A Sweet Nursery Retreat - for the love of trees and birdies.

It's no surprise that birds and trees are a very popular motif for nurseries.  Nature is always welcome in spaces for children.

Birds have symbolism around the world and throughout history.  The Owl embodies wisdom and virtue, the crane eternity, the eagle power and courage and the nightingale love.  I'm not sure what the twitter bird stands for, maybe a short attention span.  Regardless whether they be animated silly birds or decorative tweets on fabrics and furnishings they bring nature in and herald joy as in the joy of spring.

My client, whose gorgeous craftsman style home sits remotely out in the country, asked that I create a room befitting their home and thought a natural theme would compliment their style and their surroundings.

We settled on a design that featured poppies along the baseboard, a tree and some visiting birds.  The colors of bedding and room accents varied from pale red, a mauve to an antiqued poppy orange.

The nursery had very high walls that followed the wood beam vaulted ceiling.  To make the room more cozy and bring the viewers eye down we incorporated a tree mural.

 

 To break the wall's height issue we created a focal  point using vintage style frames which were hung framing the mural illustrations of birds.

The soft beautiful light was glorious in the late afternoon as it beamed in the wood encased windows.

A bird in flight carrying a ribbon helps frame the opposing wall and diminish the wall's height.  Stripes of complimentary colors graces a small sidewall that flanks a door going out onto a patio.

In the studio we created the striped etagere to house trinkets and help carve up the height of the room.

The softness of colors, the implied tree and the elegance of the colors make this room charming and cozy.  Baby Elizabeth surely will have treasured memories in her sweet retreat.

Out of the woods - a nursery mural for woodland friends and baby McClure

New Portland residents and blushing parents-to-be, the McClures and I sat down to talk murals.  They wanted their daughter, due in October, to be welcomed into her nursery by friendly animals and flora from their new stomping ground, the Pacific Northwest.  Our collaborative thoughts of mountains, trees and evergreen forests were enhanced by the idea of a flowering Cherry tree, an iconic Portland beauty.

A Kwanzan Cherry Tree beginning to blossom.

 Kwanza Cherry trees are radiant clouds of pink early in the spring and the McClures thought its splendor would be the perfect centerpiece for the mural.  Having an interest in the mural featuring watercolor-like imagery, we discussed the works of Beatrix Potter and I turned them onto a favorite illustrator of mine, Barbara Firth.  Her look was less whimsical than Potter's yet her terrific use of color, texture and pencil outline  was perfect inspiration, in my mind, for the baby's nursery.  The McClure's agreed.

I rendered several loose mockups to convey the idea of a blooming cherry tree mixed with Northwest flora and fauna.  The mural was to be executed in a similar styling to Firth's illustrations, with big washes of color, a framing composition and visible pencil outlines.  Short of my locating a gigantic pencil to render with, I chose to outline the mural in gray tone glazes to simulate the sketch of pencil lines.

A little bird will peer down at the crib.

The completed tree mural.

A friendly squirrel runs across the branch
to see what the baby will be up to.

The McClure's beautiful foursquare bungalow
frames the mural well.

I have to duck into the pictures now and then.

One of the best things about creating a mural, is that it becomes part of the family.  The proud parents and their new little one will enjoy this room for many years to come.  Its imagery will be engrained in their child's loving memory, a gift from me to her.

 Welcome baby McClure, your new painted friends are waiting your arrival.  Congratulations McClures and thank for for bringing me in on your special project!