PROCESS OF CREATING A MURAL .

I WAS RECENTLY ASKED TO PAINT A MURAL FOR A LOCAL RESTAURANT / MUSIC & DANCE VENUE .THEY WANTED TO RECREATE THE ATMOSPHERE OF A TYPICAL PARISIEN DANCE HALL , THEY ALREADY HAD THE OLD CHANDELIERS & MATERIAL HANGING FROM THE CEILING . THE FIRST THOUGHT THAT CAME INTO MY HEAD WAS TOULOUSE LAUTREC , WHAT COULD BE MORE EVOCATIVE THAN HIS WONDERFUL PAINTINGS OF PARISIEN NIGHTLIFE & ALL THE CHARACTERS HE CAPTURED.

THE FIRST STEP WAS TO CHOOSE THE CHARACTERS I LIKED & TO MAKE A ROUGH SKETCH OF WHERE TO PLACE THEM ALL ON THIS LONG WALL , THE LARGEST MURAL I HAVE UNDERTAKEN. ONCE I HAD DECIDED HOW TO APPROACH IT , THE FIRST STEP WAS TO GET SOME PAINT ON THE WALL & PLACE THE FIGURES , STEP BACK & SEE IF IT WORKED AS A COMPOSITION .

ONCE I WAS HAPPY WITH HOW IT LOOKED , IT WAS TIME TO FILL IN ALL THE DETAIL & ADD NEW ELEMENTS AS THE PAINTING PROGRESSED ,THERE ARE ALWAYS THINGS TO CHANGE ! I BEGAN BY LAYING DOWN INITIAL COLOURS ON THE FIGURES BEFORE WORKING ON THE FINER DETAILS .

AFTER THREE WEEKS I FINALLY COMPLETED THE MURAL, AFTER A FEW CHANGES ON THE WAY ! I USED ACRYLIQUE PAINTS & THEN AN INTERIOR VARNISH TO MAKE SURE IT WAS WELL PROTECTED .I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH THE WAY IT TURNED OUT.

ON MUSIC & DANCE NIGHTS , WITH THE MORE SUBDUED LIGHTING , EVERYTHING HAS COME TOGETHER. IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE THE PEOPLE DANCING NEXT TO THE MURAL AS THE FOREGROUND FIGURES ARE LIFESIZE , THE PEOPLE SEEM TO BLEND INTO THE PAINTING WHICH HAS COME TO LIFE & IT ALMOST APPEARS LIKE THE FIGURES ARE MOVING .