Lucky to meet a client who commissioned a painting for her son, who is a rabid Dr. Who fan.  

I used to watch that show back in the late 70s, on channel 2.  I will have to check out the new,  spiffied-up Dr. Who episodes.  

Here's a close up of the "Tardis"  which stands for "Time and relative dimension in space".  Its a time machine!

Tree Mural

Here is the living room before.  

My client wanted a mural that incorporated the colors of the couch, as well as accent color, turquoise, like the pillows. 

I felt that the couch looked a bit lonely against that white wall.

The look she wanted was trees and branches, a bit like the rug in the photo,  also like the many trees in her wooded yard.

Here is the completed mural

 When I was little, I loved the Beatrix Potter books.  I loved the idea of all the little animal families in their homes, with tiny chairs and clothes.  The idea of a tiny door in a tree for a mouse family, made me so happy! 

Here are some photos of Dale's first mural, his nursery:

When I moved from my first home I had to paint over the mural in order to sell the house.  It wasn't easy, but that's how it goes.  Here is the next mural I painted for Dale in our new home, when he was two:

This was back when I was not careful to take good photos of my work.  The little blonde dude is my son.

Later I changed this mural a bit--Dale wanted an octopus.  So this was a couple years later:

Now he is twelve, and I haven't updated his room for quite a while.  he really likes to play Minecraft, and likes the Deadmau5 music.  Electronica I think, anyway the imagery is really cool.  

Again I paint over a mural that I had spent a lot of time on.  Oh well...

Here's what I've got so far for his room:  First painted 3 of the walls red and one wall gray.

Here is the finished Minecraft creeper:

And here is what I've got so far for the "Deadmau5".  The eyes have glow in the dark paint.  

I still don't know what I'll do for the other two walls.  As for the Mau5: still needs the logo and the Xs on the eyes.  

More soon. 

(plus I had to use up some paint)

Over two weeks in July and August I decided to make over my garage in colors that make me happy.  Started out as an idea to redo the floor...which is still going to happen.

Here's some before pictures:

here is the new paint job:

I always had dreaded doing the Big Home and Garden Show, but this year was different.  It went from Wednesday to Sunday.  I spent 12 hours per day (except Sunday-9) talking up my art and faux-finish skills. 

What was different?

Got a ton of help setting up from my brother Joel Kleven (Wesley Homes) and friend Troy Anderson (Troy Anderson Painting).   This is no small task.  First, in your truck all loaded up with a heavy booth, artwork,  and misc. booth junk, you wait in line outside the Mpls. Convention Center with hundreds of others waiting to unload.  

A good surprise:  I got some bonus real estate on the side of my booth, so I could show one large piece:

I had this showing at The State Fair Eco-Experience too.

Here are the samples I hung up for the show on the "kid's rooms" side of my booth:

Here are the samples hung up for the wall treatments and "grown-up art" side of my booth:

Talked to some really nice people and I think I will get a good amount of work from the show.  So even though it is tiring to stand for so long and talk about what I do, (when I usually seem to hide from potential business) this show went more quickly than I thought it would.  I actually enjoyed it.  Hope to see you there next year!

This is a bedroom for  an eight year old boy.  He loves rainforest jungle animals--you can see he has a beautiful tiger picture on the wall in the "before" photo below, but he wanted more animals and a jungle to surround them.  

I began this project by searching the internet for good photos of rainforest jungle plants and animals.  I asked my client (client's son) what animals he wanted for his room mural.  He said he wanted a sloth!  Cool.  I wouldn't have guessed that.  Other animals he wanted:  snake, tiger, toucan, lizard, frog, lemur, monkey and a couple flying birds.

In this photo (below), you can see the very beginning phase of the mural set-up.   After an initial base coat on all the walls, I block out sky and foreground areas.  In this room, I painted a sky also, so the ceiling is light blue with clouds. 

Then I added the basic plant and tree shapes.  In a rainforest mural, the more green plants the better.  I added more layers of leaves and leafy shapes.  I wanted the sky to show through, as it gave a feel of openness in this very full jungle room.

Then it was just a matter of adding more detail and more animals.  Here are more photos of the original room and the same walls after the mural was complete.  

Below is the wall with two windows that face the street.  Here is where the bed is placed.

 A full room (four walls and ceiling) jungle mural like this one takes approximately 9-10 days to complete.  This is an example of a higher end mural, as it takes longer to complete and has a lot of realistically painted animals.  A room like this will cost in the ballpark of $1500.  Factors effecting this price include whether the ceiling ("sky") is painted, whether the trim is painted, how many animals desired and finally, the size of the room.  The impact and beauty of this mural will make a lasting impression for years to come.

The room required a base coat of fresh paint, so I painted two walls light blue and two walls light purple. After that was complete and dry, I made two large squares of darker shades of purple and blue.

Third, I drew (very lightly) the plant and vine shapes on the walls.

On the areas of the darker blue and purple, I painted in the plant shapes with a lighter shade of paint. On the areas where the paint was the lighter shade, I painted in the plants and vines with darker shades. This created the "positive/negative" effect.

Finally I painted the trim in the room a bright apple green. I remember thinking "Nothing makes me happier than the combination of purple, blue and green" (I'm dorky like that).

The color and the large shapes gave the room a fresh, playful feel. It was definitely cheerful, and the nurse (and the other teachers in the school) were very pleased with the result.

I can paint a room like this for you--affordably!

One wall with the purples, one wall in the blue shades, and incorporate your child's name into the design, all for $650. (doesn't include painting the trim). I can get this project done--from initial meeting to finish in about four days.