My “OVER THE MANTEL” Mural

I wish I could say that this painting is an original by me but it’s actually a copy of one that I saw in an old magazine. I loved the colors, the subject and the design so I decided to use it in my living room.

The magazine didn’t give credit to the artist so I couldn’t ask for permission to reproduce it. I’m hoping that since I am not using it commercially that it will be OK. Also, I couldn’t photograph the picture straight on since I kept getting glare spots when I did.

What I thought might be of interest to some of you was how I transposed it to my wall. I actually used the old grid trick. I folded the original picture until it formed 24 small squares. Then it was easy to enlarge it to scale and then fill in the individual squares.

After I painted the picture directly on the wall I used a decorative molding to frame it and I was done.

As my blogger friend Phillip wrote to me: “It is interesting to paint on walls and furniture. The Canadian primitive artist, Maude Lewis painted all the surfaces of her shack she lived in. It has been preserved as a work of art.”

I had never heard of Maude Lewis and was fascinated by her story. I know that my “little shack” will never be preserved as a work of art but it’s lots of fun and it keeps me out of trouble !!