A story of brooks and butterflies...and a fawn named Dawn-Marie???



Woodland mural for little girls' room by Dawn-Marie deLara.  Click to enlarge, click again for details.

 Once upon a time,  two bright, beautiful sisters named Brooke and Ava shared a bedroom, a puppy named Ruby, and a love of hanging out in the work shed with their daddy, who is a landscaper.  This meant that their Daddy, Pat, was just as involved as their Mommy, Brenda, in the planning of this mural,  which included discussions of sedge grasses, understory plants, and a short debate about whether it was vital to be seasonally accurate (we all agreed, no, favorite things from spring through autumn are allowed to mingle). 

Ava and Brooke in their meadow.

The room is small, and has two beds.  Custom drawers were built beneath to accommodate clothing, so the dresser could be removed to make room for the main part of the mural.  This side of the room features a maple that extends across the window valance, and next to the door is a pin oak with a robin's nest and a marauding squirrel.  There are four butterflies around the room, one for each family member, and above one bed, two lines from a song the girls' grandma likes to sing to them. 

Just in case the beds ever move, small tufts of grass and ferns are painted in the corners behind them.  The girls got to help with this.  Brooke, who spent a lot of time watching me paint and keeping me company, painted some really nice grasses and ferns all by herself, and Ava painted something I think might be a spider wort plant, which is a far prettier plant than it's name suggests (yes, I tweaked her painting a tiny bit).



Realistic birds and animals will grow up right along with the girls.

  

Daddy requested a mama robin feeding her babies.



Mama wanted a bushy tailed squirrel above the door.



One of the girls gets to fall asleep beneath an oak tree and the words to a favorite lullaby.

The other sister sleeps beneath a branch of the maple, in the company of two chickadees.  The valance is artist's canvas stapled around the trim.

When it's time for bed, the girls like to pet the fawn and tell it, "Goodnight, Dawn-Marie." 

 Good night dear ones.  Pretty dreams!