Here’s the next step. Tracing the outlines onto acetate. This is so I can transfer them to the screens and print the outlines. I could maybe have done this by having it printed at a copy place but for two problems. They only go up to 11” x 17” and these are 12”. I could have fudged most of the designs to fit, but then they never print dark enough so I have to have two copies made and lay one EXACTLY on top of the other. So I just did it by hand with acrylic paint and a really good liner brush. Didn’t take nearly as long as you’d think it would, and I enjoy that process.

The great blue heron continues to be the most requested bird for tile murals, all over the country. This one just found a home in Virginia. It’s china paint on commercial tile. You can learn how I do this at my upcoming workshop at Plinth Gallery in Denver, or at www.TeachinArt.com.

I’ve done this Heron & Friends design many times, usually for either a kitchen backsplash or the back wall of a shower enclosure. Here it’s little bigger than I normally make it and installed in a spa or sauna.

This is the third wall of this large mural, the back wall behind the tub and below the window. There will be some of the wavy water stuff over the window, but no fish up there.

Here’s the second side wall of this three-wall mural. It featiures a great white shark, because the client once went diving with them.

Here’s what the mural looks like in progress. In the first shot, you can see the image drawn on the lower part of the mural. In the second shot, the top few rows of tiles are on the glazing table being painted. I was part way through painting the background color on the roof tiles when I took the picture.