images on the other three walls.  

 So far I am pretty happy with things and the anxiousness about doing this project is beginning to dissipate. It is going to take a pretty long time to complete but I think it will be worth it. I have also started looking at how these types of paintings would have been treated in the past and am wondering if I should use some sort of varnish to add depth and protect the work. I haven't made my mind up either way on this yet.