Painted Wall

Gardens & Pools

(You can click on any of the images to view a full size, higher quality version)

Second Garden

The newly built wall was glary and too enclosing for the owners, the garden would take at least 3 years to grow up. As this was also the main view from the dining room as well as the courtyard dining area, a mural was planned.

The wall was built higher to comfortably accomodate a painted arch with a view through to another garden. Ponds reminiscent of ones loved in Europe were painted in as a reminder of water features.

Bluestone wall & Xanadu

The rest of the house was bluestone, this wall was rendered brick. However, it was also the first view of the house seen by visitors.

Create an impression of bluestone, and paint landscapes echoing both Scotland, and the houses garden in the two arches.

The underlying idea became one of the balance between Romanticism and Reason.

Coleridge's poem Xanadu, was used to develop Romantic images of the left arch.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the Sacred river ran through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea..."

Reason was represented in the right arch with a symmetrical and formal garden, softened by the arch of roses – also echoing garden plantings near the mural.

The dome is a distant view through the hedge of the right arch.

Mdm Bovary's Window

Create a design that breaks up the harshness of the house wall, that looked good from both the garden and from the dining room inside, and which worked with the wrought iron table. The clients liked the idea of foreground detailed objects that reflected aspects of their lives, especially their interest in music and visual arts, contrasted with an ambiguous shadowy interior. Why Mdm Bovary? It seemed that the focus on a few objects, looking through a window to a undefined inner world, the potential to shut the world out through the shutters and wrought iron into the top arch of the window to work with the curves of the table, and the empty, unreal birdcage all echoed memories of the book. the climbing rose was used to add further softening of the wall, and to tie in with garden plantings.

Up North

Painted on four exterior wall panels 2.7m x 1.2 m, and installed to present a different street view, that the back of a shed. The clients wished to have reminders of the Flinders Ranges and other northern gorges. For those in South Australia, this can be viewed from the road into Second Valley, Fleurieu Peninsula

[Alps email.jpg]

Italian Alps

Create a composite image of the Italian Alps, left behind when the parents of this family migrated to Australia. The family had planned a special courtyard for this image, as a reminder of their ties. They had returned and photographed a relative's house, views of their village and cattle.

Dream Harbour - Conservatory

Create a sense of looking out over a harbour, with a Grecian stone house in the foreground, for a conservatory for a Beachside house on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The clients had tried hanging pictures , but there were too many reflections. They decided on a mural on either side of the doorway to the rest of their house. The mural framing was painted to resemble the framing to the real doorway. Painting a house on a corner, so that it looked flat, was quite a perspective challenge!

Maison

The aim was create a provencale landscape, that harmonised with the real sandstone arches and fountain. Mood was to be early autumn vintage.
Design & Paint – 5 days., Dulux Weathershield exterior paints
For those in Adelaide, the mural can be viewed at Maison, 57 Rundle St, Kent Town. (Next to Bunnings). See www.maisondesign.com.au for Maison products.

Maison Statue Detail

Rather than plaster over the roughness of the old wall surface, the defects were used to give interest and age to the statue. Every colour in the rest of the mural is included on the statue as cool and warm shadows, or rust streaks.

Pool Backdrop

This backdrop was built to hide the neighbour’s shed. The mural was developed to provide an interesting backdrop while the garden grew, and to reduce the glare from the backdrop. A simple, loose, imaginary landscape of lakes, plants and an old statue was developed to create a sense of being in another place.

	Second Garden The newly built wall was glary and too enclosing for the owners, the garden would take at least 3 years to grow up. As this was also the main view from the dining room as well as the courtyard dining area, a mural was planned. The wall was built higher to comfortably accomodate a painted arch with a view through to another garden. Ponds reminiscent of ones loved in Europe were painted in as a reminder of water features.

	Bluestone wall & Xanadu The rest of the house was bluestone, this wall was rendered brick. However, it was also the first view of the house seen by visitors. Create an impression of bluestone, and paint landscapes echoing both Scotland, and the houses garden in the two arches. The underlying idea became one of the balance between Romanticism and Reason.
	Coleridge's poem Xanadu, was used to develop Romantic images of the left arch. "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome decree Where Alph the Sacred river ran through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea..."

	Reason was represented in the right arch with a symmetrical and formal garden, softened by the arch of roses – also echoing garden plantings near the mural.
	The dome is a distant view through the hedge of the right arch.

	Mdm Bovary's Window Create a design that breaks up the harshness of the house wall, that looked good from both the garden and from the dining room inside, and which worked with the wrought iron table. The clients liked the idea of foreground detailed objects that reflected aspects of their lives, especially their interest in music and visual arts, contrasted with an ambiguous shadowy interior. Why Mdm Bovary? It seemed that the focus on a few objects, looking through a window to a undefined inner world, the potential to shut the world out through the shutters and wrought iron into the top arch of the window to work with the curves of the table, and the empty, unreal birdcage all echoed memories of the book. the climbing rose was used to add further softening of the wall, and to tie in with garden plantings.

	Up North Painted on four exterior wall panels 2.7m x 1.2 m, and installed to present a different street view, that the back of a shed. The clients wished to have reminders of the Flinders Ranges and other northern gorges. For those in South Australia, this can be viewed from the road into Second Valley, Fleurieu Peninsula

[Alps email.jpg]	Italian Alps Create a composite image of the Italian Alps, left behind when the parents of this family migrated to Australia. The family had planned a special courtyard for this image, as a reminder of their ties. They had returned and photographed a relative's house, views of their village and cattle.

	Dream Harbour - Conservatory Create a sense of looking out over a harbour, with a Grecian stone house in the foreground, for a conservatory for a Beachside house on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The clients had tried hanging pictures , but there were too many reflections. They decided on a mural on either side of the doorway to the rest of their house. The mural framing was painted to resemble the framing to the real doorway. Painting a house on a corner, so that it looked flat, was quite a perspective challenge!

	Maison The aim was create a provencale landscape, that harmonised with the real sandstone arches and fountain. Mood was to be early autumn vintage. Design & Paint – 5 days., Dulux Weathershield exterior paints For those in Adelaide, the mural can be viewed at Maison, 57 Rundle St, Kent Town. (Next to Bunnings). See www.maisondesign.com.au for Maison products.

	Maison Statue Detail Rather than plaster over the roughness of the old wall surface, the defects were used to give interest and age to the statue. Every colour in the rest of the mural is included on the statue as cool and warm shadows, or rust streaks.

	Pool Backdrop This backdrop was built to hide the neighbour’s shed. The mural was developed to provide an interesting backdrop while the garden grew, and to reduce the glare from the backdrop. A simple, loose, imaginary landscape of lakes, plants and an old statue was developed to create a sense of being in another place.