Wall Art Design for Hallways
has always been a bit challenging for mural projects, especially when comes to linear perspective. No sooner that I am done with one wall art design mural project it seems that I get another, but only this time I am putting together an ornamental design with a floral motif inspired by a fabric that I saw on two chairs that the client had brought into the common area hallway.
As you probably have figured out already the two hallway panels are for the same client in the Gray Oaks Country Club where I have already completed several other wall art designs. These particular panels measure approximately 20″ x 71″ and of course I had to create a design that wouldn’t eat up a lot of time for this hallway mural project. With that in mind, my first thought was to create a 20″ wide drawing of an element from the fabric and repeat it, but then I thought anyone can do that by simply buying a stencil.
Well, I didn’t want to do that because I had already run the stencil gauntlet with the twelve staircase panels that I had just completed and wanted to put my versatility and knowledge to use, so I decided to use a “cross mirroring” technique that I had learned to do many years ago in my drafting days in junior high school. Yes, those were the days when it was a requirement to take shop classes at an early age.
Guys had to take “shop” classes while the girls had to take “home economics.” The mindset back then was if you were not able to or planning to go on to college or perhaps even graduate high school, at the least you could learn a “trade”. You see back then most people could not afford to send their kids to college. Some had to quit school and go to work to help support their families. At least that’s the way it was where I was raised. It was not uncommon for a young man or woman to get their driver’s license as early as 15 years old and drop out of school to go to work. For some, that was their future unfortunately but that’s the way it was back then, the family came first before anything and your future was either working in the factories or working the family farm or even both. Painting wall art murals or trying to make a living at it was not a well-accepted idea. However, taking drafting and blueprinting were basic steps to becoming an architect which fascinated me.
Of course, you had to have a high school diploma or equivalent to get into the factories and a GED was much quicker and easier to get. The fact that you had to be 18 didn’t become a big issue until after the unions got involved and lying about your age was not uncommon. Many factories blinded themselves about it if you had family working there already. It was either that or you went into the military…..or prison. Not much of a future to say the least. I was 15 when I went to work part-time and then full time once I was issued a driver’s license. I painted mainly for my own enjoyment but I also took every shop class I could before all this took place including art classes which were also required back then.
Anyway enough of all that, you are here to hopefully read about my next adventure in the Gray Oaks saga and maybe learn something yourself, after all, that’s why I write this rather long quagmire of words that literally butcher’s the English language and drives the grammar buffs mad when I misuse certain words. I suppose I could hire someone to write my copy for me but then it wouldn’t be me now would it? Besides I have to get some kind of conversation going with someone about anything really, or I may as well just go back to the other side of the mirror and crawl back down the “rabbit hole” and continue painting where Alice, the Madhatter and even the Cheshire cat enjoy my mindless imaginative rants and sense of humor.
Anyway, where was I…Oh yeah, “cross mirroring” is my way of explaining how I take a design and mirror it both vertically and horizontally (in Photoshop it’s referred to as “flipping”), however, there is a bit of a twist to it because when putting it all together there is at least one image that is placed upside down otherwise it doesn’t work in a repeated process if you are working with only one image design, don’t ask me why it just doesn’t. Or at least it doesn’t for me
Like Stevie Nicks says go ask “Alice” I love that song…
Thought might like a little music as I am rambling on here but that’s how I roll and actually concentrate when I am in the design stage of such projects. Whether it’s a landscape mural, fine art, or ornamental wall art I seem to concentrate better when I am writing about it. So to get this next blog post series off the ground I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the design I came up with and maybe get some input from some of you. Who knows you may even get me to come back from “The Otherside of The Mirror” to talk about how exactly I produced this wall art design for this hallway mural project.
The next post I will be talking about for this wall art design for hallways will be more about painting the mural ornamentation itself and how I like using Luster Stone as a ground some times just as I had done for a Sculpture Bas Relief Faux Bamboo In Naples Fl. a couple of years ago. That was on two wall art niches that were in a dining room which turned out gorgeous. You may even remember it, if not I posted a link to it at the end of this post just in case.
Anyway here is a picture of the full panel with the completed drawing and I hope you can see it well enough. Once I start blocking in the design with the acrylics it will start to make sense to you. As I continue writing about this mural project of Wall Art Design For Hallways In Naples Fla., here’s a link for the
Floral Wall Art Mural | Part 2
Floral Wall Art Mural | Part 3
Floral Wall Art Mural | Finale
Sculpture Bas Relief Faux Bamboo
where I used Luster Stone as a background, hope you enjoy the article