WALL PAINTINGS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20026, 6 September 1930, Page 5

WALL PAINTINGS.

ARTIST-OWNER'S [ COLLECTION. DECORATING A HOME. Most people have a chance to paint and paper before they move into a new, or a new-old, houso. And all they have to do thereafter is to live in it. Somehow it always struck me it would be fun to move in and then do all the papering and painting, says Beatrico B. Ryyl in the "Christian Scienco Monitor," to the character of the house required, as revealed by intimate acquaintance. Surely it has its advantages, one of them being tho thrill of making the houso moro completely our owd, to the end that being "at home" becomes significant in the deepest sense of tho word. Tho houso we bought was two and one-half storied, New England type, built about 1790, with hood across the front door in centre and two windows on either side. It had suffered much ij being kept up to standard in each changing notion of houso architecture, before we restored it to its original dignity. Happily, a tall licdgo gave privacy from the street, aud when the door was open a charming vista appeared through the long hall and porch into tho flower garden beyond. Largo as tho houso was, it did not seem to shut out completely tho "great out of doors." We were always conscious of beautiful surrounding trees and shrubs which may have had something to do with our scheme of decoration.

Details of the Scheme. The hall divided tho houso in halves, while many doors broke tho wall space of the hall. Four of its large panels we decorated with maps, drawn freehand with Prussian blue and a creamy yellow painted plaster. Tho green land was shaded down to rivers and sea, while bright yellow and red outlined tho buildings, tho ships and tho pnoplo. One panel showed a map of the town, with its streets, its water and its boundaries. Another depicted a nearby harbour with its variegated islands and shore dotted over with craft of sail, steam and motor. Tho third portrayed the State, its thoroughfares, city sites and mountains. Western progress was outlined in tho fourth; toward and in North and South America, from the horsemen to the masters of ships, tho routes of Columbus, Cabot, Hudson and Magellan, and tho trails of tho colonists overland to the Pacific. In making four panels in decorative manner, wo learned quite a bit of tho techniquo of painting on plaster, to say nothing of incidental history. Wo needed the room on tho right of the entrance done in a damask paper for a family sitting or living room, but the one on tho left wo wanted to make formal, having been inspired by the lovely robin's-egg blue or green room of the American Wing in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Iu Place of "Oatmeal" Paper. For a long time we had looked at our own room, considering proportions and colour schemes, before we were aware that it had ugly chocolate oatmeal wall paper on it. When this was removed we found tho plaster was in good condition and tho room surprisingly lighter. Our first idea was given up, that of copying Chinese tree, flower and bird motives in tho museum, joining tho sections on tho walls as gold tea-box paper had been used by our forbears of the sailing days. It seemed more delightful to paint right on tho plaster. And so it came about, after giving walls, ceiling and woodwork a coat or two of flat white paint, wo brought the garden inside, to blossom on tho walls all winter. Scilla, crocus, grape hyacinth push their little heads up from the baseboard. Narcissus, iris, columbine, bleeding heart blossom abovo them. The taller phlox, delphinium, lupin, Canterbury bolls range abovo, while hollyhock and foxglove bring the decoration up to tho level of the eye. Fruit trees seemed to bo the logical space fillers above the flowers to the ceiling.- Wo tried long to find a way in which wo could use the town and its beautiful trees and houses to finish tho upper spaco. At last we did this, by painting the houses small, as if farther away than the flowers, then one got the impression of being in the midst of our garden and looking out over the tops of the flowers into tho streets of the town. Over the mantelpiece we painted our own house under its sheltering elms. Higher up, smaller and separated by trees, wo placed historic. colonial ai}d interesting fairly modern structures in the town. The civic, educational and religious centre was suggested by the town offices building, the famous school founded in 1781, the old meeting house, whose services had been held continuously since 1674. Actually thoy were near each other on tho same street. In one corner of the room we drew the yacht club, in the opposite corner the country club. The historic old tavern, with its swinging sign, a fine church, the amusing quarters of the Players' Club—these filled another wall. A Georgian structure, used as a community centre, and'a movie house gave dignity to another wall, while • the Federal mansions and earlier colonial houses filled the others. Present-Day Progreßa Portrayed. When we began it seemed logical to paint stage coaches, postilion and sideseated ladies on horseback, but. if it was to be a record of these days, automobileSj aeroplanes, fire > engines and speed-boats should be eeen in their elements. Then the eagle eye of some research student of tho future might deduce the exact date of the painting by the short-skirted women and the designs of tho year model in motorcars.

It is a room which probably will never be finished, occasionally some new bud lifting its head among the flowers, some new bird of earth or sky appearing among the town houses or trees. ■

In the beginning, when we were a little doubtful of our venture, some friends asked in awed tones, "But supposing you don't like it, or you have ruined your walls f" We found time to answer between brush strokes, "One can always take a whitewash brush and paint it all outl"-