Hi all 👋🏻
I want to share with you today my Step By Step from a commissioned TREE OF LIFE mural I painted on a wall at a Penthouse terrace, located in Nerja. Burriana beach, Spain. First line Penthouse. In November 2015 and the story what happened after finishing it 😳😬
View from the terrace:
The client contacted me and asked if I could paint a mural on an outside Wall on their terrace, with a tree of life inspired by Klimt. And adding then animals and birds to it. It had to be also very colourful.
Yes of course I said. 😎 I can do that, even though this would be my first mural. 😇
It all started with this sketch… after the clients approval.
The client said to me; I trust you and let you all free on it. So I had some playroom 😉
I thought I let the wall and the surroundings guide me, as also the enthusiasm the clients brought over.
I was lucky, as it was a Holiday home, I could stay in the penthouse until I finished the Mural. So I could also explore this area of Nerja and surroundings. ☀️😎
The clients live in the UK and are not in Spain during the winter season.
I arrived 1 November 2015 and prepared and fixed the underground. (Cracks, loose paint etc.)
predictions for bad weather were active
View from the street: 
I painted the top part and main wall in a nice colour for the background. Close to what it was. It was quite windy the day before and I needed to go up on a ladder on top of a table to reach the top part… lol 🙃 The wind didn’t blow me away luckily 🌬 The first day I just couldn’t paint as the paint blew literally from my brush… so this second day was much better.
In this photo you see layer 1 from the top part and bottom part new paint. The sketch is half finished.
Top part, second layer finished and I completed the sketch on the wall, just in time of the rain 🌧 ☔️
3 November; there was only a little progress as it rained during the night till 1 o’clock that afternoon. The wall had to dry a little first.
The beginning of the Tree it started growing 😉
This painting/ mural will be not realistic as I would paint or draw normally… so a challenge for me 😎
Next day I finished the Sky top part.
The tree is growing further… when finished I will add the birds and Bees… and all the other little details. Having fun with it 😊 in this stage.
Little Birdy just arrived to keep me company 😉
Now the owl got a little friend…
Another creature joined us…
Thought this was a nice photo to add into this SBS because you can see the sea in the window and the beginning of the sunset from this evening.
More birds are joining:
I added insects and lots of details. Even more animals showed up…
And here is the finished MURAL/ WALLPAINTING
🙏
STAY WITH ME FOR WHAT HAPPENED NEXT😱
But first; Some views I had while painting, also the rough sea during the beginning I wanted to include 😊
YOU THINK BY NOW… WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Let me tell you…
the client contacted me. With a sad message. The buildings commission did not accept/allowed the mural on the outside.
Keep in mind, the client was the owner of the penthouse who commissioned me.
In most other countries you own everything from your penthouse, including terrace and walls. Apparently not in Spain, the outside walls are not part of your property in an apartment complex. The owner lived in the UK and was not in Spain during the winter months.
(I was also not living close by.)
So he asked me to go and PAINT OVER the top part… after that he would try to talk to the buildings commission to be able to save the bottom part… of THE TREE OF LIFE
So I went and covered up the top part…
Let me tell you… this hurts 😢😢😢😞 painting over your own creation. Badly……..
I asked a little later for an update on the matter, and guess what happened further:
While the owner wasn’t there and no holiday makers in the penthouse. The buildings commission went INSIDE the penthouse one day. And just painted it over… in a beige colour 😱😱😱😱
So after the owner found out… it was already to late to change what happened.
I was so sad after that news.
But as it happens, the owner has another property in Spain. A large Villa in the mountains of Arenas.
He said; if you want you can paint the TREE OF LIFE on the outside terrace on a “10 meter” long wall…. 😎🤩😁 so it will live on.
Guess what I said…
OF COURSE 🥰
So I did that and will post the Tree of Life part 2 soon…
If you want to see another mural I painted at the same villa in Arenas, see this post:
Night Scene Mural I painted inside a villa in Spain, step by step/ SBS
It is part of the outside mural: “The Tree of Life”
In total I painted 5 MURALS at that villa in the last 6 years. A few of them while actually living in the villa 😎😊 So stay tuned… more to come 😉
Thank you for looking and reading.🙏 Hope you enjoyed my SBS.
Any questions or comments, let me know. Always happy to help.😊 And talk about my art.
If you want to know a little bit more about me… have a look at my introduction to Hive post.
Click here for my introduction Post.
Here are some posts from my other Artworks if you are curious to see some of my Art/ paintings and drawings:
Step by step Airbrush painting of a Feather! ENG/ES
Black Kite painting in Gouache “The Hunter”
Graphite Drawing “Longing Eyes”
Have a great day all 😎👋🏻
Grtz Jackie
Unless stated otherwise: All art and photos used in my posts are taken, created and owned by me. If you wish to use any of my photographs, please contact me first. As I have used some commercially myself.