Recently finished:  Underwater Mural for Wildlife Images          This mural presented some learning opportunities and challenges.

The mural was to be installed about 6′ up in a giant hole in the wall of a very large trophy room.  The bottom half of the mural is an underwater scene, and the top part is the sky, both near and distant.  The halves are seperated by a plexiglass sheet, specially made to appear as water.  Lights will shine on it to simulate movement in the water.  The crocodile is to be installed at the final installation by Wildlife Images.  The approx size of the diorama is 18′x6′x4′deep.   Here are some finished images of different parts of the diorama:

Note the wrinkles.  This diorama was painted mostly in my studio on canvas.  Then it was taken to Wildlife Images in Scottsdale where their carpenters had built a frame for the faux rock and my mural.  The mural was stapled onto the frame and the rock and tree branch placed in front of it.  Where the mural turns up into the sky, the framing is rounded so there will be no 90 degree turns in the mural (that are visable).

This is the Right lower corner of the mural, a section that will be seen well after the installation of the crocodile.  There will be some faux plants that are the same (used as models) as the plants in the mural that will go in front of the painted plants to give a 3-D effect, and disguise edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, this pretty sky won’t show much after installation because of the textured plexiglass “water surface” that will split the diorama into underwater/above water.  But regardless, it must still be painted well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the part of the mural that will mostly be covered by the croc when installed, but you should be able to see under him well enough to see some of this detail.  The assignment for the mural was to make the river water appear to have distance/depth to it.  This is an “artistic license” thing though. When studying the nature of this kind of water, it actually only has a visibility of a very few inches.  It’s dark green.  It’s how the crocodile hunts actually.  It slithers up quietly underwater, and gets within inches of it’s prey, unseen in the murky water, and suddenly jumps up and snaps it’s prey.   Anyway, good luck to any croc trying to hunt in this crystal clear water.  But it’s pretty, so…there you go.

This part is the part where the 15 or so foot part of the mural curves into a 4′ section.  The large branch you see is not only part of the diorama, but it will also serve as a support for the crocodile.  there will be quite a few (sorta) real rocks, and some silk/plastic plants to not only add depth, but they are great for hiding difficult areas that need camouflage.

 

This is my most excellent friend Jen.  The last couple of the days of the mural were difficult for me.  Both my mom and my dad were in the hospital.  One in Prescott and one at Mayo in Phoenix.  I was staying with my mom in Phx and worked in Scottsdale during the day.  I really needed to finish, but being the fusspot I am, couldn’t just rush things.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, when suddenly my phone rang and it was Jen.  She is an elementry school art teacher.  She had called to tell me she had the day off and did I want to goof off with her…WELL, I asked her if she’d help me and wow was she excited!   She was my angel that day!  Thanks Jen!

And here is the “ta-dah!” moment!!!  

     When my part of the diorama was complete, the croc was still being made, so I didn’t get to see the completed diorama.  Today (Oct ’09) I found out it is all done.  I’ll try to get Craig to blast me off some pics of the finished product, and post it here when I get them.

 

Tags: acrylic, acrylic painting, africa, Arizona, Arizona mural, art, canvas, crocodile, diorama, Facebook, Grand Canyon artist in residence, Hutchins, Juliana Hutchins, Julie Hutchins, landscape, mural, painting, phoenix, Prescott Arizona muralist, river mural, scottsdale arizona, Superpaint, taxidermy mural, water mural, wildlife images, Xanadu Gallery

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 12:27 am and is filed under Blog, Indoor Home Murals, Murals, Murals on Weird Things, Painting Adventures, Painting Progressions, Recently Finished, Wildlife Images. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.