Click here to see the mural website.
The Pleasant Valley Historical Museum wanted a mural painted on an 8 foot by 20 foot building in the garden area of the museum property. They asked me to be the artist to paint it and I was honored. Since there is a dry creek running through the garden that terminates at the building, the one request was that the dry creek continue on into the painting. My goal was to create a view with depth to extend the garden, along with painting detailed images in the foreground.
So, research on the project began. I wandered around the garden to get a feel for the area. It is lush with ferns, flowers and trees with plenty of monarch butterflies and bees in the air. After acquiring a brochure of the plants in the garden, I decided to incorporate a few of them into the mural. The Manzanita tree, Western Red Bud tree, Deer Grass, Salvia, Encelia Californica and Milkweed were those that I chose.
To create a feeling of distance, the eastern mountains of Camarillo are included with the eastern hills of Camarillo (pre development) and some farmland. The view from Lewis Road, west of Pleasant Valley Road shows these mountains and hills very well.
Also, the ‘barn’ is in the garden, so I thought, let’s put it in the mural, along with a Camarillo white horse peaking from a broken board…maybe wanting to eat some of those flowers!
Painting in such a tranquil environment has made this a very enjoyable project.
Diane J. Ellias
