How do you follow up on a 48”x32” mural panel? With 3 more 21”x30” mural panels making up a “triptych”! (As Wikipedia explains, a triptych is “a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections”)
The Seaman Engineering mural panel triptych
Back in May, I finished my 48”x32” mural panel (pictured below) for Seaman Engineering in Auburn, MA. The team at Seaman Engineering is in the process of redesigning their office - and after hanging this centerpiece in their conference room, they wanted more paintings for the main room of the office. I was introduced to Seaman by Linda Sbrogna of Sbrogna’s Artistic Promotions, and she suggested a triptych to fill a larger space while keeping a common theme across the office.
The first mural panel, displayed in Seaman Engineering's conference room
Since Seaman’s engineering business conveniently covers three main areas of expertise (HVAC, fire protection and plumbing), I suggested we start with the concept of having each mural panel focus on one of these areas, while tying them together with themes of engineering and the Seaman brand.
To make sure my ideas aligned with my client’s vision, I met with my contact Debra at Seaman to start collaborating on images for the murals. Deb shared that she wanted the panels to depict the ocean and to have their logo across all 3 paintings. For more ideas of images we could use, Deb suggested the logos for trade associations (ASHRAE for HVAC, NFPA for fire protection and ASPE for plumbing) as well as things like air handlers for HVAC, sprinkler systems for fire protection and drinking fountains and bathroom fixtures for plumbing. We also talked about possibly incorporating elements from their engineering plans. Finally, I suggested including the human touch of the actual engineers with traditional tools of the trade to represent the Seaman team.
With all of this in mind, I set off to design the final panels. One of my primary goals was to make sure that the composition of each individual painting worked as a stand-alone, but also worked as part of a larger composition with all 3 panels! Similar to my original mural in the conference room, I also wanted these new murals to invite people to look at them over and over and find new details with each viewing.
Some of the more obvious elements are the big, sweeping Seaman logo in the background and the hands with the pencil and compass. Each panel also uses a more subtle representation of the appropriate trade association logo as well as the equipment used in HVAC, fire protection and plumbing. I also wanted to bring in elements of nature to add to the beauty of the pieces while tying in to the subject – with wind and water for HVAC, rain for fire protection and water for plumbing. Finally, I also used symbols from the keys of Seaman’s engineering drawings, representing elements from their HVAC, fire protection and plumbing plans. For the color scheme, I decided to keep it consistent with the conference room piece to keep all of the pieces congruous while also helping to keep them soothing and relaxing to look at.
Below are some of the images I worked with and pictures of the final panels.
Final panel - 1 of 3; "HVAC"
Final panel - 2 of 3; "Fire Protection"
Final panel - 3 of 3; "Plumbing"
The final 3 panels next to each other
Enjoy,
Jason