A Transformative Moment - Interior Design Wall Art

The most life altering thing for me as a film photographer was when digital photographic sensors became capable of finer detail than the human eye could see.  The higher the number of pixels per inch, found on the larger sensor of my medium format Hasselblad digital camera, allowed me to produce oversized prints on a wide format printer that could literally fill a room.  

The only hitch was the image needed oversized mounting and framing since we were still in a world with framed prints.  Today that same photo can be printed on many more substrates including lightweight canvas, vinyl, and materials with self-adhesive backing which can be applied directly on the wall.  

The 10 ft high by 7’ ft wide wall mural “Pretzel in a Tree” creates an impressive focal point when you enter the Grayvik Center - home of ORCAT.

My recent installation of two large wall murals at the Grayvick Animal Center - Home of ORCAT shows how oversized wall murals can have a huge impact in a room.  The sheer magnitude of the image “Pretzel in a Tree” creates an impressive focal point when you enter the building.  Your eyes go straight up the stairs to the 7 ft wide by 10 ft tall mural of a feral cat seated on a branch surrounded by foliage.  The larger than life cat looms over a room full of cats, and the greenery brings the outside in.

Though cats are not capable of visual self-recognition, I’d like to think the calico Honeybell approved of the 8 ft wide by 5 ft tall mural.

A second image greets you when you visit the restroom.  A super-sized cat “Honeybell” is seated in a basket on a mural that measures 8’ wide x 5’ tall.  The actual Honeybell lives in the cat room and I brought her in to see her larger-than-life-sized self.  Though cats are not capable of visual self-recognition, they recognize individuals using scent and touch, I’d like to think she approved of my work.

The capabilities today with digital print and multi-surface materials allow designers and artists to be more creative.  Photographers tend to “pixel-peep”… that is, when we get engaged with looking at every tiny detail on the computer screen, detail more fine and complete than our eyes can normally see.  

Incredible moments happen when you least expect them, that’s why photographers should always carry their cameras.  When I don’t have my best camera and I see something interesting to photograph, I get upset with myself.  That is because the camera’s larger sensor packs more pixels together in a small area which give us finer detail.  An iPhone, whose images look amazing on the small phone screen, lack terribly for artwork when called on for enlargement.  

Phones are for memories, but I am looking for images that takes my breath away. The mural of “Pretzel in a Tree” was actually an assignment.  The interior designer had a fantastic image taken by Kayla, one of the employees at the facility.  It was a spontaneous “you had to be there moment” that Kayla captured magically with an old iPhone. A problem arose when the print facility said the image was too small pixel-wise, it could not be printed to fill a wall.  The designer was searching for another image when I offered to recreate the photo with my medium format Hasselblad camera.  Seriously…. The assignment was to find a cooperative feral cat, stick it in a tree, have it pose just like the spontaneous iPhone shot, and take dozens of good shots to get the proper expression.  The cat must have realized that I needed the shot, and she complied.  Kayla was amazed at how the cat just sat there motionless as I worked the scene.  Even the decorator said, how did you do that?  Well it must have been my divine photo assistant.

Put into a 4 ft wide by 5 ft tall canvas collage is an impressive visual history representative of ORCAT’s mission.

The capabilities available today with digital print, multi-surface media and mixed media content are far beyond what was traditionally available. 

Canvas is also a great option for interior wall art, and is 45% of the wall art market segment according to Fortune Business Insights.  Canvas is widely available, lightweight, easy to handle and displays can be made of three or more pieces.  At the Grayvik Animal Center I created a collage of dozens of the cats they have rescued since the organization was founded.   Many of the pictures were snapshots, which were scanned, and then put into a 4 ft wide by 5 ft tall canvas collage.  It is an impressive visual history representative of their mission.