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At right is a Mural in a Century City Condo.  The arched corridor scene is a trompe l'oeil effect to add more dimension to the dining room.  A wrought-iron chandelier was selected (rather than the brass), matching the staircase rail in the mural.  The Entry shows the diagonal stonework which is the backdrop for a built-in travertine console.  Concept of these designs are by Caldwell Sutherland Designs...see more details below.  (click to enlarge images)

Front View:

Side View         
with Chair:      

Side View with Mirror:           

  Matching Rope:    

This is a view of the Eilean Donan Castle in the Scottish Highlands, as if viewed through an arched doorway, with a corresponding window painted to the right.  The image of the castle is reversed, to match the home's true relation to the sun's direction.

TUSCANY MURAL

At right is a full view of a mural painted on the upper wall of another dining room.  The columns were painted to match the existing column (partially visible on left side).  Stone bricks below scenery match the stairs to their left, and scroll above door matches a real carved scroll they have over their front door.  Also the gold-toned wrought iron railing was duplicated in the mural; so it looks like you can just walk across!  

COST of such a mural:  this is highly-detailed in the foreground architectural part, but the scenery is not such high detail, so it falls into the "C" detail category in my mural price chart.  It's 161.5 sq. ft. X $30/sq. ft. = $4845 + 10% kit fee.  TOTAL:  $5330      See more details below:

Actual Carved Scroll:

This is the real scroll that's over the front door, from which the painted facsimiles were derived.

Below left, Randy and Lib Travis are happy posing for Guideposts Magazine (issue June 2001), in front of  the Wall of  Hollyhocks,  which Victoria is seen at right painting for their Santa Fe home.  It was planned so that the flagstone barbecue countertop would be built-in later (as partially visible in the photo on left).  The entire wall is about 17 feet long, and is nicely viewed from the kitchen window.

Click on Randy Travis to hear
my favorite Randy Travis Song

Below is the adobe wall surrounding the Travis's very private jacuzzi hot tub patio, where Victoria painted the wisteria tree and hummingbird.

This client was "Captain Bill" Lawson of Pasadena Maritime Museum, which is his amazing lovely home in the Hastings Ranch area of Pasadena.  His entire home is filled with every maritime thing you can imagine.  The house is this striking slate color, and in his front yard is a huge anchor almost as tall as the house, embedded at an artistic angle in his front lawn.  Inside his living room, he has a helm of a ship which you can steer, and it rocks the huge painting of the Cutty Sark  which is lit from behind as a transparency.  You get sea legs from a visit to his home!  His son is Brad Lawson of Lawson's Fine Furniture in Los Angeles, who makes a lot of wonderful pieces that I have painted.

This family converted their garage into a carpeted playroom for their four-year-old son.  The Mommy was from Puerto Rico, and they travel there every chance they get.  The playroom is fully equipped with tons of fun stuff to do, and Mommy and Son have "Arts and Crafts" playtime together out there every day.  This was another project I worked on through Kathleen Doonan - Design Visions of Marina Del Rey, CA. - (310) 821-7712.

The daddy in this family plays a lot of golf, so they asked me to be sure to put in a golf course.  Also note the "Flamboyán" tree of bright red-orange flowers, native to Puerto Rico, as well as the barely visible "Coquí" froggy on the leaf in the foreground.  They also provided a recent photo of their cute little boy, 'Sunny-Man'  playing in the beautiful water, for me to copy (see close-up below).  

Katheen gave me a sample of the wallpaper border which has all these colors of beach accessories - the umbrellas, beach towels, and even the sandcastles all match the items and colors in that border, which is normally applied at the top edge of the walls, but in this case it would be at the same level as the sand foreground  in the mural...so the horizons match.   

This border came in an aqua blue as well as this powder blue version, which was a better match to the water.

This client had already purchased the mantle, but this Simi Valley home had no fireplace in the sitting room, so I painted one on the flat wall for them.  One good alternative for this kind of  work is to have a hand-painted screen of plants or floral arrangement...something to keep you feeling cooler in the summer! 

Above is a trompe l'oeil scene which the client requested to have certain specific details:  she had me put a carved heart on the tree with the couple's initials, both sons' names carved in different rocks by the stream, their kitty, and also since I told her that I had a special interest in "birthflowers", she had me put all 4 family members' birth flower (Lily of the Valley for May, Daffodil for March, Wood Violet for February, and Snowdrop for January).   I stood in the bathtub to do this, and it took me 4 days' work.  She will place a windowsill and shutters around it to match the existing windows.

This is a direct view of the garden painted over the Jacuzzi oversized bathtub in this Simi Valley home.  Had I known she would add the pink marble columns later, I would have matched that style of column in the painting.