Mural painting: Trick the eye!!

Well, I've spent 2 challenging weeks honing my skills with a small group of decorative painters under the guidance of the Premier Craftsman of France, Michel Nadai...and what a time was had by all!!

This is a 4 part course, including the master course in France. The next 2 modules will be in July, here in Atlanta.

Michel accompanied by his wife, Kyoko, (who translates all of his lectures),
is truly a master craftsman and an amazing mentor, who can take a group of individuals, completely diverse in talents, and bring them all together, raising them up to new heights and certainly lifting their spirits. It is not enough to say that I was delighted by the experience, plus, we laughed our butts off every day!

That's me second from the right, next to Michel. We were 7 fabulous femmes fatales plus Michel's wife, Kyoko, (second from the left)...could be a harem in other environs. Let me also say that the other 6 were magnificent babes in their own right, and I am fortunate to know all of these consumate professionals. You go girls...Go put put on your big girl panties and take on the scaffolds of the world!

These are some examples of Trompe L'Oeil murals that I painted in the last 10 days. Remember, these are all paintings..If you're not sure what Trompe L'Oeil is, it means a painting whose purpose is to "trick the eye" and these are examples of things I might paint on a client's wall, perhaps in a dining room or on a column to add character and decoration, without actually adding molding. It's art for art's sake.

Molding and Ornamentation study. Monochromatic in blue. Medium: paint on a prepared surface, so, er, FLAT, right...yet, when I took a picture of the above, there appears to be a cast shadow off the flower pattern that is in the center panel. This is kind of creepy, because I didn't paint that shadow, and of course, being a flat canvas, could not be possible.




Whimsical broken column "after a party". Study of the golden mean as it applied to a column, a brilliant example of ancient greek architecture, light and shadow on a cylinder, and cast shadow of the ribbon.



Another monochromatic painting; molding and ornamentation in green, this time with a rosette of lotus leaves.

This was only the first module with this amazing teacher, and we are all so excited to meet him again in July.

It was an exhausting yet exhilarating couple of weeks, and I am even more excited than usual to go do something cool!!

Mural painting: Trick the eye!!