I love painting any kind of mural, but mural painting for kids’ rooms is rewarding in a special way - which was definitely the case with a recent nursery mural I painted in Newton.
Dave and Sarah recently bought a new home and are expecting their first child in November! As they looked at the grey walls of the nursery, Dave and Sarah knew they wanted something special for their baby. Inspired by the three years they spent in England, Dave came up with the idea of transforming the room into an English countryside – complete with rolling fields and of course sheep!
The grey room before the mural
To turn this vision into a reality, Dave and Sarah reached out to me. As usual, my first step was to meet with them in the nursery so I could hear more about their vision for the mural and we could talk about the best wall(s) for the mural, colors, etc. From this conversation, I learned that they wanted the effect of the mural to be soothing and not too bright or jarring. They wanted sheep in the mural, but didn’t want them either too realistic or too cartoonish. For the fields, Dave loved how different fields are different colors, and talked about rock walls. They also wanted the overall look to be fun and magical, but not too baby-ish. I was thrilled as all of this is right up my alley!
I came to this meeting prepared with ideas for colors, so we were able to nail down the color scheme right away. With all of this information in hand, I was off to create my concept painting. As I always do, I painted a scale version of my concept using the actual paints I would use on the walls – so my clients can get an accurate idea of what the final result will be (see pictures below).
Concept painting for wall 1
Concept painting for wall 2
When the concept paintings were complete, I met back up with Dave and Sarah to get their thoughts. We viewed the paintings in the nursery, and they loved them as they were. The one thing they wanted to add to the full-scale was fun small details that could be discovered (also right up my alley!).
With an approved design, I was on to painting the walls! Because this was a larger space (the walls are 14 feet and 13 feet long), the process for this mural took me 2 weeks (2 very fun weeks!). As I got closer to the end, I looped back with Dave and Sarah about fun details they would want, and they got back to me with ideas for including typical English birds and some poppies by the house. They also wanted a chicken near the house.
How can you NOT have fun painting a 1” chicken (the smallest animal I have ever painted!) and a magpie on a sheep’s back?!
When the mural was complete, it was great to share it with Dave and Sarah, who are thrilled with the result. Dave even had a picture of my concept painting saved on his phone as his home screen image!
I loved painting this mural – but even more, I love the idea of this mural helping to create a special place that will be enjoyed and cherished for many years to come
Enjoy,
Jason
The final mural - wall 1
The final mural - wall 2
House detail
Chicken with size reference (that is one small chicken!)
Magpie-on-the-sheep’s-back detail
Bird detail
And the European goldfinch