Nov 142 min read

Holy Cross Mural painted by Tampa Artist Ashley Cassens

Holy Cross Mural painted by Tampa Artist Ashley Cassens at a residential home in South Tampa, FL USA

Ashley Cassens in front of Moxy St. Pete Lobby Mural — Completed Holy Cross Mural painted by Ashley Cassens

✨BACK STORY: My clients wanted a scene, standing under the gates of their alma mater, Holy Cross, in the fall (and the sign is a portal of sorts with the door) with their two kids and their cats, both past and present. 💝

I don’t ever get to paint fall trees in Florida!

Pros:

I GOT TO PAINT PEOPLE! (my favorite)
Amazing clients who trusted me and my ability to make design and visual choices that would make this mural pop and flow, compositionally
The cats were super fun to paint!
The girls, KB and Sunny were so excited and curious and recognized themselves on the wall right away!
The flowers and the green shrubbery was a joy to paint!

Cons:

The angles and perspective were super tricky and I was often switching from multiple reference photos of trees, gates and people. I never learned so much about a gate! 😆
The narrow wooden fence on the propertydidn’t allow me to get back far enough to use all the time saving tricks so I sketched out A LOT and was super patient with myself (not easy).

Here's some in progress shots of the whole project form START to FINISH:

Empty curved wall behind a lobby desk — Before any paint! 7' H x 15' W

In progress mural by Ashley Cassens at Florida Orange Groves Winery — Almost done! In progress mural by Ashley Cassens at residential home in South Tampa, FL USA

In progress mural by Ashley Cassens at Moxy St. Pete, FL — Almost done! In progress mural by Ashley Cassens at residential home in South Tampa, FL USA

THE FINAL + COMPLETED MURAL!

Holy Cross Mural painted by Tampa Artist Ashley Cassens

Here are some more close ups of the family and the cats in order of appearance L to R: Ina (cat), Bishop (cat) Kevin, KB, Julie, Sunny, Nina (cat) and Rookie (cat) which were THE BEST to paint.

DETAILS: