When a client said she wanted a mural depicting a river confluence scene in her St. Louis home I was excited at the challenge, as the city of St. Louis itself is situated at the juncture of the mighty Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The mural would be in the front hall of the house, welcoming visitors into the client’s newly renovated home. We decided on a landscape painting, symbolic of the area, not necessarily showing the actual St. Louis river confluence. The mural would depict an undisturbed natural setting, an expansive view of a river valley from high above a hilltop clearing or bluff (see early rendering below). It would wrap around 3 walls of the foyer, viewable from multiple rooms including the dining room and living room. The formerly white drywall front hall would be transformed into a truly one a kind St. Louis space.
Hallway before mural
I started the project by sketching out the design on the wall in pencil, taking time to make sure the perspective was correct and that the design flowed freely around the room. Many changes from a mural’s initial design take place at this stage as it makes the leap from rendering to full scale. After the design was sketched out to my liking, I started the painting as I typically do, painting the sky first and working my way down. The horizon and distant hills were then painted in shades of blue and purple suggesting the distance that we could see from our vantage point high above the rivers. I decided on the light source as being from the back-left side, a low, late afternoon light. After the hills took some basic shape I laid down a base of yellows and browns that would be the foundation of the fields and trees. I began suggesting the far off trees, working towards the foreground elements, adding more tree detail as I moved forward in space.
Painting the distance
The water of the rivers was then roughed in and the snaking path of the rivers was becoming more evident. One of the challenges of the project was the perspective, how the river moved as the viewer walked through the room. I wanted it to work from multiple angles, and especially wanted the rivers to turn the corners of the room as believably as possible. I had to make continual adjustments as the project evolved. Another challenge was the subtle color gradations of the river, blending the warm sky reflections with the deepening blue color of the water. Working in acrylic has many advantages in mural painting, but the paint dries fast making large areas of blending kind of a challenge. Acrylic mediums and extenders are helpful in these situations.
River Taking Shape
After painting the rivers, I turned my attention to the middle distance trees. I wanted the trees to appear like they were growing up the hill towards our vantage point, getting larger as they grew closer, the bottoms partially obscured by the hillside. A blend of bright yellows and dark greens and blues suggested the trees, bathed in the late day sunlight. Then the tallest foreground trees began to take shape. I eliminated one large tree that was in the original design (on the left side of the main wall) as I felt it blocked the view of the river bend. My first attempt to paint the tree foliage (on the exterior door wall) was not to my liking, and I spent an entire day repainting what I’d done, trying to get the backlit appearance just right. Lastly the foreground grasses and shadows of the hilltop clearing were painted, along with a few additional trees growing up the bluff in front of the river.
After some additional detail and refining, the mural was complete. The finished project is a true collaboration between myself and the client. An interpretation of the river confluence that is the historical foundation of the city of St. Louis. The result is a truly unique space.
Original rendering