Journey as a "muralist"

After the most recent mural project in the master bedroom, I'm starting to think that perhaps there's an opportunity here ~ to help others enjoy some sort of mural in their space. I was trying to think back on how I even began on this journey.  If I'm not mistaken, it all started when I really loved a set of drapes that I wanted for the bedroom of our first-born son.  But it was rather expensive!  So what else could I do, in order to still capture that theme depicted on the drapes?  Yup, a mural!  

I really didn't think of it as a mural then.  It was just a cute painting that I wanted to get on the wall. And of course, I was able to add some more playfulness with a monkey :-)

Here's the link to the completed wall: Wall art in baby room

It obviously did not end there.  Our half bathroom needed some sprucing up - it needed a little bit of whimsical and color, so to speak. And so I had some fun with leaves and an owl and made it 3-dimensional with some birdhouses:

Here is how it progressed: Powder room mural

My projects eventually did get a bit larger.  At our next house, I was not very fond of our retaining wall along the front of our property.  It was quite an eye-sore and so I thought, why not create some sort of art piece/mural. There were a handful of Monarch butterflies that would visit our garden and so when I found a tile that had a flower pattern, I thought it would be fun to incorporate that. 

Here's the link for more photos: Wall art projects

I think what also brought me joy while working on this artwork was that random neighbors that were driving up and down along our street would stop and complement on it.  It obviously made me very proud and happy that someone else was also able to enjoy it too.

Not long after tackling the front wall, I decided to work on another outdoor brick wall. This one also involved using tiles - a whole lot more! Here's part of the "before" wall with some sketches and the beginning or some paint work.

And, here's the "after":

Tiles were used to create part of the sun.  And each ray had some sort of personal meaning - from arrows (we learned archery recently) to waves (we lived near the ocean).  Even the mountain in the backdrop is the outline of the mountain from my homestate in Sabah, Malaysia.

As for the bird, it was from a story in my son's English textbook (while learning from home during Covid).  It was almost a challenge from him and I think I pulled it off pretty well! 

I named this piece "Rising" - here are some more photos: "Rising" mural

And by the way, almost all of these projects were painted with leftover paint that was laying around in the garage.  I try and work with what I have to limit expenses.  Or purchase items at a discount.  It doesn't need to cost much to change the mood/ambiance of a space, but obviously some time, patience, and passion for art does help :-)

Last but not least, here's the tallest mural of them all that I've completed recently. My inspiration was from a mural I saw at the Mall of America earlier this year.  As I was trying to change up the "energy" of the master bedroom of yet another new home. I decided this would be a good piece to do since our bedroom ceiling has such great height.  And this allowed the ability to draw and paint these flowers in such a large scale:

Here's the story and more photos of painting this mural: Master Bedroom mural

The fact that the mural just blends into this wall is absolutely comforting and relaxing. I would love to share this joy in creating this same feeling for others. Let's see where this takes us!