I consider murals as simply being large-scale works of fine art. I'm primarily a Florida mural artist, but I have traveled internationally to create and install murals. Traditionally painted on walls or ceilings... large-scale paintings that are painted on most any hard surface are considered a mural. As materials have improved and become more available to the artist... murals can also be painted on a more movable surface such as muslin, canvas, Masonite or any other paint-able substrate, which can then be mounted to a permanent surface.

canvas mural

Dating back to prehistoric cave paintings, murals have always had their place. The most famous and well preserved of these early murals are the Lascaux caves in southern France. Flourishing during the renaissance period, murals were popular adornments in churches. Many artists such as Rafael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were able to sustain a living from commissions from the church. As a result ... the elite and wealthy of Europe adorned their own palaces with commissioned mural works. Fresco was the traditional method of painting murals. The fresco method uses pigment that is embedded into a green lime wash plaster.

This is a very permanent style of painting as the pigment actually works into the plaster rather than simply sitting on top of it.

As I said earlier… murals can be painted onsite, directly on the wall or painted on canvas then applied to the wall in a similar manner, as wallpaper would be.
Faux Marble WallEach of these two mural applications has their place. 

Custom Murals

When a mural is in a situation that makes it hard to paint onsite... be it a ceiling, high-traffic construction site or it could an issue to time management, a canvas application would be appropriate. Putting a mural on canvas also makes sense if you're viewing the mural as an investment. Should you want to move the mural you can now pull it from the wall and take it with you. Painting on a canvas also puts the artist in a more comfortable position. They can paint in their studio and also not worry about dealing with a substrate that they are not accustomed to. Painting a canvas mural also keeps the artist from having to travel to the job-site should it be across the globe. I spent much of my time as an artist on the road painting murals across the nation. I've no complaints there ... I enjoy traveling. But the client could save money on a canvas if they're not charged for the travel expenses of the artist.
Painting murals onsite has benefits of its own too.
I've had situations when canvas murals are simply of of the question. Most exterior applications would not bode well for a canvas mural. Not saying that it's impossible, there are now substrates that can be painted on and will hold up to the elements pretty well. But, when you're asked to paint the exterior hull of a casino boat (yes ... been there, done that), then you're hanging off the side of the boat and painting.
Ok…ok….ok… maybe it doesn't have to be that extreme. It could be a commercial restaurant that needs to be painted with wrapped windowsills and all. I'd probably paint that onsite too.
There is no need for the added performance of a wallpaper hanger to install the mural. The artist can also get a better feel of the environment of where the mural is bein painted. Be it the lighting, focus points of the room ... etc.

Murals Gallery

 
Below you will see a few expandable examples of my past murals. If there is anything specifically that you like to see if I've done and it's not in the slide show.... feel free to contact me and ask if I've painted it. Odds are that I have, I just can't show 20 years worth of murals online at once. You'd get lost and we'd have to send a "Florida Mural Artist" search party to come and find you ;).

Being a South Florida mural artist ... much of my work includes tropical murals, underwater murals.... murals of sunsets and other themes appropriate for my clients. If you take the time and look through my paintings you'll find that I've got a pretty wide range as far as what I can and have painted. I enjoy the challenge of creating something new. Challenge me and you'll be rewarded with some of my best work.