Paint is the best medicine

I’ve told you all, dear readers, that I am beyond fortunate to have found the field in which I work. Very seldom are my days not creative and filled with challenges that stretch me as an artist.

And then along my path comes this hallway! It’s well appointed with molding, easy on the eye colors and flooring. But it’s a residence. And it’s boring, though my clients are anything but.

So what to do?

It’s not really a place for a mural, it’s a walk through. The answer had to be contemporary, colorful and could we add fun??

Oh yeah, indeed we could.

It’s times when I know I going to go quite a way out of the box that I like to make a 3D model to show my client the design. And I might add, I just love making them. Here’s the finished model in actual color and scale.

At home in the studio, I started the makeover for the mirror. Sharing a little trick here with any DIYers out there. Using playing cards is a great way to protect from paint getting either on the mirror or under the edge of the mirror, where it shows. The trick is you need to pull the cards out after each coat (in this case, six separate times: Stix primer, each of two layers of basecoat, black glaze, barrier protector coat and final topcoat after the silver pinstripe was added.) I think the black glaze allowed the saturated blue to make a statement, and the hand painted silver pinstripe keeps it from looking too old world.

Mirror with cards — Cards used to help paint

The mirror served another purpose. The outside design of the mirror was the inspiration for the scroll design I created and added to the large areas of color blocking.

Both my client and I are thrilled with the results. The large hand-lettered welcome set the tone and the surprising blocks of color add the visual treat that eliminated that long boring hallway. I also was able to include a photo gallery area -keeping all the pictures black and white- that organized a collection of family favorites.

Here’s some views from different perspectives.