So I’m finally getting to next post in series of the mural I’m painting in right now in new Pittsburgh studio– if you missed my first post on this mural project, I’m painting it on canvas and (ironically enough) shipping it back to San Diego for installation. Here’s what it will look like:
 

 
Well, sort of; we made a modification after best solution became doing it here rather than waiting for me to return to San Diego and paint directly on her walls. The vertical line in the rendering indicates a corner where we were going to wrap the mural two feet onto return wall for complete sight lines, the canvas will only cover the main wall, an area approximately six feet by six feet.
 
Confused? Then this second rendering should help clarify that the mural will actually be seen through a window; the retuen wall was to complete every possible sightline:
 



 
So even though its not really trompe l’oeil painting, its a trompe l’oeil effect of creating the client’s desired landscape view in her workout room that currently looks out onto stucco wall in a light well. Anyone who knows me and my work can see why this is the kind of project I love: rather than a mural pasted onto a room that may or may not deserve one, I like murals that seamlessly disappear as murals by completing a room or experience without pronouncing “I am mural, hear me roar.” Its always more fun when people figure it out a second later.
 
Exterior trompe l’oeil games are especially gratifying to me and so after six months of exclusively web designing and business building since I moved to Pittsburgh, I’m pretty happy to have a well thought out mural gig, even if it is relatively simple. Once I process some more pix, I’ll get caught up here with what’s really going on in the studio, I’m just about exactly a week behind in my reporting and the actual doing. I expect to finish up this weekend and plan to do some live realtime progress shots of the detail work.
 
If you’re wondering what kind of website/business stuff I’m doing here, there’s actually a lot to tell, but here’s a link to a site I just completed for a commercial photographer here with pretty spectacular work and a super clean aesthetic, which makes for a nice site if I do say do myself; check it out at edromboutphotography.com.
 
The other fun part I wanted to mention from last week’s beginning was the arrival of fresh paint from my favorite company, Nova Color in Los Angeles. It truly is the best paint in the world, and its esoteric painter excitement to have a batch of their fresh color to play with; yes I took a picture because its also my plesaure to sing their praises (full disclosure: they don’t pay me a cent for anything I say about them, they’re just the best!)
 

This project IS mine, but continues on the theme, because even though I’m painting it in my studio here in Pittsburgh its destination is back in San Diego and southern California.
 
This client and I met several years ago at one of the public art events I used to do in Little Italy San Diego, either the autumn chalk painting festival that goes with the annual Columbus Day weekend Festa or the annual spring ArtWalk– I don’t remember which, but what I like about this story is that she had kept my card for five plus years when she finally got in touch to have me paint for her.
 
She gave it to me last fall in San Diego when I went to look at her project, it had my old Sprint cel number I had forgotten about and my original web address, http://john-scenic.com. I still keep a page there, and sure enough she was able to find me. Score more points for online business presence.
 
So here’s what we’re doing, a fun bit of exterior trompe l’oeil to bring a “view” to a ground floor exercise room whose windows open to a light well.
 

Designed to view from the treadmill (above), this mural was originally going to be painted on the stucco wall outside the window on a return trip to San Diego. Because I’ve gotten so busy here in Pittsburgh not painting, that trip isn’t happening soon, so we’ve agreed that I will paint the image on canvas in the studio here and ship. My friend and colleague Eric Gilliat of Level One Art Installation will stretch and install on site.

 
Here’s a close-up of the black-and-white through-the-window mural design sketch.
 




and the head-on elevation sketch in 1.5″ scale.

 




Its a mountain landscape, with meadow and horses in the foreground, composed by specific request in an email dialogue illustrated with Google image searches. I use the black and white “cartoon” drawing like this for planning and layout purposes, and they receive approval from clients/designers before I move forward with color or samples.
 
So I’m painting this right now, taking pictures as I go to share with you here, but wanted to start from the beginning on this one. Watch for color renderings and more Pittsburgh-San Diego paint business irony this weekend.