Bringing in the Outdoors

For more than a decade, decorative artist Carol Makris has beautified and embellished homes with her murals and faux finishes as owner of Artistic Brushworks based in Vero Beach, FL. Her attention to detail was fine tuned over many years as a freelance NY illustrator working in the giftware industry. Her versatility and varied professional experience also have greatly added to her ability to master a challenging project.

I believe every muralist hopes for the kind of art project to come along that will fully utilize and challenge their creative talent and artistic skills. I was fortunate, for just such a project came my way last October. During the initial meeting with the client, I became excited to hear about the creative vision she had for the entrance hall of her newly purchased beachside Vero Beach condo. She wanted the walls and ceilings to be painted and transformed into a beautiful tropical garden courtyard, one that looked like it had been abandoned and left to flourish on its own. My client said, “I imagine an old Floridian garden with a crumbling stone wall surrounding it, and distant views with a sunrise over the ocean and a sunset over the river.” The wish list of elements was extensive—colorful flowers, hanging vines, sea oak trees and specific wildlife indigenous to the area.

In fact, it was the successful collaboration between me and the homeowner that led to the excellent finished result — a result that took 14 weeks to complete (longer than I estimated!). Her vision gave me a starting point provided through pictures and rough layouts of a few walls. From there, several days of my own research ensued. Pencil sketches were developed for every wall over a week’s time, and then watercolor sketches were created. These proportional original sketches became my primary reference, along with individual elements gathered from books and Google images.

When I first started working onsite, the condo was undergoing a partial renovation. For weeks contractors were passing through my workspace constantly, and it was a challenge to stay focused. When I paint I usually get lost in my thoughts and the hours seem to fly by, but with all the noise and interruptions, this was difficult. As they say, “it is what it is,” and artisans have to roll with different situations.

After basecoating the walls with Off White and Lake Blue SetCoat® for the sky background, I eyeballed the image outlines with a sheer brown colorwash of FauxCreme Color™, looking at my sketches for each wall as a guide. This foyer has two distinct areas: the stone block pavilion and the courtyard garden. I began first by painting in the pavilion area since it had simpler details, and I could ease myself into the groove.

The stone blocks and stucco effects were rendered with multiple layers of earth toned glazes and colorwashes to achieve texture and shading using AquaGlaze®, FauxCreme® Clear and FauxCreme Color™. The two recessed niches were a part of the existing architecture, so I designed a border and trompe l’oeil accents around them. The tray ceiling in this area with the sea oak branch growing across is a personal favorite of mine, and the light rays from the petite chandelier adds to it nicely. Moldings were painted with Earth Brown FauxCreme Color™ and FauxCreme® Clear glazes to look like stone blocks using a sponge, blot, and stipple technique with some off-white finger flecks thrown in and then softened with cheesecloth.

Before moving to the garden area, I woodgrained the two eight-foot closet doors using a custom SetCoat® in a dusty mauve base color. The first mahogany-colored glaze was brushed on in sections and gently striaed with steel wool. The next day a second mahogany-toning glaze was brushed on, and knots and cracks were added for a rustic effect. The doors were topcoated with ColorSeal™ Gloss, then two coats of Dead Flat Varnish™.

Moving on to the garden area, I still was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of detail yet to be rendered, but each day brought progress, and I was in my element.

Each wall section was painted from start to finish like a separate mural, working from the center of the wall and down to the floor, then climbing on to scaffolding to reach the upper areas. Midway through the project, the Christmas holidays were upon us, when my husband presented me with a most valuable gift—an Apple iPad. I’ve found this to be an excellent tool to access saved photo reference images, not to mention having access to my favorite downloaded music onsite and taking detail photos of my work for my portfolio presentations.

Once the all the foyer walls were painted, including the elevator and stairwell doors, I was pleased but not yet done. Looking up, I still needed to paint in about a million leaves, branches, a few birds and clouds on the ceiling. One final tip—I first drew the birds to size on tracing paper, and then placed and transferred the outlines after rubbing graphite on the back of the paper.

In the end my clients, who complimented my work all along the way, were very pleased with the final results. When a newcomer visits their home, the elevator door slides open to reveal this surprising interior that looks like Florida outside. Since then, I’ve been hired by the same clients to paint a second mural inside their condo, but that’s another story.

DECORATIVE ART BY: CAROL MAKRIS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: ERICH FREIHEIT

WRITTEN BY: CAROL MAKRIS

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