Portland Living Building, Oregon Bioregions Mural Series
I was honored to paint for the new Portland Living Building, a truly incredible space that is paving the way for others to learn from. After a year in the making of outdoor research, site visits and design drafts, I created each mural to represent a local ecoregion. This series brings together my rural Oregon roots & natural history, love of these wild places and bold design inspired by the fibonacci spiral.
All materials in the Living Building were held to the standard of the Living Futures Red List, so I worked with Ecos brand Red List Free paint for the first time. I used layers of Ecos Exterior Satin paint in over 10 colors to achieve the myriad of colors in each of the three murals. The client asked me to use a red, blue and green color palette for the project, so I mixed Ecos White with select Ecos colors to mix my own custom colors. Being a mural painter often requires these custom experimental color blends from stock colors and I was happy to find that Ecos colors blended wonderfully and remained vibrant. The best part about using Ecos paint was the safe ingredients. After years of using standard latex paints, I have developed respiratory problems from the VOCs. This is the second mural I've painted with Ecos paint and I plan to continue using them for the foreseeable future. I am thrilled to have found a better alternative to the hazardous standard paints on the market that holds up to the elements and is produced in the States.
About the three murals:
The Forest mural features rings of the forest ecosystem including the mycorrhizal layer, soil, the canopy, old growth trees and characters found within.
The Coastal wall portrays our Oregon coastal ecosystem including gooseneck barnacles, razor clams, Haystack rock, Coastal climate wind patterns, kelp, waves, seabirds, coral, ocean fish, starfish, a brackish estuary, and an ancient ammonite fossil.
The Alpine wall features the geology, landforms, climate and native plants found on hikes at these high altitudes.
