Fresh Creative Co. was commisioned by Mumtaz, an Indian restaurant in Mumbles, Swansea, to paint an interior mural in their dining area.
The brief was to paint a stylized version of the Taj Mahal in india. After research we settled on a water colour style using the fiery sunset colours to give the picture warmth.
The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamunariver in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan, the builder. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
PROCESS
As always we designed this mural digitally using photoshop, mixing the different elements that the client wanted into a montage in order to give us our final design. The main feature of the wall was the Taj Mahal with the walls and foliage coming out to give perspective and draw focus onto the mausoleum itself.
Once on site we laid down dust sheets to protect the floor and seating area and used masking tape to mask off the adjoining walls from any overspray. We marked up our rough sketch lines on the wall which would then be used as a guide to complete the rest of the mural. Once this guide was in place we began painting in the background around the mausoleum before focussing in on the building itself to complete the image.
We took a mixed media approach to painting this project and, in order to reduce the impact of the spray paint fumes in the restaurant, we mainly used acrylic paints and brushes in order to create the desired watercolour effect.
Overall this wall took us 3 days to complete and was a challenge to paint due to how different the style was to our usual way of painting.
FINISHED PIECES
We were really very pleased with how this mural came together. The perspective worked well to bring the focus into the centre of the wall and the watercolour style we painted it in really helped both soften the image as well as connect the mural to the space it was in, making it feel truly a part of the restaurant itself.
If you’re a fan of Indian food then do pay a visit to Mumtaz in Mumbles. Their Indian haute cuisine is freshly prepared using the finest ingredients available and cooked to an age old family recipe and to top it off, where possible they source all their ingredients locally. The venue also has great views over Swansea bay (and now also of the Taj Mahal!). You can find them and check out their menu at Mumtaz and if you do go make sure to let them know we sent you!
