March 23 garden mural progress at the “Flat of Medici”

The Garden is growing, several new horsetail ferns, some jack-in-the-pulpit, large ferns and moss filling in….  I am working on how to add some trees or suggestions of trees, without having to go all the way up to the ceiling, which would add to the cost. A trip to the Botanical Garden soon will help to give me some ideas. Much of the art of it is in suggesting changes of plane and mass so that it all seems to fall together and have a kind of earth logic of its own. There are multiple perspectives and places for the eye to move in and around the painting. The eye should be able to feel many textures and changes of temperature. It doesn’t make sense to have all these shade loving plants and no trees, so off onto the tree puzzle.

Regarding the allusion to the “Flat of Medici”, my benefactors and I were joking around about how I would refer to them in this blog, since they prefer to remain un-named.  One suggestion was – “21st century ‘flat of medici’, patron to famous artists” (or artists yet to become famous)

I will be taking a several day break from the mural. I teach all day on Wednesdays and will be getting ready for the Belmont show, which is over the coming weekend, March 26, 27 and 28. The Belmont show will be at Carlmont shopping Center near Alameda de las Puelgas, down the peninsula. I will be showing and selling both framed and unframed paintings, prints and greeting cards.

Mural evolving

The Bathroom Mural is evolving. Groups of plants coming into view, tweaking the waterfall and the large rock. Immediately to my right (not in the picture) is a roomful of cockatiel birds. We may end up with one or two in the painting. But those parrots in the room (also not in the picture) to my immediate left? I guess its not so far fetched, I did see a flock of parrots in SF along the Emabarcadero a few weeks ago.

Progress this coming week may slow down a little. I have a three day Art Festival “to do” next weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Festivals are a lot of work, but fun.

Oh yeah…

This is how the wall looked before it was painted. The wall tile on the opposite side of the room, behind the viewer , where the toilet and sink will be, is lower than the tile above the the tub area. My idea is a waterfall area above the tub will give way to a pond image of fish, water lilies and aquatic creatures over the sink and toilet. I think this will be a really fun bathroom and a wonderful place to take a bath!

New Bathroom Mural in Progress

Its March 15, 2010.  I am creating my first BLOG! This morning I found myself in a bathroom between two rooms full of Birds. Cockatiels, parrots, parakeets, budgees, a canary and some I don’t know how to recognize yet. Reflective of their various owners, I am listening to an amazing array of clicks, clacks, whistles, copies of answering machines, recorded messages, sirens, car alarms, excerpts from symphonies… The people who own the house babysit birds. (and dogs, cats and rabbits) I am just getting started on a mural for this bathroom. It doesn’t look like much yet, just getting started  blocking stuff in. The wall tile is a gray green, accented with plum neutrals and tints, the floor an earthy selection of dark greens, grays, gray lavenders. This picture is taken on March 16 around 6pm.

The image is just taking shape. There are a lot of decisions to make. The inspiration for the mural is Strawberry Creek in the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The shape the image and composition will take is entirely invented though, to fit the horizontal shape of the space above where a beautiful slipper bathtub will rest.