Aspirations of a mural painter and pretty garden murals

06 Nov Aspirations of a mural painter and pretty garden murals

Someone with artistic talent has the difficult decision on how best to make a career out of that talent. It is the same in music, acting or the plastic arts, embarking on a career is a precarious path, without obvious indicators it is a matter of how brave or sensible are going to be the choices.

My choices were made at a time in the 1980’s when the decorative arts were going through a resurgence and specialist effects and faux finishes were in every home and there was a building boom and it was the greedy era of flash bankers, money ruled.

Although at the end of the decade was the birth of the Young British Artists YBA’s it was not ‘cool’ to be a starving artist, maybe in Paris but not in London.

On a particular Sunday in 1985 on a country walk I mapped out what was to be my life’s path. I concluded that I had a skill in faux finishes and took great enjoyment in wood graining, marbling, ragging and subtle colour washes in imitating the worn colors of ancient Italian chateaus.

This I realized was not sustaining enough for my artistic ambitions and the second part of the plan was to develop my skills as a trompe l’oeil artist. I had been fascinated by the ability of artists to create renderings using shadow and perspective to completely fool the eye, this included a degree of artistic realism and wit.

The next part of the plan was to create murals. I was enthralled in the magic of enormous wall paintings depicting anything from murals of country scenes or larger than life figures tumbling down the walls.

Having the skill to mix all the decorative arts faux finishes, Trompe L’oeil and murals gave me the ability to create fantasies into realities whether it be a room influenced by Roman Pompeii or chinoiserie from the Orient, the canvas was whole walls and ceilings.

I can now look back on a career of over 35 years as a mural artist, I have completed over 600 faux finish, trompe l’oeil and mural commissions in 7 countries and I can honestly say I am constantly learning and facing new challenges, there are an infinite amount of aspects and possible themes in making art on walls.

Each commission has its unique set of challenges in some of the more recent mural commissions for example the trompe l’oeil commission at the Royal Botanical gardens at Kew it was how to create 60 meters of trompe l’oeil arch surrounds at heights up to 6 meters in two weeks, so timing and organizing was paramount.

Conversely I am at present on number 7 of eight garden murals with individual garden designs whilst each relate the themes are individual, in these murals I have been trying to perfect a style of muted colors built up in layers with soft contrasts borrowing from English gardens, Roman lemon trees and classic ruins, whilst trying to create an individual style and something original for the client.

These are examples of but a few of the contrasting styles and techniques I have used in mural painting in the past few years.