Wine Room Mural

I know this what some of you have been waiting to see who has been following my faux brick wine room in Naples Fl post wondering what kind of mural I was going to be painting for the

The client loved the Faux Fresco technique so we used this as the basis of the mural project

By sending me the reference material that he and his wife wanted to use for the mural from their last trip to Europe I was able to put together an Italian landscape design from their references

The house will be pushed much further into the background when putting everything into perspective but there already is an issue. I am having a problem with the fact that the mural itself is an odd size meaning the overall height is at nine feet and the ground line falls at 36 ” above the finished floor and the width is 33″. On top of it all, we are looking into a valley that makes for a problem with the vanishing point and the horizon line.

But at this point, I will start the blocking in the process to get some values going to help me see where I need to make these changes and adjustments

Roughly done on my study gives me the opportunity to discover where my problem areas are or will be and I am already starting to see a few here as I progress, for instance my mid-ground is too warm which is throwing off my atmospheric perspective but at this point, we are just roughing in the values to create something to see and will be adjusted in the next steps

In my study after adding in a few hi-lights and shadows, I can see better where my adjustments are needed in the background and need to create more distance and will do this on the actual mural. The main issue is the bottom of the mural where I need to add more elements to correct my perspective which I have done to the actual mural below. You can see how much distance I have gained by simply over painting the background in lighter and cooler tones.

As this progresses by introducing some volume by bringing in some darker values you can see how much darker the values need to be when comparing it to the study photograph. As things come forward they become warmer and more opaque but I also have to add more detailed elements within the foreground. The beauty of working with clients who trust your judgment is, it gives you the freedom of adding things that you think will fit for the overall concept which in this case I thought that wine barrels and a wine wagon would fit the bill perfectly

I know that fresco painting is not suppose to have a lot of detail but this my rendering and I can do what I want and I feel this mural warrants more, besides I like to give more to my clients, after all, they have entrusted me to do what I feel is right.

In this post, I am trying to give as much detail as I can without going overboard on content for SEO reasons. A post with good content is generally between 500 to 1000 words and right now I am somewhere around 600 so if it is a bit sporadic you can ask me for more details by commenting below or just send me an email.

Anyway next photo, please

and yet there is still something missing in the lower part of the wine room mural what could it be? How about adjusting those values in the background to create more distance that I talked about earlier. Before deciding on adding anything more at this point and start working towards the mid-ground where the tones need to be a little cooler yet.

Now that I can see more distance I believe I know what needs to be added which should be something even warmer and more opaque and came up with bougainvillea. Not a lot to overpower it but enough to bring life into the bottom of the wine room mural and bring it forward which we know can be done with color intensity and opaqueness. I also still need to add the highlights and more volume into the Italian cypress trees which I will do on sight

This project is nearly completed and the final details will be done after I install the canvas in the wine room. You see the wine room has totally different lighting (LED low voltage) than what is in my studio and before I add the hi-lights and darken the darkest values I have to see the work in its natural surroundings which is another reason why I have not finished the final touches within the Trompe loeil parts of the project and the iron door faux finish and I think once you see this last photo you will know why I chose to do this. I have studied and have had classes with some of the best artists across the country and will continue to do so, but after painting for over 30 years I still have my own unique way of doing things. So let’s get that mural hung and see where we need to go with the rest of the project so we can put this one to bed.

After I installed the wine room mural it is obvious where I need to make some changes due to the lighting that shines on the mural. Being that the light is an LED it is throwing cooler light so I can see that I also need to bring more cooler tones to my mid-ground and add warmer hi-lights to my foreground and may even change the cerulean blue in the sky on the outside archway to an ultramarine or even cobalt.

Even the three LED lights that are shining down on the mural are making it appear as though there are three puffy looking clouds all in a row which I will adjust somehow but first what does it look like with the door closed?

Looks like a totally different animal hmmm

Seems an artist’s job is never done but this Wine Room Mural is nearly complete!

To learn more about this project and find out how I did the faux brick and faux stone click on the link below

Faux Brick Wine Room

Update 4/7/2011

As I have been very busy I have finally found the time to update this post with some final pictures. So without further ado here are the images

By installing the mural before adding the final details really makes a difference

This the Trompe loeil iron scroll I came up with based on the iron features within the kitchen area. If you look closely you will also see the shadows I added to the stonework surrounding the entry to give the stone block a little more depth.

Although I see other things I want to add to this project by my schedule just does not allow it this time around. The little details that I can add at a later date I will usually do for my repeat clients while working on their next project. I love adding little hidden treasures behind that take hardly any time to do and in most cases, I don’t even tell them about what I added. It usually comes as a surprise to them after I have already left for a few weeks or even months in some cases before they discover what I added and it usually brings a smile to my clients and is just another way of what I call going that extra mile and giving back.