Spirit of the Dove
Symbolically, the white dove represents a spiritual welcoming omen. In the Roman tradition it brings peace and good luck. The Greeks know it as the bird of love. And for Randy Ingram and Brian Townsend of Classical Art Studios, the two artists that painted it, the white dove is the goose that laid the golden egg ... well, maybe just a tin egg considering all the work and travel that went into this project.
While attending to their booth at the Faux Effects International sponsored Meeting of the Masters event in 2003, Randy and Brian were approached by a woman who said that she and her husband were building a house—a big house!!—and wanted the two artists to fill it with murals. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, the boys had heard that story many times before.) Well, three and a half years later the phone rang, and Randy and Brian were asked travel to the home’s construction site to go over the schedule for the artwork, since the home was nearing completion.
The 18-foot wide and 6-foot deep front entry barrel ceiling in this Leesburg, Florida home was the ideal location to create a painting of a peaceful and inviting arboretum. Arbors usually have encroaching and intertwining lush foliage and flowers. The bougainvillea depicted in this painting was chosen by the client in her favorite color scheme, which was soft salmon and vermillion—the perfect colors to visually accent the adjoining great room. The rustic wrought iron was chosen to compliment the Southern plantation home plan in both color and design. In order to give the painting a historical atmosphere, the values of the colors were kept lighter and softer. The wrought iron was painted in a light warm sienna bronze, and the sky was painted in a tranquil greenish blue to have an ethereal look. The clouds were kept very soft and wistful, and a white dove in flight was added to create a strong trompe l’oeil focal point.
As with most commissioned murals and large scale paintings, Randy and Brian started with a miniature color study that was presented for the client’s approval prior to starting the project. The study also serves as a blueprint on how the two artists will proceed with their artwork. In this case the artists decided to paint the mural on canvas in their studio and install it in the house when completed. This method allows the artists to work in their own environment and at ground level, instead of on scaffolding and working overhead for four weeks. The painting was done on two separate canvases that were joined together during installation.
As with most of their painted skies, the duo started with a base of tinted Faux Effects® SetCoat® for the sky and White FauxCreme Color™ mixed with FauxCreme® Clear tomass in all the clouds.This gives a nice, translucent, atmospheric feel to the heavens. Next, using Italian Sienna and Earth Brown FauxCreme Color™, the artists drew in all of the wrought iron bars.
Once the iron grid was completed, the next step was to paint in the bougainvillea and leaves using SuperCreme Artist Color™, a more opaque medium that allowed for a one coat application on the flowers and leaves.The last object to be painted was the focal point, the white dove. Randy and Brian used more SuperCreme Artist Colors™ and enhanced the bird additionally with archival artist oils.
The last step in the process was the road trip to the client’s new home with the paintings all rolled-up in hand and ready for installation.
After every successful installation, the guys like to pop open a couple of ice cold brewskis, which to them symbolize good times and great adventures.
DECORATIVE ART BY: RANDY INGRAMAND BRIAN TOWNSEND
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CLASSICAL ART STUDIOS
WRITTEN BY: RANDY INGRAMAND BRIAN TOWNSEND
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