Marvelous Murals You Can Paint - Softcover

Lord, Gary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0891349693 ISBN 13: 9780891349693

Publisher: North Light Books, 2001

Synopsis

Whether you're an absolute beginner or an experienced muralist, whether your tastes are traditional or modern, this complete guide to mural painting will help you create fresh, fabulous looks for your home. You'll find 15 imaginative mural painting techniques, plus dozens of tricks-of-the-trade for painting murals like a pro!

About this title

About the Author

Gary Lord is a master of decorative paint finishes and interior mural painting. He appears regularly on HGTV, as well as on regional home decorating shows. Gary is author of Great Paint Finishes for a Gorgeous Home (North Light) and is a contributing editor to Decorative Artist's Workboook. Through his company, Wall Options, Gary paints murals and interior decorative finishes by commission. David Schmidt has his own wall decorating company and has teamed up on assignments with Gary many times. Both live in Cincinnati, Ohio.

From the Inside Flap

You can paint murals. And not ordinary murals ... wonderful, marvelous murals! In this completely illustrated, step-by-step guide, master muralists Gary Lord and David Schmidt share their secrets. Their instruction is so clear and easy-to-follow, even a novice can expect happy results. Just follow their lead and before you know it, you'll be creating your own masterpieces!

The step-by-step demonstrations range from simple techniques to more elaborate ones, all with outstanding results. Learn how to create:
- strong and simple silhouettes
- graphic two-dimensional murals
- realistic three-dimensional murals, from mountains and waterfalls to skies and clouds
- murals and borders based on fabric designs in the room
You'll find lots of tips for making the job go smoothly and successfully, including how to prepare a room for painting; how to choose a subject; how to create realistic perspective; and how to use a slide projector to enlarge and transfer your designs. Even experienced muralists will find fresh ideas and techniques here, from classic effects to playful graphics. The colorful photo-galleries of finished interiors offer inspiration for every room of your home, in any style you can imagine ... and then some!

Reviews

From cave painting and Pompeian houses to the wallpaper scenery of a quarter-century ago, murals have come and gone from the home. These two books are evidence of a recent resurgence. Marvelous Murals is a good, straightforward manual for mountain scenes, woodlands, waterfalls, musical themes, underwater motifs, and farm scenes. Beginners will appreciate the progressive difficulty of the exercises, starting with room preparation and simple silhouettes and advancing to complex textures and perspectives. In Trompe l'Oeil Murals Using Stencils, Royals hopes to make it possible for the novice to achieve the heightened reality of the genre using the simplest of tools and methods. She begins with preliminary tryouts and small-scale projects for faux surfaces, like used brick, stone blocks, velvet drapery, and marble. Six major projects take on arched brick windows, lattice windows, limestone niches, etc. Both of these books are recommended for crafts collections. More advanced artists will also want Sarah Hocombe's challenging Fresco Painting for Home & Garden (LJ 7/99).
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

It's not quite the same as paint by numbers--artists Lord and Schmidt tend to instruct readers in more general terms--but it'll net a similar effect: a uniform and realistic trompe l'oeil or mural that enhances any room. Much of their narrative is strictly common sense: protect the room before prepping walls; add 10 to 20 percent water to paint in the spray gun; and get a good grasp on color theory and perspective before mixing colors. Their 15 projects progress from the simple to the more complex, from silhouettes of Venetian boatmen to a panoramic landscape; each features the requisite list of materials as well as step-by-step close-ups of critical spaces. A sprayed sky, for instance, begins with applying a basecoat on the wall, laying in and sponging clouds, and from there adding and subtracting and blending to create highlights and shadows. Nothing's out of the box here, but sure and steady will win a place in the home. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: North Light Books
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0891349693
• ISBN 13: 9780891349693
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144