elephant parade

We draw aside the curtain this month to give you a peek at wonder | wander | women's latest and favourite commission!

Our crowning glory framed in antiqued brushed chrome.

We were asked to paint some elephants to decorate a newly-built nursery. The client provided the following color guides and studies to give us an idea of what they wanted.

Images from Pinterest

We suggested an elephant parade in the style of India's elephant festival. The figures chosen match our client's family of dad, mom, two older brothers and the brand-new boy and girl twins and occupants of the new room.

We opted for intricate patterns over matte grey shapes of stylized elephant silhoettes. Using pieces of copy paper in approximate sizes we wanted, we laid them on top of our custom stretched and prepped canvas.

At the foot of the king bed in our bedroom turned studio.

Then we laid out flat planes of acrylic colour, with some dry brushing at the edges of the horizon for a little visual interest. We wanted the elephants to stand out sharp and clear.

Tails to be added later.

We painted dad and the three boys in geometric patterns, while mom and baby girl (the very last little one) were painted in botanical patterns and carried umbrellas.

Painting them all required a lot of concentration, but it was so much fun!

(Not pictured: "Where's the blue paint pot?" "I thought it was with you!"
"Can you mix me more yellow?" "Ok but I might need to make this more pink." Etc.)

After a while our little family started to come together.

We added the tails hooking on to trunks...

Then more leaf and vine patterns a la William Morris...

...and finally some jaunty umbrellas.

Each layer of acrylic had to dry for a few hours.

We liked the pale blue of the umbrellas against the dark blue of the sky, but made a quick correction when our client told us she preferred pink. A little while later the client sent us this picture of the painting in situ, right over the babies' changing station!

Photo courtesy of Baba Torre

If there's anything the wonder | wander | women love best, it's collaborating on this kind of crafty and creative project!

Looking forward to doing it again soon...