The goals of each of my mural projects are different – and in the case of the Westwood Library, it was fun to do a 2-part mural that tells a story!
The Westwood Library is re-opening its Islington branch in a brand-new location, and they called me in to add a special touch to the children’s section. One unique challenge in this case is that the space I had to work with was broken onto 2 distinct sections – one smaller section of wall is to the left of a bank of windows, and the other is to the right. When brainstorming with the Library team about content, they wanted something bright and fun, and suggested it include a book, a ladybug and a butterfly.
With all of this in hand, I was on to the design process!
Since I had 2 spaces, I wanted to tie them together somehow – so I decided to use them as 2 “pages” of a story. Since they wanted me to include a book, I wanted the book to play a key role in my story that would unfold from the left from top the right. When I started thinking of my design in this light, I came up with the idea of growth – and quickly decided on using the “baby” ladybug (nymph) and butterfly (caterpillar) of the left – and them the “adults” on the right. I then used the title and content of the book to tie the images together with each other, as well as the library – with this design:
My design for left of the windows
My design for right of the windows
I presented this to the library team and they loved it! With their approval in hand, I was off to painting the final mural!
The final mural - left of windows
The final mural - right of windows
Enjoy!
Jason