"Finished" Mural (26 hours of work later)

Natural murals like this one typically wrap up when the time budgeted for them has lapsed.  As a humble artist, I can never do justice to the vast intricacies of the natural world, but it is a privilege to strive to pay loving tribute, and to do so for clients who share my reverence for its beauty.

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Nancy Illman
Mural in progress

Here is another glimpse of the mural's progress, about half way through its manifestation.  The surface of the wall has been covered and now needs only to be developed into a fully realized scene.

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Nancy Illman
The development of a Mural

This was the beginning of a 8' by 8' (64 square foot) mural that I painted using a grid system and a photographic reference.  The wall was divided into a grid using a laser level and a blue chalk plumb line.  The mural was painted without any sketching.  Instead, the squares on the wall were numbered 1-64 and the photo reference, which was reproduced on copier paper, had also been divided up into a grid drawn with a pencil and ruler, its 64 squares numbered in the same order as the system numbered on the wall.  See the next blog entry for the mural as it progresses toward completion.

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Nancy Illman
Uplifting effect of murals on young people

It is my belief, based on working with my young clients and now, following up years later to relaunch my business in a new city, that my murals can help to define a childhood in the best possible way.  They provide an ideal SANCTUARY, a safe, happy, and peaceful place to retreat to as a child navigates the stressful twists and turns that characterize every adolescence.

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Nancy Illman
The Importance of Client Communication

One very important thing I have learned over my 25 plus years in this business is that clients need to understand the process by which their mural will take shape.  There are so many methods to creating a mural; sometimes I do a chalk or pencil sketch on the wall, sometimes I will grid a photo and paint a mural based on the image in little bits, like a jigsaw puzzle.  Whichever method I will be using on a mural for a client, I have learned to communicate about it as clearly as possible so that clients experience minimal anxiety as they wait for the final product to emerge.

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