After our visit to Malaysia and Singapore in February 2016, I received a commission to paint the artwork for a hotel which was being renovated in Singapore!!
I was to paint the backdrops for the headboards (about 2.5 x2.4 metres) and there were 3 themes....Botanical, Waterscape and Dawn and I was sent a brief of what sort of thing they wanted with a colour scheme for each theme based on Windsor and Newton colours which really helped!!
The idea was, I painted the originals and they blew them up onto canvas and also used the artwork for other accessories so for example, they are using it for the key cards and in the Waterscape they have produced prints to dress a small alcove. They also used the Botanical painting to create some sheer curtains in a sepia colour, though they weren't used on this particular project.
I have to admit this was the most challenging thing I have ever done...trying to create someone else's vision ( I was sent photographs of the sort of thing they were looking for and of course I knew the colours) and get the effects they were looking for from a made up composition and in watercolour was tricky to say the least and I started with the botanical theme first thinking that would be the most difficult! How wrong was I!! They wanted a misty rain forest and happily, the second painting I did after a few smaller practices was the one I sent and ...result.....they loved it!!
I then started on the Waterscape and that caused me a few problems... I didn't get the colours right with the first one... too grey and dismal and once I had the colour right, I had to alter the composition as I had detail which was covered by the bed... hadn't measured it out properly and on scaling up it was in the wrong position. Then the boat I added needed altering so backwards and forwards a few times!!
The final Dawn scene was more abstract and in fact the most difficult... I was working about 25"x 22" and did 3 versions. I found it quite hard getting the concept of this one so one wasn't quite right with the colour, one had too much texture and the final was a mix of all 3 but again before the final painting was agreed there was lots of back and forth while I was tweaking and doing my best to create the vision!! The creative designer knew exactly what she wanted and as we all know watercolour isn't always the easiest of mediums to alter!
The hotel has 105 rooms and they are all furnished in one or other of these themes so my paintings are the backdrop in them all. If you check the links I have provided below they give you an idea of the concept...
Botanical
Waterscape
Waterscape
Dawn
The Dawn one isn't very clear but definitely more pink than the others and the Botanical doesn't look quite as green in the photos as it is in reality but looks like a very nice place!!
Hope I can get preferential rates if I ever go back to Singapore!!
The work was commissioned by HLA designers to the hotel and resort industry based in Malaysia with offices in the far and middle East as well.
So my first commercial venture, it was a completely different experience to working for private clients but I was pleased with the outcome and more importantly so were they as they now have a unique concept in their hotel...they could have easily simply had photographs but the designers decided on watercolour and they had the technology to scale up to these large proportions without losing detail and definition. As you can imagine, a big phew from me when they were all accepted!
