Project of the Month

If you’re looking for a mural painter, you need to look no further than Chris Ashmore of Creative Murals and Portraits because you’ll simply be hard pushed to find anyone more talented!

And, his latest project really highlights the skills and passion for the job he’s developed over years of experience. Chris’s masterpieces regularly pop up on Facebook with hundreds of admiring comments and those time lapse videos with views in the thousands, that show how much work and detail actually goes in to creating the finished piece of work.

Commissioned by Kelly for her non-verbal daughter who loves Disney, but because Mum, Kelly is herself a massive Disney fan, the idea was to create a mixed Disney themed wall incorporating her favourite characters, The Little Mermaid, Moana and Dori. Chris was immediately onboard and when Kelly came to Chris with her ideas, they were almost identical to his, and he knew it was going to be a great job. At this point the project cost was set and a flexible date booked to start the project.

Prior to choosing Chris, Kelly had had several quotes to do the job, but she chose Chris because he only uses water-based, non-solvent paints. Kelly’s daughter has autism and it was important to avoid using toxic solvents indoors that could cause health complications. Secondly, it was the quality of his work and attention to detail, that won him the job.

Kelly said “When I zoomed on your other work, it was clear that you were the artist I wanted”

This is important to Chris as he said, “I strive to be the best I can, for details and quality in everything I do”.

After lockdowns and Christmas, Chris started the project on the Tuesday following Christmas. As always, on the day of the project Chris arrived said his hellos and introduction and got straight upstairs with the sheets and commenced masking off the perimeter of the wall with tesa tapes. The airbrushes and compressor were set up along with a paste table with all his colours, so the art studio was setup and ready for the week ahead.

On commencing the project, it was obvious that Kelly expected the drawing to be just the characters and not much in between but Chris worked his magic tying the images together with key parts of the films. Chris has a real passion for the work he does and in preparation for the job he actually watched all three films and made notes a few days prior to starting the job. He feels this is something that gives him the edge, as he really does his research. Kelly was so excited to see how the mural was progressing, that she would bring ten cups of coffee a day!

After two days, Kelly really loved the mural but Chris said, “It was only when I started to use the airbrush in the latter section of the job, that it really came alive, the airbrush in murals really excels any method of painting and makes the artwork work look realistic and gives it a quality look and feel compared with other methods and materials I have tried and tested over the years”.

At the end of the project, Chris was so proud of his work that he couldn’t wait to get home and get the images online. As expected, his phone notifications were busy for a few days and everyone is complementary on his new masterpiece but non more so than Kelly who sent Chris a message to say….

“…how over the moon we are with the wall! The girls absolutely love it!! Every detail is perfect, and all your hard work and skills show in it!! Highly recommend you to anyone without a doubt! After looking around and finding many who would do this idea for me, it wasn’t until I came across you and your work that I knew you were perfect for the job! From giving you my awful little drawing for you to making it out of this world!! It’s absolutely amazing!! Your friendly chatty approach made me feel comfortable to tell you exactly what I wanted rather than be told what I should have! I feel like a made a friend for life with you too! Your mind is something else!! You just kept giving and adding ideas I’d never dreamt of! Thank you so much! I can’t stop staring at it! Xx

I for one, am in awe of Chris’ skills and as always, it’s another job well done!

To see more amazing examples of completed work visit Creative Murals and Portraits on Facebook.