Doctor’s Office Mural – Magical Tree

Visionary Mural Company — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:33:56 +0000

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Megan McKeithan of Visionary Mural Co. created this magical tree mural in the Wellstar Medical Group, ENT Associates of North Georgia Doctor’s Offices located in the Kennestone Outpatient Pavilion just outside of Atlanta in Marietta, GA. Kristen Ericson of Facility Design & Relocation Inc. asked Megan to help her create a complete environment with her vision of a 3D tree in the children’s play area in the lobby. Kristen cleverly planned walls to mask a support column in the corner of the large space. She designed kid-sized openings in the walls so they could crawl “through” the tree and matched them to the arched opening off of the waiting room. She asked Megan to paint the illusion of a tree stretching across the protruding corner, and to coordinate the mural with the colors of the adjacent room and wooden finish of the writing counters she planned to install on the tree’s trunk…

This video shows the in progress creation of the mural from base coats through drawing and painting. Megan created a fantasy tree that seems to stretch up into the sky by designing contours that coordinate with the actual 3D arched openings and diminish in scale as they move up the wall, helping to create the foreshortened effect. You can see the contour lines she drew in chalk over the base coated tree walls. Megan selected colors for the basecoats that coordinated with the walls paint and fabrics Kristen selected for the office. The color of the tree, for example, is several steps darker on the same paint line as the wall color of the lobby. She also used the shapes and colors of the leaves on fabrics from the furnishings to help coordinate the mural with the surrounding interior design. She painted a park like setting around the tree to complete the environment. The bright sky blues echo Kristen’s Italian land and sea scape artwork selections in the adjacent room and transition down to a bright white horizon, giving the illusion of depth and atmosphere to the space. Birds and butterflies soar across the sky while animals poke their heads out of the grassy surroundings and tree roots. Red poppies add bright color and coordinate with those in the artwork throughout the health care office. Megan even painted a squirrel, caterpillar, and bees inside the tree as a secret for the kids to discover. This children’s mural creates exactly the complete environment Kristen was looking for while coordinating with the contemporary styling of the rest of the medical office…

Megan McKeithan paints much larger murals in a vast array of themes and styles, visit www.VisionaryMuralCo.com to see more of her portfolio and learn more about murals, trompe l’oeil illusions, and complete environments.

Gorgeous and Affordable Children’s Room Murals

Visionary Mural Company — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:27:54 +0000

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Megan McKeithan, of Visionary Mural Co., creates beautiful children’s murals specifically designed for your family. Choose a favorite children’s book or illustration theme for a mural in your nursery, child’s bedroom or play room. If you are inspired by famous children’s characters, be sure to create them exactly the way you want them with works like Megan’s murals inspired by Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, Graham Rust’s Cinderella, and Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies featured here. Megan even created a mural on canvas for one child’s room based on three of his favorite stories. The Bambi mural was actually inspired by Disney’s Bambi but included Peter Rabbit from Beatrix Potter and a tiny Dinosaur Train inspired by the popular PBS television show. (Be sure to give credit to the inspiration pieces for your room; the original artists who created them should always be acknowledged and honored with your interpretation of their work!)…

Create any mural or decorative motif to suit your tastes and child’s furnishings. Often a natural motif is a beautiful and gender-neutral way to create a room that will grow with your child. If you are trying to work within a budget, you can select a wall color that coordinates with the mural’s theme and paint images straight onto the wall without background as shown here in the wildflowers mural or the Disney-inspired Winnie the Pooh mural. Or you can use a limited color palette like the Cinderella mural inspired by Graham Rust or the sports-themed mural. Murals that are monochromatic (one color) or of limited color palette can lend sophistication to a children’s themed project.

It’s important to think about customizing your mural to your family. Often Megan includes references to the family without being too obvious. For example, the sports themed mural shown here includes a football jersey in the color and number of the professional team the father played for – a wonderful surprise for him that Megan planned with the mother for their son’s room. Another detail included to personalize murals can be placing a bird or bee or dragonfly at the same height as the child when the mural was painted, as Megan did in the Cinderella room. She also painted violets in the wildflower mural to honor the child’s grandmother, Miss Violet. Little details like these go a long way in creating the custom design perfect for your children and for the whole family. When selecting these details, you may also consider keeping them specific to your family, but not so specific that someone who buys the house might not be able to use them. For example, the football Jersey doesn’t include the team name or logo, so someone else could see it as a jersey for any team. In addition, butterflies fly around everywhere, a new home owner doesn’t have to to connect it to the child for whom it was originally painted…

You can also limit the amount of wall space covered by the mural, as shown in the rainbow mural. The wall color was pink and the wall paper borders spanned the room already when Megan McKeithan added the rainbow mural and sky with butterflies to enhance the room. Blending out the mural or ending it in a corner are ways to integrate into the rest of the room while limiting size and helping budget…

Children’s murals also work well painted on canvas like the Flower Fairies mural inspired by Cicely Mary Barker and the Bambi mural inspired by Disney mural shown here. Painting on canvas allows Megan to paint in the studio and then ship the mural anywhere. The examples shown here are canvases stretched around a wooden frame and painted around the edges. Megan also paints on larger canvases that are glued to the wall like wall paper. Either option is removable and can be re-installed if the clients want to move…

One other side note, don’t be fooled into thinking murals make a home too customized. If you plan it well and execute it gracefully, a mural can enhance the value of your home both to you and to potential buyers. Several clients have reported selling their homes with the help of their murals. Think about it. Perspective home buyers look at multiple homes of the same size, plan, and school district, often within the same neighborhood. If you have a beautiful piece of art that really fits well in the home, you can push your house to the front of the pack and make the difference in sale or no sale…

Megan paints much larger murals in a vast array of themes and styles, visit www.VisionaryMuralCo.com to see more of her portfolio and learn more about murals, trompe l’oeil illusions, and complete environments.