Kitchen mural project (in progress)

4/5/2012: Made a lot of progress tonight

One of the luxuries I never had as a renter was painting my walls. Sure, I could have slapped on a coat of color but I always felt a bit ambivalent about that. What I really wanted to do was a big, unconstrained mural. But I could never bear the idea of painting it over when my lease was up. 

Shortly after buying this house, my parents visited and my father said that I should paint something on this barren wall. I was surprised; this was the guy who gave me a "starving artists" lecture in high school and insisted I focus more on math and science. Anyway, the more he spoke the more I could envision it. I have painted a few murals before but it had been a decade since the last one, a wedding gift to some friends. 


My initial idea was Italy - the vista from my grad school in an old monastery. The Dolomiti (Italian Alps) and a series of hills and valleys, dotted with one villa after another - it was a pinch-yourself view, and we had it every day. And conveniently, this is the place I met my husband, so I assumed he would not object.

It took several months before I acted on this idea. When "Snowmageddon" hit northern VA, and I was cooped up in the house for more than a week, and I couldn't shovel any more, I finally pulled out my pile of paints and brushes. (My biggest hurdle to painting is the tedium of setup and cleanup).

Sky went up quickly but is a yawn... needs to be addressed again someday

I started with the sky, just to make some headway and see where this would lead. It did not inspire me. Nor did the mountains. I tried some foothills. No good. But I was happy that at least I had broken ground that night -- seeing something dissatisfying is a better motivation for me than a blank slate.

I assumed this would be a natural landscape but then this building popped out one day

I'm not sure how many days or weeks went by before I started at it again. Somewhere along the line I started sketching out a building that looked a bit like the monastery that I lived in for a year in school. And as I fleshed it out, I wanted another building. And another. Soon I was trying to recall what building materials, colors, shapes, etc. I'd seen. I dug out some old photos, found some cookbooks that showed village scenes, and I was rolling.

When my son started walking so we drilled a baby gate through part of the mural

Then, as always happens, the rolling stops. Kids wake up, work beckons, etc. Sometimes months go by and I haven't touched it, then for a week I'll see clearly what I need to do next, work obsessively and make more headway than I have all year. I can't wait for the next time that happens - it's been awhile. 

Detail of the monastery building that changed this from a bunch of hills to a town

Iteration of the mural that has been taking form over the past 2 years on our kitchen wall

Since I started in December '09, there have been additions and deletions galore. I've let my daughter paint squiggles on the sky that I know I'll be painting over -- sort of a mistake, as the carpet is stained all around that area, but she was so happy. Her cousins added some graffiti recently as well. Luckily everyone seems to be able to live with the ambiguity for awhile longer. 

An olive tree that came and left

On its own canvas in our family room

It has become clear that this is going to be a city scene. And the great thing about buildings is, there is no end to their variety. And when you see them en masse, differences in style don't matter so much -- critical for me because I never know quite what is going to happen until I start.  

The building in front has completely changed since this was taken

Updated building in progress with stone walls & tile roof... felt like a better fit

Some days I futz with one building for hours, and other days I can sketch out a whole bunch of shapes. Sometimes my colors are all muddy, some days everything is vibrant. I wish I could predict these things, but I gave up that ghost years ago.

There's some water back there but I think it might need to go away

I'll continue to update this post as I make progress.

Update 2/17/12 : more buildings are creeping up the hillside

Starting to add some detail on the closer structures, as the mood strikes

Totally different style on some of the newer buildings in the distance (not intentional)

Yet another style... medieval monastery looking fortress looming on the hill

April 5, 2012: Made a lot of progress tonight. It's a great feeling when things finally click! I resolved a lot of things that have been bugging me every time I'm in the kitchen and glance at the wall: a roof that I forgot, a wall that is suspended in midair, the stripy mountains, a dome with strange contours, how to handle the section by the stairs.

Finally some height!

Mountains now meet the valley more logically