I have been out of the office this week painting a beach themed bedroom and it has been a pleasant change to be painting rather than writing about it.
The room has to evolve with its young owner and she gave me lots of ideas to work toward. I had been planning to do bands of colour to reflect sand, sea and sky. My young client would add the beach theme to the room with her toys, pictures and models that she builds. Then I saw an advert for Fendi in Vogue. I thought that the colours used in the ad would be an easy match for carpet and textiles so I set about simulating the idea onto a practice wall in my studio.
The wall was painted a soft white. Acrylic glazes in several shades of blue were painted over it to make an impression of the sea. We all liked the result so I set about painting the real walls.
Three of the walls featured calm waters where patches of colour drifted into each other.
The fourth wall had rolling waves that were applied with a softer brush.
Although I was working fast, the colours and the action of applying the paint as waves was calming. All of me was behind the brush strokes not just my arm. This was so therapeutic to create. The tiniest amount of glitter glaze was applied along some of the waves. When the sun shines, the waves sparkle.
Once the beach cabin furniture is in place we will work on the soft furnishings.
I am revisiting the practice wall in my studio to experiment with our new seagull stencil. In the future it may be applied to a painted blind and some fabric for the beach bedroom. I hope that when all is finished, the room will bring much enjoyment to the young lady that will live in it. I have certainly enjoyed my part in helping her to achieve her wish of a seaside themed room.
Helen
Helen! This is so ethereal! You can feel the waves ebb and flow through the energy of the brushstrokes. It almost has a Monet feel to it.....maybe some water lilly stencils?
Posted by: Theresa Cheek | May 22, 2011 at 02:37 PM
Yes it had crossed my mind that I was enveloped in a big Monet silk scarf when I was completing the last wall.
Have any readers visited the large waterlily paintings in Paris? I think they were in the Orangerie.
Posted by: helen morris | May 22, 2011 at 11:08 PM
That is so beautiful. Warm pink sand, cool blue sky... and the gulls are just right; simple and elegant. You've captured that 'floating' thing that they do. Will they be in the catalog soon?
Posted by: Vicki | May 25, 2011 at 09:40 PM
I saw the Monet collection at the Museum of Modern Art whilst in NYC recently. Fell in love with the Agapanthus painting.
Definitely agree with Theresa.
Posted by: jeanne | May 26, 2011 at 11:10 AM
The seagull stencils are not on the website yet but they are available. I can be contacted through this blog then I will correspond privately. I can either send a Paypal payment request, or customers can call the Stencil Library office and place the order by phone.
The seagull stencil costs six UK Pounds. UK postage free. For Europe add three pounds and rest of the world add five. The postal charge is per order so if you need other items order them at the same time.
Thanks Vicki, I am glad that you liked them.
Jeanne, I shall be looking for Monet's agapanthus I have a fab new agapanthus stencil and Monet might inspire another project!
Phone no.01661 844844. UK internationial code is 44 then drop the 0. **44 1661 844844.
Stencil Library
Posted by: helen morris | May 27, 2011 at 09:48 AM
Jeanne, I searched for monet agapanthus and found
'Claude Monet continued to work on the canvases known as the “Agapanthus triptych” until his death, making radical revisions. Most notably, he painted out the agapanthus plants that gave the canvas its name'
Hilarious, no wonder I had never seen them. I agree, the 'Agapanthus Triptych' (without agapanthus) is beautiful. I had only known it as waterlilies....duh.
Posted by: Helen Morris | May 27, 2011 at 01:09 PM