Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Doorway to the Beach

My bathroom door has been in dire need of repainting ever since I bought Dog End eighteen years ago, but I tend to be a little slow in the home maintenance department.  While on Staycation though, I got a notion to do something about it at long last.  And naturally I thought, "Why just repaint it one boring color?  Why not paint a mural on it?"

You do know that eventually, every spare surface in my home will be covered with artistic decoration of one sort or another, right?  It's just a matter of time.

I decided to paint a map of the Oregon coast on the door, with a few of its lighthouses as accents.  After carefully drawing the coast mostly to scale along the righthand side, I tried painting green for forest, beige for sandy beach coastline, and blue for water.  My first attempt at a background was not good -- the blue was too dark and it wouldn't go on smoothly.


I wanted that typical "map blue" that is used to depict water.  Luckily I found a jar of acrylic paint that worked, and that went on smoothly.


I picked out five iconic lighthouses of the Oregon Coast, found photos of them, and set up my work station.  To keep a consistent look, I did all the background colors of sky and sea the same throughout the five lighthouses.


Then I added the rocky outcrops and trees.


And finally added the lighthouse details.


From top to bottom -- Tillamook Rock light:


Cape Meares light:


Yaquina Head light:


Heceta Head light:


Coquille River light:


Now I'm wondering if the back side of the door needs painting...and maybe the inside walls.  My initial idea was to add a few spouting whales and seals and pelicans to the lighthouse door map, but that now seems as if it would be too crowded.  So maybe they can go on the back!

4 comments:

  1. Wow. That's super cool. Why oh why did you get all the artistic talent? I love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love all the lighthouses. What a great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Way cool! The layout is really nice. Oregon Tourism should be interested.

    Given the style of the mural, I think whales and birds would be a fine addition. It seems a little bare without some.

    ReplyDelete