Murals

Let us help you personalize a special space in your home or create a unique image for your business. Using a combination of photography, handpainting and decorative finish techniques, we can execute an image of special signifigance to you.

In the first project pictured we have created a trompe l'oeil (French;"to fool the eye") of a child lifting the membrane of paint to reveal the hidden world behind his wall. For this project Matt Hale and I combined our skills in photography, computers, and handpainting to create this life-size image. In the second project we used a photograph to create a mural to fill an existing niche. Manipulated in preproduction to give it the feel of a painting and glazed after installation to incorporate the knock-down plaster texture of the wall, it captured our clients love of Tuscany.

In both projects we used a product/process called Tattoowall(TM). Custom images are printed on thin vinyl that may be applied on both smooth or highly irregular surfaces with textures up to 1/4". The texture of the surface remains, creating a natural effect with no reflective sheen. It may be used on a variety of surfaces such as wood, drywall (including knock down texture) untreated cement and bricks and has no size limitations. It can be applied over unusual shapes such as domes, curved walls and alcoves. After installation it can be further enhanced with glazing, handpainting, or a distressed fresco effect.

Trompe L’Oeil

Trompe l’oeil means to fool the eye. It often consists of an architectural element rendered two dimensionally but appears to the viewer to be three dimensional. Additionally there is an element of delight when the viewer realizes the optical trick being played.

Monsarrat Group has added trompe l’oeil to its repertoire of techniques through study with Michel Nadai of France. Michel’s expertise in such disciplines as perspective, murals, marbling, graining and trompe l'oeil ornaments and moldings led to his receiving the life-time title of Best Craftsman of France in Decorative Painting and Trompe L'Oeil. http://www.michelnadai.com/indexus.html

Today’s open airy floor plans often have large unwieldy expanses of wall, particularly in foyers and stairways. Painting panels and moldings on these walls can reduce their perceived size to a more “satisfactory” scale. Rendering the highlights and shadows of railings, stiles and panels, the trompe l’oeil artist can subdivide these walls into a harmonious scale using the Golden Proportion developed by the Greeks and used over the centuries by architects and artists.

Trompe l’oeil can also be used as a technique to extend the space of a room with a wall mural depicting architectural elements and vistas beyond that wall plane. It can transport the room occupants to another place and time.