Unconventional Muraling

Nadia Sparham uses marker, buttons,and suede for her delightful murals.


I'm planning on moving sometime before school starts next year to be nearer to the love of my life, and to get my kids into a better school district. Every morning when I drop off my high school student, I say 'Where? Again? Are the preppy kids?' I've decided I must go find them, for the children.
Anyway...all this moving business has got me thinking about the direction my business is going in. When I started out, I was painting lots of picket fences and ivy topiaries and bird houses and.....bleh! I called myself a 'muralist', which I apologize to for real muralists everywhere. I figured out that realism was really NOT my thing, and I marketed myself as a 'whimsicist'. Believe me, I have THE UTMOST respect for people who can paint people that don't look like they have an overbite and an over-prominent forehead. That's a God given gift right there.
Knowing your weaknesses is as much a part of the recipe for success as knowing your strengths.
My weaknesses....humans, perspective, lettering that doesn't go uphill..... my strengths....childlike whimsical funk.
Thank goodness there is an audience for that kind of art. If you don't think it's marketable...go to Hallmark. Which cards are best sellers? (psst...they aren't the ones with the twee paintings of ducks flying over a pond.) Just ask Picasso. Dude could draw reality, but that's not what he was famous for.
I created this bedroom for a little girl featuring a shop window with Paris in the background. It's painted in Sepia tones on pink and has lots of glitter glaze and crystals added. Super fun and whimsical and I guarantee you the perspective is wonky. That is the last mural I painted and it was over 2 years ago. For my latest round of business cards, I completely omitted 'murals' from the verbage. But....
Fun little doodle-y things are back in style. When I move, and I rename my business...is 'murals' back in? ( I have already renamed my business, but it's a surprise...will divulge later!)




Nadia Sparham


Amy Ruppel via designsponge.com


Charlotte Mann is a British artist who has elevated the Sharpie to crazy new heights. Her work is literally, MARKER, on walls. Check it out.

If I would have had rich parents who would have hired Charlotte Mann to Sharpie-fy my bedroom walls....I PROMISE you I would have colored it all in. Remember Doodle Art? That was a little slice of heaven for little kid Elizabeth. My rich parents would not have seen me....for months.


Tord Boontje is the coolest. I mean he has his hands into EVERYTHING. He is a brazilliant Dutch product designer who is best known for his lyrical, silhouette style art that features natural images like deer and bunnies and leaves and flowers, usually growing out of a garland or a tree. His light fixtures are to die for!
Here's an example of his work. He is a golden boy in the design world right now. When Target wants you, you're big.
This Tord Boontje mural is made up of seven panels, each costing over 1,000 dollars. I would have no problem at all copying this mural for HALF that! (or even less!)