Thanksgiving

An exterior shot taken March 2015.

My dining room mural with furnishings.

A view through to the dining and living rooms from the kitchen/family room.

Happy Thanksgiving from Essex, Connecticut, New England, U.S.A.! What a fitting place to be, quintessentially American, for perhaps the one national holiday that’s so good it’s worth exporting. Here at last are shots of my mural commission for this charming period home right in the center of town. I bring you a combination of installation shots that show during, after, and furnished. 

The electrician kindly installed the chandelier so I could some idea of the finished look.

There was great attention to detail on this job like the latest in old fashion light switches.

That wall left of center next to the window is actually completely covered by a hutch.

This a small house and yet it has an elevator. It's that door on the left.

This composition depicts a rocky outcropping that's typically New England.

Here's John Nalewaja during installation. His first installation for me was in 1999 (I think!).

Here's the view immediately upon entering. So my mural is likely the first thing you notice.

 This was a charmed job from the beginning and I like to think that comes through in the results. The designers Maximilian Sinsteden and Catherine Olasky could not have been more kind, respectful, and engaged throughout the initial discussion, design process, and installation. And their client made intelligent comments and suggestions which benefitted the final results. 

But what do you think of it?

Essex, CT

Took this shot the night I arrived in Essex.

The Griswold Inn, where I ate and slept.

Burn it to the ground! Apparently that’s what the British had in mind in the War of 1812. Instead they spared the town of Essex and burned the town’s ship building trade. But I’m here to tell you it’s back albeit in pleasure craft form and the town preserved in a state of impossible quaintness. I thought when I was there; this is so much less "real" than L.A. because it would seem to be a set designer’s dream, so quintessentially New England.

Inside the Griswold Inn. Do you sense a recurring theme?

   

  

Until my mural is up, touched-up, and passed inspection I’m slightly anxious, have sleeping issues, but I doubt there’s a better place to be a little distressed. Essex did everything it could to relax and reassure me; all is well. Just look at these pictures, will you? And tell me: what’s your favorite hamlet?

Random photos taken in Essex. The village is surrounded by water on three sides.

Where my mural lives; front, back, and waterside of the house.

Next post I’ll take you inside where my mural’s installed.