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Mural Design

taking you through the design process of an actual Commission

Themed Interior Swimming Pool

Page will take about 2 minutes to open  fully.

Topics include;

the room, the client's brief, reference sources, the design, & the various surface/paint issues.

The existing room

This "L" shaped room was originally designed and built by a previous owner as a dark relaxing space

(Re-construction half-way through. Pool covered up. Brick walls battened out, ready to receive cladding . Central focal point (on right of photo) has been cladded and the Seating area (left) finished.

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The Brief

The current owner was eager to completely change the atmosphere to a more light and friendly one. 

The design brief was to turn the red brick and pink granite room into a Roman Spa, adding an exterior sense of light.

The room has main 2 focal points; a seating area and the central area behind the pool. This was where it was decided to concentrate the murals. As with most of my themed commissions, this was to be a mixture of  Design, Mural, Trompes l'oeil and Faux-finishing.  

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The Reference source

One of my favourite artists of the Roman genre is Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema: a Victorian who's intricate Roman scenes of figures and marble made him one of the most popular artists of his time, not to mention extremely wealthy. Critics said that he took more time over the marble than his "Victorians in togas": jealous, I guess. His work is now enjoying a revival

 Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema 1839-1912

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The Design process

Not all design is on paper (or computer); The client preferred the stone to stay, although she wasn't "so keen on the colour". The answer was to paint the stone realistically. So, I needed to experiment on the walls.

 And that red grout just had to go!

    1.Original wall           2.Painted as "natural" granite & grout .    3.Painted to tie in with the marble idea

We  decided to go with the third option

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Time to jot down a few colourways and base-coat ref. numbers.

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Whilst with Corporate Clients, I am trying to appeal to the target audience; be it teen-agers or shoppers, Working for Private Client's,  the design has to be more precisely tailored for that individual person. Because of this, when I submit sketches I add small variations to the chosen theme: eg. one  busy, one still, one slightly formal or wild etc..

Putting all these elements together ,  I came up with these 4 images for approval.

Whilst they are all very similar; people will always choose differently

We finally came up with this mixture

Approved Sketch of focal point 1. the central panel

It is then a simple process to produce a visual for any other part of the room based around this image. 

Sketch of focal point 2. the seating area  

3 thoughts on "marbleising" the doors

Because doors like this would never be made from marble, they would be fantasy. therefore marbleised, not marbled.

The overall effect

produced from digitally overlaying the images onto a 3D floor plan...then adding a bit of set-dressing.

Click on image to see comparison

I wanted the final look of the room to depend on the personality of  my client.

 A  fun shopping spree for interesting statues, urns etc was suggested.

Asking the client to decide on  the "props" is a very important part of the process as this will make it her room, and not mine.

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What Paint?

Because this interior space is a swimming pool, the room is subject to very high humidity and extreme temperature changes. It is therefore necessary to treat the project  like an exterior one.

I have three different surfaces to paint on; 

the granite, the board and the wooden doors/furniture.

For the Granite; once stabilized, exterior latex based paint will be ideal. Well if it's good enough for lighthouses...

The board is a different matter. The builders, for whatever reason, have chosen to clad the walls in a product called Forex. As I hadn't come across this before, I contacted the manufacturers: most companies are more than happy to give technical advice about their product and this company, based in Switzerland, was extremely helpful. The board is basically expanded rigid PVC...(or, thick plastic). I therefore had to find a primer specifically formulated "for good adherence to PVC." The primer would then have to accept water-based exterior paint, plus acrylics. A Canadian company called Zinser provided this.

The wooden doors and seating area would need to be sanded and primed.

Different paints give different finishes?

As the entire room will be finally sealed in a Waterproof  Sealer, the different finishes of all of these paints will not be a problem.

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Time to get Painting

Plans approved, Colourways sorted, ......Time to get painting. I decided to paint the two main murals on canvas in my studio. I use flame retardant, artist-primed close- weave cotton  canvas,  available from theatrical suppliers. Primed canvas is much more expensive, but saves time and patience from endless priming and re-stretching.

...Time to get Painting, (or not in this case)

As the marble  needs to appear as bright as possible, I would need to render the Mediterranean sky slightly darker than normal:   This is called a "field effect"; the eye sees an object it recognises  and the brain adjusts the tone to a normal one thereby lightening (or darkening) everything else.  (If this doesn't ring true, ask yourself how you can see a white highlight on a white bowl)

Due to a permanent arm injury,  this room unfortunately has to be completed by others. Ouch!

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