Murals in layers create more drama and realism.

Murals don’t have to be overwhelming when thought of in “layers”. That’s exactly what any “scene” is.

Look at any photo of interesting scenery. It’s all simply “layers” of elements that when combined, make up that beautiful picture.

Pinpoint the elements that are the farthest away; sky, mountains, trees, buildings. Come forward, in toward the next layer and notice what is there; closer trees? a brook? small trees or bushes? Now, what is in the front layer? flowers? stones? a pathway? You are beginning to get the idea. Everything we look at is simply a mural waiting to be painted.

Adapt that same principal to your own murals. A rough sketch on the wall is important to keeping your perspective and reserving room for more forward elements (such as the flower garden and urn in my example mural). So decide the basics of your mural lay out and simply sketch a rough design to keep your focus.

Decide what is in the background and begin with only those elements. Think of it as a “mini-mural”. By completing your mural in stages, it helps to ease the feeling of being overwhelmed by the bigger picture (so to speak).

In the mural I have done, I began with a background of a cloudy sky, and a grassy valley with distant trees. Notice that the trees are again in “layers”. I started with trees that were the farthest in the distance and painted more trees in front of them until I had “layers” of trees. Varying colors, tones and tree types helps to set the trees apart from one another and create a more realistic background.

I then painted the willow tree directly over the top of this background. If I had tried to paint the background around an outline shape of the willow, the background would have been much more difficult to do and would not have flowed as smoothly in its design. Simply sketching my tree after the background was completed gave me exactly the look I was after.

The next layer presented my flower garden. Again in layers, I created the dirt floor of the garden and the garden stone pathway, which laid the foundation for the background for the 3rd layer containing upright flowers.

A tulip bed was next, which covered the base of the willow and foreground of the grassy valley. Further plants such as the lilac bush and lavender could then be added as the mural began to progress forward.

A bed of white bellflowers was placed in the extreme foreground along with a small evergreen tree.

The very last layer (that completed the mural) was the addition of the willow branches. Why did I do it last? That’s simple; many of the branches reach clear down to the flower bed. If I had placed those branches before the flowers, they might have been covered by other elements.

Few elements in a mural require detailed design. Sometimes, simply mimicking the appearance of a leaf, a stone, a bush, is all that is needed to make a mural realistic. Note in the close up photo of the leaves for the willow tree. They are simply one single stroke of the brush which was loaded with light green on one side and deep green on the other. This lack of detail actually gives the branches great realism. Notice that the background trees also lack detail and are basically “shapes” of the tree types that incorporate simple and varied pounces of the brush to achieve different styles. The same is true for the upright flowers and bellflower border.

If you are not experienced with hand painting your own designs, remember that there are life-sized elements in stencil form offered by an array of very talented designers that can achieve exactly what you are looking for.

In conclusion, designing a mural and its execution needn’t be a daunting task when it’s performed in layers. Sure, any mural worth gazing at for years to come is going to take time. But isn’t that what “art” is all about? To me, that mural is an extension of myself. It’s certainly worth putting time and my best effort in to it. I don’t want to rush something that will be around for a very long time.

Victoria Larsen is a profession wall stencil designer specializing in Raised Plaster Stencils and Ornamental Wall Molds and who features the talents of professionals and beginners alike on her website at http://www.victorialarsen.com Copyright © Victoria Larsen 2006