Monsters in the Closet

Here is a doodle of an idea I have for a trompe l' loeil in my closet. I am going with the missing sock theme. I think I am going to start small with something like this and then work my way up to something a little larger in more public areas.

My Daughter posed for some monster ideas this weekend. We had a lot of fun and I got some pretty nice reference pictures. This one has some fun perspectives to play with for a ceiling. I am not sure which ceiling, but I am sure the girls and I will figure it out. We have several closets to pick from. If the girls have their choice, we will have a monster in every closet in our home.

I laugh when I think of a Realtor trying to sell our house, if we do put a monster in every closet. It is a good thing we don't plan to sell this place any time soon.

The Ultimate Blank Canvas

While searching for a better way to store my ever growing collection of paint supplies and paintings, I decided to organize closets and things around the house. As one thing always leads to another, I came to the realization that my storage is completely filled with used/hand-me-down items. This, of course, lead to the realization that my entire home is full of items I did not select, but accepted for one reason or another. Once I chewed on that realization for a while, I came to the conclusion that my home is everything except my own.

I have discovered the ultimate blank canvas.. My house!

We moved here in December of 2001. It was a cosmetic fixer upper. Although structurally sound, the decor has been done in an aimless array of rustic country to Victorian detail, usually right next to each other. The trouble I am having is that my "style" is neither rustic country, nor victorian.

It is 2007 and my house looks as shabby as the day I moved into it. The cause: Creative Intimidation. I cannot call what I have creative block since I have tons of ideas. I want murals on the walls and trompe loeil on the ceilings. I want marbeled walls and stenciled entries. I want old world charm. I want Star Trek style science fiction. Can I have a holodeck? Would it be all together wrong to paint mural of a a fantasy style Dwarf holding a tricorder in a Tuscan landscape on Mars? The only real decision I have made so far is that I want to paint monsters in all of my closets. My girls think it is a wonderful idea.

Then I asked myself "What do normal people do?" and I started watching HGTV and started researching lots of decorating ideas. I have taken more than a dozen quizzes to discover my "style". I have figured out that I am "eclectic" and I love color. I have also figured out that I despise wallpaper border and wood paneling.

Here are some links I have discovered that I bookmarked for no particular reason whatsoever:
Starting points
Your House as a painting
Decorative Paint Techniques
Murals Plus
The Theory and Practice of Perspective
Dover Publications
Nancy Ray Taylor videos
Creative Evolution

It was much easier when I was painting for other people!