Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
Henry Ward Beecher

Hand-painted wall murals...a dream come true

     The day starts as any other, breakfast with my wonderful husband and adorable 2 year old son. Then I head out the door to drive to my mural job. Sometimes I am fortunate enough to go only 3 blocks to the client's home and other times it is a 2 hour drive in traffic. Ahhh, but once I get to my mural client's location(home/business/school, etc) the magic begins. After set up and prep, I begin to draw my design freehand on the wall(s). Once that is all mapped out, I begin to paint the elements of the mural, again all free-hand. Trees, leaves, clouds, birds, fairies, princess castles, butterflies, flower gardens, sports lockers, baseball, soccer, football, hockey, lacrosse, giraffes, monkeys, lions, vines, swirls, kids' names, old italian buildings, canals of venice, hot air balloons, hillsides, dogs, cats, picket fences, paris, germany, tuscan hillsides, landscapes, beach, ocean, surfers, elephants, bees, bugs, cars...Oh, I could go on and on. Painting wall murals is an exciting job. I get to make new parents' dreams come true as I paint the walls of their new baby nursery, I get to see children light up in delight when they see their room transformed into a fairy kingdom, a sports locker room, a treehouse, an outerspace odyssey, an underwater adventure or a jungle land.
     At the end of the day, I head back home to my wonderful, supportive family for some much needed rest. I reflect on the day's work, always wondering how I manage to design, draw and paint custom, personalized, unique artwork on the walls day in and day out. Proud of the painting I did that particular day, I think about the next project and images fill my brain inspiring me to paint another day.
I often thing I am so grateful to have such an amazing gift to be able to make people so happy. My favorite thing is when the child or children in the house/school where I am painting, sees me working and proclaims that they want to draw and paint,  then they go get supplies and start doing it or talk about what art they like to create. It is inspiring to me to see that reaction from a child.
     I know I have a talent that cannot be explained, and I am so happy to use it to make a difference in the everyday lives of others. Being in business for over 15 years, I frequently run into clients while I am out and about. It always amazes me how kids that I painted a mural for when they were 3 are now 12 and still love that mural, talking about  how they named the animals or how every year they took a picture next to the sports locker to see how much they had grown. Picutres of my murals are in baby albums, photo albums and the memories of thousands of young people who will grow to appreciate art more because they had it painted on their walls as kids!  I had a mural on my wall when I was kid, painted by a family friend, it had become a staple of my childhood and later an inspiration to me as an artist. Creating, painting, drawing, making things...it is what I do, it is who I am. And now it is time for a good night's sleep so I am rested to create another masterpiece tomorrow!
-the dream painter™, traci c. adams

 

View more at http://www.thedreampainter.com/

Mural of Hill Town in Tuscany is the perfect decor for a living room!

    

 I recently completed a mural above a fireplace in a customer's home. It was so much fun to paint this particular mural, because I got to use some photos of my travels to Italy. The client had an awkward space in her family room that just needed a wow! factor. The wall is curved and therefore it is hard to hang artwork or the like in that spot. A hand-painted mural was the perfect solution. To keep the mural from being over powering and out of place, I designed it to be a "tapestry" hung on the wall. The artistic technique of painting an object/scene that looks real but is only painted is called "trompe l'oiel" and that is the technique I used to paint this mural. Once I had narrowed down my photos of Italian streets, buildings, interesting windows, and elements, I put them all together in a sketch for the client. Once that sketch was approved, I went to work painting the mural on the wall. I do all of my painting and drawing freehand, never relying on projectors. This paritcular mural was tricky to reach because of the large semi-circle hearth at the bottom of the fireplace. Thanks to my handy dandy stair ladder, I was able to work it all out and get the job done.
    Painting for me is like a Zen experience...I am just in a zone that I cannot explain. I let go and let my talent flow freely out until the mural is all done. I love this one in particular because it is comprised of photos I took that hold precious, inspirational memories of my times in Europe. I love to travel and I love to paint, so this was a marriage of both passions!  The clients were very happy and have booked me to come back and paint another wonderful travel-inspired mural. Time to get out the photos of Venice, Italy!

Until next time, Ciao!