The Making of a Mural part one

I have been commissioned to make 4 large wall panels, a commemorative piece for a very sweet collector.  After many consultations to gather her ideas and wishes I did a sketch for us to use to further refine her ideas.  She has a beautiful garden, absolutely amazing with all kinds flowers and very peaceful.  We are trying to capture the essence of that.

Then the clay started. I call this the cave man stage--- whack with mallet.

 

Make some slabs, these will be approximately 23"x12"

 

Smoothing--Action shot!

 Side borders

 

Making the border sides, this is the back side join the slabs.

 Forgot to get a few pictures of the stages before this, but it was layout, underpainting and carving. She wants it full of beautiful flowers, lots of  butterflies birds and her sweet little dog friend, Lillie Mae.

 More painting and carving. Owl and rabbits, doves, roses.....

  Here is the half finished mural. Up to this point this is about a month of work. Now it will dry and then be bisqued fired. Then more glazing and detail work and into the kiln again, with fingers crossed!

I will post pictures as I continue this project.