There was a time when I used to seek balance. However, often balance leads to compromise. Compromises, inherently, lead to win/lose scenarios. These types of situations, at best, create a fragile neutral harmonious space. At worst, they easily descent back into conflict and chaos.
As a creative and an artist, I much rather commit to spending my time nurturing all the things that provide peace of mind, in all areas... instead of trying to maintain balance - because surprise, surprise, a lot of artists actually thrive with a tranquil lifestyle.
Bringing visions of green, lush nature into the home at large scale, could be one of the first steps in laying the foundation for a tranquil life -- at least at home.
Having the opportunity to create art using these principles for a residence, using a distressed, monochromatic and earthy palette such as the one in the image below, helped create an ethereal mural with an abstract botanical essence.
This home office was initially cold, dark and dreary, probably quiely leaching the life out of the owner too.
Even before the mural was completely painted and sealed though, it started immediately uplifting the energy of the room in a way that was almost tangible!
From cold cave, this home office now has been transformed into a nurturing refuge, able to support creativity in a space meant for professional pursuits.
The visceral power of an atmospheric mural like this one to transmute a lackluster, ordinary and dark room into something magical, humbles me every single time. I love being the conduit for that sort of universal creative force.
On the other hand, let's not kid ourselves here. For all the initial excitement of planning, preparing the area, buying the materials, the flow of installing this small mural and the fulfillment and joy at contemplating the finished artwork, it's darn labor-intensive! Murals or door art -even at that size can breaks one's back and spirit if not managed or not compensated properly!
Joking aside however, the final product and the delight it brings to the owners, often makes me forget (just for a fleeting moment) that this was a labor of love, in the truest sense of the term.
So from time to time, if I've banked enough surplus energy and the compensation is fair, I'll consider a project or self-initialize something like this depending on whether or not I like the space itself, the conditions of work, or the terms of the project.
All in all, I strongly believe, more than ever, that humans can, and must learn to carve out true temple sanctuaries, from the shell of these uninspiring, modern man-made structures, using these types of counter-balancing visual devices.
Otherwise, the next best thing is go back to the old ways of building more human-centric abodes. These ancient ways created building so inspiring, we're still awe-struck today and don't even need murals or other decorations to make them livable!
Other botanical Murals That Literally Changed the Energy of the Space:
For a New-England residence:
SeaFoam & SeaShores Closet Door Art
For Manici Kasri Boutique Hotel in Turkey:
Meeting Room Door Art
Guest Room Mural
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Public Announcement: This blog post was originally published during the holiday season in a Christmas jingle format. It is part of a collection of 354+ posts from my original Wordpress blog "Dreaming Into Being" library. I've now retired and migrated it to “Wander & Paint,” my new blog post at the United Wanderlust art shop. As time allows, I will be reviewing, editing, condensing, updating and releasing a number of these blog posts but not all of them.
Some posts require more precision surgery than others. I'll also probably be publishing new posts as the muse wills it and father time allows. This whole process may take a while but I think these blog post serve as great documentation of my process and reminds me of certain milestones. So, most of them will be made available again- at some point.
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