In a residential dining room in St. Louis, I had the opportunity to paint a four walled landscape mural inspired by Forest Park, the 1293 acre public park that lies at the heart of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The process of researching and designing the mural was a fascinating excuse to spend time exploring this St. Louis civic treasure.
Forest Park opened in 1876 and has hosted many noteworthy events, including the 1904 World’s Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition) and the 1904 Summer Olympics. Today, it is home to many St. Louis attractions, including the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Science Center and the Missouri History Museum. It also boasts two golf courses, extensive bike and jogging paths, and the MUNY, the nation’s largest outdoor musical theatre venue. The park has undergone extensive restoration in recent years and is experiencing a new renaissance as a much beloved public amenity for the citizens of St. Louis.
Painting the sky and water
From the beginning, the process of designing the mural was a collaboration between myself and the client. I had previously painted an Asian inspired folding screen for the client which, when placed in the dining room, inspired the decision to pursue a larger landscape painting in the room. The client had a fondness for the park as I did, and we made several trips to the park to explore and photograph. Forest Park is a compelling combination of the native and the man-made, a blend of urban architecture and rural nature. This is evident in the historic bridges, statues, buildings and paths that lie throughout the park and stand out against the expanse of green grasses and trees. We concluded it was the perfect mural subject for this urban St. Louis dining room.
We decided early on that our intent was not necessarily to depict specific vistas exactly as they appear in the park, but rather attempt to capture the essence or the feeling of Forest Park, and of urban parks in general. This gave us more freedom in terms of the composition of the mural and how it spread over the four dining room walls which had doors on three walls. This also allowed us to study other famous urban parks and their architectural features. New York City’s famed Central Park, designed by renowned landscape designer Frederick Law Olmstead, provided additional inspiration, and the bridge on the main wall of the mural is partially inspired by Bow Bridge, which gracefully spans the Lake in Central Park. Opposite the main wall, we chose to depict Forest Park’s own 19th century wrought iron footbridge, built in 1885 and restored in 1994. Visible beyond the bridge in the distance is the Chase Park Plaza building of St. Louis’ Central West End, a visual anchor at the northeast corner of the park. Another detail in the mural’s distance is the clock tower of the Lindell Pavillion, an historic building built in 1892 originally as a shelter for streetcar passengers.
Starting at the tree line and moving forward
We wanted the mural to be rendered in a late afternoon light, and to have a rather limited color palette, predominantly pale yellows, greens and blues. And notably, we chose to design the mural with a deliberately low eye line, so that the optimal perspective was for those seated at the dining table. The goal was for the mural to be detailed, yet subtle, not to dominate the space. I began with the sky in a combination of artist’s acrylic and latex, working my way from top to bottom with a soft gradation from blue to yellow-orange, while mirroring the color on the main wall for the water below. Next I blocked in the main grass color around the entire room, this time reversing the color gradation, lighter at the top, darker below. I then began painting the trees at the horizon, using a pale grey-blue for the distant tree line and working my way forward into more blue greens and yellows. From there, the details of the middle ground bushes and trees began to take shape. (At one point, I included a weeping willow tree on the main wall, which was too dark and dominant, so I removed it. As with most projects, there is a fair amount of re-thinking and reworking as the mural takes shape on the wall.) Next I started blocking in the bridges and the water reflections. From there, I moved on to the foreground grasses and shoreline elements and once everything was roughly blocked in, I began refining the detail. The foreground elements require considerably more fine detail to create the illusion of depth. Finally, walking paths and foreground details were added, including the majestic Egret at the river’s edge and the client’s dogs bounding up the path.
The completed mural creates a sense of wide open space and contributes to a peaceful, relaxed dining environment. As the dining room is at the heart of the house, visitors to the home are greeted with a feeling of the outdoors and the comforting familiarity of Forest Park, St. Louis’ historic urban playground.
Forest Park Dining Room Mural, acrylic on wallboard, private dining room. © Peter K. Engelsmann