Oh, today is a GREAT day. I get to do the ultimate “show and tell”, my childhood favorite school activity turned career. The mural on the barn, by Racheal Jackson, is done (and has been for weeks) and I couldn’t love it any more. When we started this process I didn’t really know what I wanted beyond it being covered with farm-like flowers. I was very drawn to Scandinavian Folk flowers and I was very drawn to Racheal’s work (plus we are both locals to Portland and friendly). So where we landed is that perfect mix. Ultimately, I felt that the folk flowers could look too “pre-school/daycare” for the scale of the property and since this barn is a bit far from the house I liked the idea of bigger, more organic-looking flowers (not realistic, but definitely grounded in our actual flowers). Like most incredible art (and what I often advise to actually splurge on), this mural was not a necessity, and yet the joy I get daily seeing it – out my writing window, on the way to feeding the barn animals, with our many neighborhood friends coming over – it’s just really special.
The barn before had two halves – on the left is where the pigs and alpacas get fed and sleep, and on the right is the now “craft shed” (aka art barn, since we can’t seem to internally call it anything else. It’s old and of course not in the best shape, but cute, with windows and original doors. We gave it a fresh coat of paint but left the rest up to Racheal.
The paddock side here is what I was worried about – so dirty! Will the animals continue to rub their dirty bodies all over it as they seek shade in the summer? Maybe. Will they roll in the mud and then snuggle over there in the winter? Maybe. So I almost skipped the mural on this side, but I am SO GLAD I didn’t. And I realized the best solution is, (DUH!) just two long benches along this wall, screwed into the barn so that the pigs can’t move them.
Flower Inspiration
We decided the most cohesive course of action is to take inspiration from the flowers from the garden that we LOVE – and just blow them up and tweak the tones a bit. I gave Racheal a tour of the property, pointing out my favorites and why.
The whole yard has tones of soft and deep pinks – sure, some of them are more saturated (like the echinacea below) so we went a bit deeper than that (I didn’t want hot pink on the mural, year-round I felt it would be too jarring).
Racheal took this inspiration and she drew up a rendering to send me. We went back and forth, tweaking it for hours. What I’ve learned about myself (consistently) is that I long to be a really low-maintenance person but know that if I don’t speak up even about smaller things before they get permanently installed, I always regret it. She was so patient with me as I asked her to play with composition (I wanted to see my most favorite flowers – the echinacea from my writing window) and I wanted it to be full enough, but with some negative space and of course, balanced but with some tension (not perfectly symmetrical). Here is a screengrab of our back-and-forth:
Once I approved the composition I thought we were good to go, but then I got nervous about colors – Rachel is far more bold than I am, and Brian’s reaction was that he was scared. While I know many of you want me to not listen to my husband as he’s not a designer and not visually as invested in the outcome of this mural (he was all “go for it, that’s your thing”) he lives here too and I want him to LOVE IT. I realized quickly that it was about the color palette. He was scared of the flowers, too (thought they were big and just woah) but I was so sure of the actual mural that I didn’t want to start all over. So the morning that she was supposed to start I panick texted her with a “Hey can we tweak and can I approve the colors beforehand?” This mural was an investment on my end so I really really wanted to make sure that I felt 100% about it. I sent her some of my favorite colors (more muted burgundy pinks – cocoa berry, glamour, rosemary) and she deepened them and added accent colors. She sent me the colors from the paint store before she left and after tweaking more I felt SO GOOD about them. THANK GOD.
After approved, she came over and projected the mural on the barn and sketched it out (at night). And then the next day came over to start.
What an absolute thrill to be able to do this – It’s a different level/brand of adulting to be able to hire one of your favorite artists to paint a mural on your barn. I felt (and feel) so lucky and grateful.
I don’t need to say much about her process, this isn’t a how-to, it is a “look at this!” post ?
I love how she went over the windows and doors as if they were just solid walls – continuing the florals.
About 1/2 way Kaitlin came over and snapped a few photos (I think it took Racheal three not-full days to do this – we had some rain).
Here’s the video with the finished product if you want to check it out (Just wait for the ad to play!)
Here she is!!!! I honestly couldn’t love it any more. It makes me just so happy every time I walk out there and of course, now I’m ready to invest in the landscape (and hardscape) outside of the barn. We are starting that soon – something natural (likely a flagstone landing pad with plants and shrubs).
I love the composition. I love how the flowers were from our own yard. I love that the colors are many of the tones and colors we have inside our house. It all feels cohesive and intentional while being totally unexpected and artful.
Bert and the boys watched her paint the whole thing – it was SO CUTE (if you are on social make sure that you watch the reel that we made that shows them sitting and watching her). The pigs of course rubbed up against it and got paint all over them.
Look at our funny farm! Against such a pretty mural. WHAT A FUNNY LIFE WE HAVE UP HERE ?
A huge thanks to Racheal Jackson (i.e. Banyan Bridges) for bringing her talents to my home. While we still have so much work left on the property (feels never-ending) I hope to bring in more elements like this. We went safe with our house and sometimes it just feels so grown up for Brian and me – but this mural really helps tell more of a story of who we (or I, lol) am.
I feel so incredibly lucky to have her work here, permanently. I was nervous. What if I invested in something that ultimately I didn’t love? Sure I could paint over it, but not if the whole internet saw it! These were the fears I had the day before because you just don’t know how any piece of art is going to look before it’s finished.
I honestly couldn’t be happier with it. It’s visually so pleasing – large scale, easy for the eye to understand, cohesive color palette, etc – but more than that it’s just joyful and wild and all the things that Banyan Bridges does so well.
Thank you Racheal for your talented hands and brain:) And thanks for our prom picture, lol. Make sure to go follow Racheal on her Instagram (and of course she is always up for custom murals and art – both inside and out). Next up is landscaping this bad boy to give it the real “after” it deserves (without just dirt in front of it). Coming at you in spring (hopefully). xx
*Mural by Racheal Jackson
**Photos by Kaitlin Green