The Project
This was a full-wall underwater mural for a client’s house. The room has exposed beams, a wood plank ceiling and a log wall on one side, so the mural had to work with a lot of warm wood. Blues, purples and pinks balance that, and a few orange fish and coral pull the warm tones back into the scene.
The walls are textured, which shows up in every close-up. I used that to my advantage. The texture catches light in the water and gives the paint a slightly shimmery, rippled look.
Project Details:
- Location: Gig Harbor, WA
- Size: Full Wall
- Paint: House Paint
Timelapse Video:
The Process:
1. Base coat. I taped the door trim and beams and rolled on a deep blue over the wall’s original color. I worked down from the ceiling, so you can see the old wall color still showing at the top of the photo.
2. Blocking in the landscape. I sketched the rough shapes of the sea floor and reef in pink and purple, and laid in perspective lines across the floor to keep the distances believable.
3. Light and water. Next came the sky. I painted soft rays of light and loose, glowing strokes so the top of the wall feels like sunlight filtering through water. I also placed the first faint fish on the right side to plan where the school would go.
4. Details. Once the background was settled, I painted the foreground. That meant kelp, coral, sponges, the octopus, the turtle and the rays, then the fish, jellyfish and bubbles. The seahorses and the fish eyes came last.
The Design
The scene reads from left to right. On the left, tall kelp sways in greens, yellows and purples, with two seahorses tucked in the stalks. In the middle, a green sea turtle and two pale rays glide over the sea floor. On the right, a reef climbs the wall with pink tube sponges, anemones, starfish and branching coral in pink, orange and violet. A red octopus sits at the base of the wall, near the outlet, and holds on to a pale coral fan.
Above the reef, a school of orange and purple fish moves across the open water. I painted the purple fish as shadows and reflections of the orange ones, so the school feels deep instead of flat. Two jellyfish drift near the beams.
Around the corner, a larger jellyfish floats beside the door, and a column of bubbles runs down a darker blue panel toward the closet.
Finished Project:
