This photo shows the left panel of the mural. At the bottom left is a section of yellow coral with a little brown goby peeking out of the coral. The three black "arrow" shapes are jackknife fish feeding on the bottom. The black dot is a tiny little juvenile fish that's basically the size and shape of a pea, dark with white spots -- very cute. The animals in this mural will not be to scale, as some of the smallest ones would just disappear and the big ones wouldn't fit at all. I picked the most interestingly colored and shaped fish I could find in references to sea life in the Caribbean and off the Florida coast.

This is the center panel of the mural. The bright blue rectangle on the upper right is a piece of pastel I left on the picture after coloring it in! That's what I used to make the blue of the water. There's a burrfish (like a puffer) near the bottom, a pipefish (yellow and black striped eel-like fish) also near the bottom, a green Moray eel at the top of the reef, a green sea turtle and a sailfish above the reef, and a variety of small fish around the reef. The brownish "branch" looking corals are actually brilliant red and purple (some red, some purple). As the woman who gave me a reference book said, "God doesn't pay any attention to color rules!" Corals have all kinds of strong colors right next to each other that you wouldn't think of putting together, but they create an exciting visual all massed together.

This is the right panel of the mural, showing a spotted eagle ray and a bottlenose dolphin. In the actual mural, I may include some other dolphins in the background. I'll know more how it will fit together when I get into the clay -- sculptures often tell you how they want to be, and I've learned to listen when they "speak." ;-D The water background to the entire mural will be much less obvious. I will use a settling glaze that has blue crystals that settle into depressions to give a more "fluid" look to the water area.

And here is the complete cartoon of the mural. Specific placement of individual fish may vary, but the ones that are schooling will still be schooling, and their placement in general will be about the same.
Pictures of the mural in progress will be put on this page as they become available. This is a rare one-of-a-kind piece for me -- I can't see me spending lots of time putting together these mural "jigsaw puzzles: and painting them very often! But this one looks like it will be a fun project.

To watch the progress of the mural and see how it's done, click here: "Terra Cotta Mural 101"It's a rough page, made as a learning exercise I tried with a new Website building software, so forgive it's appearance, but it is a good "how-to" page. I've already completed the second panel of the mural, pictures of which will be added to the following pages soon. And the good news is, the first panel fired like a pro! No problems! This really is an interesting project.