Beach Style Mural in My Kitchen

I have been posting photos of some of the murals I have painted in my new house and also in my house on Long Island. The ones I am posting today are kind of my favorites- my kitchen backsplash.

We have granite counters and the granite goes up about 6 inches on the wall and then- just ivory paint. No way could I just leave that alone! First I tried Venetian plaster- not really what I was looking for and unfortunately, kind of time consuming. I lived with it for a time, while I tried to think of what to replace it with.

We have a coastal, beachy feel to our house even though we no longer live on an island a few minutes from the ocean. I just love the look, so I basically brought my Long Island decorating with me to our house an hour from the Pacific and San Francisco Bay. I think I actually need to give credit for this idea to my husband- he said to do the backsplash with a beach mural. I decided since I didn't like the Venetian plaster look, the worst that would happen is a paint-over. So I went for it ! I used a light blue latex for the background and then added the sand and fence. I did draw some of the more complex details in with pencil, but most of the looser things like the sand and fencing don't need to be drawn ahead of time. It wasn't really difficult -in fact, it was a lot of fun. Best of all, we are happy with it for now!

Thanks for looking!

Sheryl