Commissions - Dome Mural

The dome has a diameter of 2.85m, a circumference of 10m and is 1.4m deep. To reach it I worked on my knees on a shaky scaffolding that stood 2.5m off the ground. It is in a master bedroom that is only about 3.5m square so, in working out the painting I needed to consider two things: firstly, I had to make sure that, however I did the painting, it must not bear down on you in the smallish space, and it had to be an image that would be both interesting and peaceful to look at when you are lying in bed under it - hence a palm tree. I also wanted to include some movement and a sense of the light-play that happens when you look through palm leaves.

The convex dome distorts the image so that it looks different depending on which angle you are looking at it from, and that distortion is further accentuated in images of the work as the camera has flattened the whole thing out. The interesting challenge was to make it look ‘right’ from all angles. The ceiling surface was a rough sgraffitti, hence the broken colour – it has worked to my advantage in this case, but it was difficult to paint on.