Apple Trees for Jonathan and Salem

Sometimes I put up the pastels and get out my acrylic paints. Acrylics (thinned slightly with Polymer Emulsion) is what I use for painting on walls. It is extremely permanent (as you know if it has ever dried on your clothes.) 

I first sketch out the larger shapes with chalk or pencil, depending on which shows up on the wall best. This gives me a guide from which to paint. Next, I paint the larger shapes and finally the details.

Years ago, I painted wall murals as you can see below. Recently I had a yearning to paint something in the room where Jonathan and Salem stay when they come to visit me in Winston-Salem. 
Some of the places where I have painted murals  are shown below.

. . . in the beach house shower dressing area . . . 

. . . in Allyson's nursery . . . 

. . . in Amy's nursery  . . . 

 . . . and a Venice scene for an Italian furniture company that was used in their showroom during Fall Furniture Market in High Point, NC  . . . 

Following, you will see the coastal scenery that I painted on the walls of my beach condo in 2001. I left the walls yellow as I thought it looked like a warm sunny day and the blue-green of the water stood out well against the warm background or sky. Seagulls and clouds looked down over the water and sand that was painted just above the baseboards in the halls and main sitting areas. Other coastal items were added where appropriate . . .

In the large master bath, the walls were a soft lavender which (along with some tropical bird border paper) inspired me to paint a rainforest scene with tropical birds and flowers. It was painted on 2 walls which surrounded the hot tub and on an additional wall above the towel rack. . . just fun for splashing around in the tub, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful colors of nature in the tropics.

The tropical idea was carried into the master bedroom over the bed. These birds, and the ones in the bath room, were painted from photos I took while on various dive trips.  Here you see the colorful Lorikeets from Australia (similar to a parakeet) and a couple of Red Macaws taken when I was in Mexico.

I guess I wanted to be sure I hadn't forgotten how to paint murals when I got this yearning to paint them again and, most specifically, in Jonathan's and Salem's room.  I've been trying to get the kiddos' room painted for weeks now. School starting, apples for fall and 2 little monkeys got me going. It's Salem and Jonathan's room when they come to visit Gommy.

 

It seems as though I just can't get enough, so I decided to paint one more mural . . . this time on the wall in the garage that leads into the art room where I teach both children and adult classes. The kids art work that was hanging had gotten so faded and buckled from the moisture. I was tired of looking at it, and I figured everybody else was too, so I took it down and painted this scene there instead. There is plenty of space on the side wall along with cork board for hanging art work. 

This is the wall you see as you enter the garage, and you can see the door to the art room. I painted this scene to look as though the road just continues back into the landscape. Who knows what you might find in there . . .  come on in . . .