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Mulch Media Gallery » The Making Of (Madeline's Mural)

    

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Progress shots of panel #1 and #2 (dragon and castle).

Progress shots of panel #2 and #3 (castle and tree)

Progress shots of panel #4 (closet peacock).

Wall texture. There are 3 colors total. The darker color was the original wall color. I used wadded up plastic bags to sponge on a medium color and a lighter color (the tan mixed with some white). I think it took about 7hrs to do in total.

Three panels taped out, ready for painting. I taped out the arches so that I can paint evenly right over the lines (want the paint to eventually look like colored glass does --with the streaks of color). When the mural is done I am going to paint a 2 inch band around the arch the same color as the woodwork.

The initial sketching of the design. This is only in the initial stages of laying out color and I've got a long, long way to go. This was the first day of work on the mural.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

More of day 1 with the initial layout. Brian Froud was the inspiration for the fairies.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

More of day 1 with the initial layout. Many people did not see the dragon when looking at the early versions of the painting.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

At this point I had no clue what her final colors would really be. It was going to depend on what the background behind her looked like.

More of day 1 with the initial layout. Same as the other but I did know he was going to wear a mushroom hat.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

More of day 1 with the initial layout.

Next day of color blocking. Started some sky and water. Filled in some of the tree panel.

The closet doors with the just the basic outlines sketched out.

Started blocking out the colors for peacock, birds, lilies and frog (on closet).

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

Showing off the mural to Miss Madeline.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

More color blocking.

Details are progressing. Getting a little more confident with the colors.

Details are progressing. Getting a little more confident with the colors.

Details are progressing. Getting a little more confident with the colors.

Details are progressing. Getting a little more confident with the colors.

Miss Madeline is inspecting my work.

The sky worked out nicely.

the water around the ship has turned out nice.

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Still trying to figure out the shrub.

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Nice waves.

The river has problems. No idea what kind of tree this will be.

The railing will be painted last.

Working out the bridge alignment has been a challenge.

Progress.

The woods in the background is still not quite right.

The red is a lot more vibrant in person. the photos are a bit washed out with yellow.

The woods in the background is still not quite right.

Peacock is roughed in. I am very nervous about the tail and have no idea how I'm going to do it.

Started playing with the colors.

I have no idea at this point what kind of birds these will be.

More progress on the lilies.

Me hard at work.

For paint, I have a big collection of latex paint, both what I am using to redecorate the house and what my mom had left over from various projects. My plan is to use those colors as a base paint and then mix with the acrylic paint that I have. I have a ton of the cheap bottles of acrylic craft paint and some of expensive (comparatively) artist acrylic paint. The artist paint has much more intense pigments so I plan on doing base colors with the house paint, then add in more color with the craft paint and finally highlight with the artist paint. I think the majority of the color will be sky and water so if I use the house paint, tinted with some of the craft paint, I think I can cover 75% of the mural with the cheapest paint. For the color blocking I've been using the craft paint because I need very little. I watered down the paint to about 50% and so far a little has gone a long, long way. Also the craft paint is already mixed and is just easier to quickly get some out and slap some color on the wall

Knock, knock!

damn bridge = my bane.

Dogwood tree.

I had to repaint the background of these trees several times to get the correct sense of depth.

Reworking the cliff and water.

It's a ship! and the dragon has gotten some basic color. I don't know what the dragon will look like yet.

A close up of vines, leaves and flowers. painting these took forever and were very tedious. many, many layers of color until I was satisfied with the result.

I'm really happy with how the peacock turned out. I was really worried about not knowing how to do it (that's what took me so long to start). But I think it turned out pretty cool. It doesn't show up in the photos but I used some iridescent paint, a gold and purple, in the tail feathers. So there is a slight shimmer to the feathers at different angles. (Need to remember to finish the leg!)

Quetzals are what I chose for the birds. They are roughed in and will get details later when I am less frustrated with them.

Detail of the flowers and leaves.

Humus bowls are the perfect size of container to store my mixed paint. I also use the plastic lids from large peanut butter containers as palettes for specific colors. And they fit perfectly in the hummus containers to stay wet.

I'm done with that shrub.

To keep all the panels connected I wanted to bring something of the peacock over (besides the colors) so I created this stained glass window in the castle.

Castle done!

Frog! A total Bob Ross moment... I whipped this little guy out in just minutes.

Another frog!

Hello there.

Almost done!

Madeline is finding the frogs.

    

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