It's an illusion!

To steal every bad speech writer's favourite trick, I looked up the definition of 'illusion' in a dictionary. It says: 'something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality'.

Not very useful. If I was to write a dictionary, I would like to think that the definitions would be somewhat provocative, stimulating... questioning even. My dictionary might say after every entry, 'what do you think it means?' Then we could all use any word, anytime and ascribe our own meaning to it. Solved! The end. More wine please!

Wait, I haven't written anything vaguely interesting yet. 

Ok, so this year has almost come and gone and I have not blogged or tweeched or generally put myself in anyone's cyber face at all. So instead of placing all my achievements in one overwhelming post, I have decided to drip feed them into the seething pit of insta-webness so as not to overwhelm anyone with my sheer awesomeness... 

Earlier this year, I was able to spend some time creating a mural for the science centre, Discovery, here in Bendigo.
The brief was to create something on a wall of an Ames room. If you have never heard of an Ames room, it is basically the principal they used behind filming the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings. Stand in one corner and you look tiny, like a dwarf. In the other corner you are enormous! Like Hodor! or Hagrid! or if you prefer it more old school, a heffalump!*
Either way, luckily I was painting the outside, or it could have become crazy confusing. (I actually did paint the inside later on - but that's another blog altogether).

nearly done

I came up with a few different designs, giant beakers, amoebas, Newton and his telescope. But in the end, since it was a room for illusions, I was given the go- ahead for a 'Trompe Loiel'. This became quite the catchphrase about the place while I was painting. Partly because it's fun to say, but mostly because everyone thought I was some kind of snobby artistic weirdo who liked to use phrases they had never heard of. 

n.b. in my dictionary, 'Trompe-L'oiel' might mean; a fancy toilet. 

blank canvas

peeling paper

Painting illusions is such a satisfying thing to do. It means getting angles and perspectives spot on, but the results can be amazing. If you feel the need to see more images of Trompe L'oiel, click here. However, if you are impressed by my meagre attempts, don't click and spoil the illusion... 

just hanging out in this dimension

So my aim was to make it appear that the walls had giant holes in the plaster and you could see into (and through) the room. It took a while to create the effect, it was the middle of summer and the AC was being fixed, I was on my own and I'm pretty sure the building is haunted...But it was great to be painting again!

This was my first attempt at a Trompe L'oiel. and for a fancy toilet, I am pretty pleased with the result.

 *note, Ames room does not give you the illusion of an amazing beard or hunchback or turn you into a purple elephant. 

Discovery Science Centre