While working on the Beach scene, we brainstormed late into the night one evening to come up with an alternative to painting the exterior of the front doors. A similar scene to the one we had planned on the interior of the double doors was toyed with briefly, but we finally decided to do something more visible- the pantry door and wall. Using the internet, I-pads and email sitting all around the kitchen snack bar, we collected some great ideas involving some rooster art, signage, wrought iron hardware and break away walls. The next afternoon I created a computer sketch of our brilliant ideas and it was on!

I abandoned ship in Grand Rapids, Michigan for 3 weeks, leaving most of my equipment and tools there in storage, while I took care of some personal business and took a planned vacation the first week of July. Before I left on vacation I planned out exactly what I was going to do on the new mural, did all the research, packed up everything I would need to take along with me and had it all ready to go. As soon as we returned from our vacation and did laundry, I packed up the supplies and research I had packed before vacationing and hit the road for Grand Rapids again for the last of our planned projects.

I arrived Monday late morning and immediately set to work:

I taped off areas I did not plan on painting to protect them and started on the base colors for the wall- a stucco effect and stone around the door frame, then plotted out the artwork for the door and wood graining before stopping for the day.

It’s a little fuzzy, but above you can see some of the process of wood graining using tape, and color blocking for the artwork panel on the door.

By the end of the day, some of the stenciling had been completed, the bricks and all of the wood graining. Time to break for the day. The door is really starting to look good.

Day 3 was spent mostly on details, cracks in the stucco, panel art and stenciling, layering on colors for depth and dimension.

By the end of the day on day 4, all artwork was completed, details, highlights and shadows applied to both the walls and the door. Essentially the artwork is complete, the tape must remain until after the finish coat is applied. It all was left to dry overnight before the final clear finish could be applied and the tape removed.

With the tape removed, I am especially proud of this work. Love that rooster art sign, I named him Chanticleer and hope to include him in another artwork one of these days.

Below are a few detail shots to show different areas close up. Click on any to view them in a slide show carousel.

Thanks for looking! See you on the next project!