landscape mural

view of mountains and lake painted on canvas

This landscape mural was designed to create a focal point and render and enclosing wall more open. Elements of the clients interests were included in the design. Murals painted on canvas can be pre-worked in the studio and stuck directly to walls using the traditional process of marouflage, thus saving time on the critical path of the project. Often it is the muralists brief to develop a design which opens up an enclosing wall and a landscape mural is an ideal way to achieve this. To this end it is often the case that views through windows or doors on to a scenic vista are commissioned. There is to be struck in a mural landscape, a balance between the architecture and details in the foreground with the distance. This is both a balance between these elements as objects in a design as well as the light fall and atmospheric perspective which describes them.

It is usual to produce some preparatory work for mural paintings, I like to work out a scaled study in monochrome to ensure both that the design is pleasing and to get a sense of the overall tonal relationships in the picture. In the same way that the composition in a black and white photo is less forgiving than a coloured photo, working in monochrome tells me if the design will be attractive at a larger scale more readily than if I use colours which perhaps can distract the eye.