Grand kids' Murals

Hi everyone, I just got back from Alaska, and  thought I would show you something a little different than painted furniture today. I was recently in Anchorage visiting my grandkids, and I painted some murals on the walls. I had so much fun doing it, and the kids really liked them. I was really surprised at how much attention the "not quite 2 year-old" paid to them. She was really excited about them.

 

These  pictures are part of the mural on Ellie's wall. When the room was Levi's room and he was a baby, I had painted the room two toned, with the vine around the room and with a large tree to the ceiling off to the left of this grouping.

Below was the starting of the Mural for Levi's room when he was a baby, and it is now Ellies room with the addition of flowers and butterflies. We decided to girlie it up a little when Ellie moved into it.

This was 2 years ago, and sadly I cannot for the life of me find a totally finished tree and Monkey for you to look at,..I am so bad about forgetting take pictures. Since it is 3,230 miles away, I can't just run over there to take another picture. I know I have some somewhere but I think they are on an old phone ..which I probably have in my intricate filing system... because I keep everything.... but you get the idea.
 Just close your eyes, now imagine the tree with more leaves and the monkey with a face. Good Job!

Now two years later, the room has morphed into a girlie room for Ellie.

 As I was drawing the dinosaurs that you see below, (and erasing!!) I mentioned  to my son that a friend of mine (Marie Kantarzis)had told me she used to work with large scale canvases, and she would draw a small drawing and then project it on the canvas. "Would a projector help?" he asked. I jokingly said,  " why, you don't have one laying around somewhere do you?"....."Yeh, out in the shop"...... Wow,  did  I get excited! It worked great, so much faster.  If I had been at home, I would have drawn it out on paper and transferred it (easier to erase on paper than on the wall)  I projected the sunflower, and the dinosaurs on the walls and it saved me a lot of time (and erasers)  So much easier! When Shane (my son) saw how well the projector worked in the rooms, he told me to take it home with me!! Whoo hoo! I was one happy camper. Thank you Shane and Amie!

 If you have any questions about how to transfer a picture, leave me a message below,
or email me at csoconnor1@aol.com

This was my first  picture, and I got so excited about projecting the dinosaur that I had a large part of him painted before I realized I hadn't done the background! Note to self..... it is easier to do the background first rather than paint around your subject later!

Levi is 3, almost 4, and he was so excited to pick out the dinosaurs he wanted. He knew exactly what kind he wanted. I on the other hand thought there were about 4 kinds......Learned a lot from a 3 year old that day. I now know what a T-rex is and that it eats plants. :)  ...uh oh ... already forgot what the other one is called...sorry, Levi....I guess you are gonna have to review it again with me.  (Now I know how the little ones forget what I tell them....and I thought they were faking.)

Levi, before I was totally finished with the dinosaurs in his new room, acting silly..or should I say normal, because he is such a little ham that most of my pictures have him making funny faces. He kept walking around his room while I was working on it saying "I'm so happy, Grandma, I'm just so happy!" and "I love my T-Rex" . Always nice when the client is satisfied, right?

Ellie, saying "coot, coot" because her Dad had walked in the room and said "Cute" while I was working on it. If I left the room for a break, Ellie would race down the hall to her room shouting  "coot coot!" Gotta tell you, this granny got a work out tryng to catch her before she got to the paints and brushes and worked a little of her own magic on the walls too. I had a blast with the kids. One day, I even painted tried to paint in the room while I was babysitting  them .....most of the time I felt like a goalie at a hockey game protecting the wet paint from Ellie! Talk about a kid stoned on life.

But look at that face, I think she liked it, what do you think??!
Makes me smile just remembering.
Thanks for letting me share. That's all for now, time to hit the hay. Oh crap, it's morning already! Well Time really does fly when you're having fun. I started this at 1:30am and it is now 6 am. Gonna be a reeeeeeally short night....
Carolyn