aartvarks on the fly

Cosmo’s Room

connib63 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:09:51 +0000

We just finished up a really fun room for an African Grey Parrot. He’s one lucky bird to have parents that love him so much that they would have us create this room for him.

View into the room

Copper Barrel Ceiling, Niches and Columns

connib63 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:52:49 +0000

Barrel ceiling in entry

There are two niches, one on either side of the front door

Columns painted to look like old wood

Lego Animation Tribute Kid Room

connib63 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:48:08 +0000

The client said they wanted “maybe some primary colors” on the walls and the kids wanted the movie Cars, because it was hot at the time. We came up with this idea to make the room a bit more timeless. We pitched the idea of creating a giant Lego fortress with vignettes from animated movies. We rummaged through the kid’s toys and dvds and incorporated their favorite things into the design. We can’t tell you how many adults have told us they wish it was their room and the kids love it.

Lego room mural

Bugs life detail

Lego room mural

Dinosaurs

Jack detail

Nemo detail

A view from the Lego fortress

Shrek, Puss-n-boots and Donkey

Woody takes a ride on a Lego plane

Those are a few details of the movies we included. We also painted Jungle Book, Monsters Inc., Cars, Lion King, etc.. Good fun!

Habanero’s Grill at The Rim, San Antonio, Texas

connib63 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:29:30 +0000

This is the second location for Habanero’s Grill which we lovingly refer to as H2. Steve Kraft is a great guy and we love working with him. His places tend to take a beating because he has a pretty young crowd so we covered the entire lower half of the restaurant in mdf. No tacky chunks out of the sheet rock here.

Funky San Antonio mural

We carved out the mdf, installed and painted it. We also created our “longhorn catfish” and installed it.

Longhorn catfish

Steve always wants us to incorporate some of the local flavor to the murals so we incorporated a rollercoaster and roadrunner into the theme as a nod to Fiesta Texas and UTSA which are across the highway.

Rollercoaster

Steve also asked that we paint his kids in, we did that at H1, so they are in the car with the flaming skeleton. The first car, with the skeleton is a cut out that is jutting out of the scene.

Rollercoaster detail

We created signage and marketing props for tee shirts.

Area over the food line

Hallway to the restrooms

Another view of the hall

Parade of Homes

connib63 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:08:53 +0000

Entry dome

We did a Parade of Homes a while back in The Dominion in San Antonio. Anyone who has ever worked on a parade house knows that it is insane, fast and furious. Every contractor is thrown at the job at the same time and everyone is scrambling to finish at the last moment.

The dome in the entry is about 7 feet tall and 8 feet across with the height being about 24 feet. We also glazed the ceiling and walls all along the entry and gallery.

Gallery ceiling

The gallery ceiling consisted of 8 insets, 4 to the left and 4 to the right of the entry. We did a copper patina finish and glazed the walls.

Formal living room ceiling

The formal living room groin vault ceiling was fun to do. It is about 20 feet by 16 feet and about 18 feet tall. We came up with the design and freehand painted it.

Kitchen ceiling

The domes in the kitchen are about 4 1/2 feet wide and 9 feet long. We painted a bronze patina.

Master bath walls

The master bath was huge. We called it “The Church.” We freehand painted the design, distressed it and then glazed over all the walls.

Master bath ceiling

We painted the beams on the ceiling to match the existing trim and cabinetry.

Cigar lounge walls

We had some fun with joint compound in the cigar lounge with a lizard texture. All the walls were executed in this fashion and it was a big hit.

Kid's canopy room

We created an atmosphere of calm fun in the kid’s room with an open air canopy feel. The designers added fabric to the window and doorways to finish it off and it was very cute.

Growth chart

Canopy with animal topiary

Canopy room

Boozehounds Mural

connib63 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:10:46 +0000

Below are pictures of the mural we painted at Boozehounds. The owners have been friends of ours for years and they let us go wild with our concept for their Beer Garden mural. Their are pool tables close by and it is a bar so we had some concerns of damage to the mural. Our solution was to cut out 1/4″ and 1/2″ mdf and attach it to the wall as a sort of wainscoting.

We had so much fun sitting around with the owners and coming up with canine names for beers. What a great gig.

Overall view of the Beer Garden

We are not professional photographers and had trouble getting good pictures in the low lighting of the bar. Hopefully, you can get a good idea of all the thought that went into the concept. The bamboo on the right is actually pool cues and there are pool chalks as the centers of the flowers beside it.

Here is our little beer tap snake in the garden

Pool cue bamboo

1/2" Woofsteiner beer cut outs on 1/4" foliage

The owner's dog is seeing a pink elephant bumblebee from to much Tail Ale

The owner’s were really concerned about the security light messing up the mural and we kept telling them, “no problem.” Here is our solution to that dilemma.

Security light bug

Here is something that every beer drinker wishes they had.

Beer tree

Hibiscus cut outs

Firstmark Credit Union Murals

connib63 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:47:47 +0000

4' x 12' Firstmark Credit Union 75th anniversary mural

We painted two murals for Firstmark the past couple of years. They were a great company to work with and we really enjoyed painting these landscapes. The first one we did was for their 75th anniversary and was called “Teacher.” It features a lady, child and Mission San Jose. Firstmark had recently changed it’s name from San Antonio Teacher’s Credit Union. The mural is 4′ x 12′ acrylic on canvas. Stretching a large canvas is definitely a challenge and is heck on your hands and wrists.

Firstmark mural detail, in progress

Here are photos of the second mural we did that is 4′ x 10′-6″

Firstmark 4' x 10'-6" mural

Detail of Mission Concepcion

Detail other end of canvas

Catching up on 2008

connib63 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:04:36 +0000

It’s amazing how 2008 has flown by. We have been so involved in our clients projects and deadlines we forget all that we have done.

Oh, the fun we have on construction sites. This year we saw more port-a-cans than we cared to!

Sometimes it takes the comments of others to remind us. We love creating themed murals for kids and were excited about being selected to create environments in the children’s areas of Summit Christian Center in San Antonio.

Noahs Ark themed murals and cabinetry

Working with the selections made by Marks Design Group, we created two reception and check in areas for the Nursery and Children’s Church. We fabricated cabinetry and artwork around the ages of the children and the needs of the church. Artwork included hand painted murals, venetian plaster walls and dimensional carved walls art.

Entrance to "Elevate" Children's Church

Details of dimensional art

Wall designs done in venetian plaster

Just in our daily lives, we have run in to so many people who are apart of Summit’s congregation. They tell us how much the children love going to their areas at the church. Our vet, who then hired us to paint a sky in his a barrel ceiling with lighting and fiber optics that changed from day to night and showed stars and constellations. Other members include a fun animal loving couple, who needed a logo for “Zoomagination “ their new business created around animals and kids.

Depending on the client or project we create artwork in different styles. We have been asked to do Noah’s Ark themed murals both stylized and realistic.

We recently finished wall murals for Emerald Rainbow Family Fun Center in Bulverde, Texas. Their’s too, was a Noah’s Ark theme unlike the previous stylized artwork, the client wanted realism.

Emerald Rainbow Family Fun Center thank goodness for scissor lifts

Lion and the lamb

mural detail