Franklin Park Zoo
Boston,MA
    In April 2007, Zoo New England approached Skf Designs with the idea of an outdoor mural that could solve two problems. One was the need to decorate and enliven the Rental Tent Pavilion Area and the other was to create an expansive space under the 40'x40' tent using the iconography of the Australian Outback.
The design for this panel begins with a Koala and cub welcoming people into the tent where birthday parties are part of the rental plan. The Kookaburra is pointing the way into "The Land of Oz". While, a Dingo sleeps in the shade on a hot afternoon. The conversation between the Wallaby and Thorny Devil forms a long tunnel back to the horizon. And the Emu is surprised by the Sulphur -Crested Cockatoo, the change in the brush expressing the chaos of that moment.
Warm colors represent the heat of the grassland desert of the Outback. The warm tones of the yellows, pinks and oranges are balanced by the cool tones of the mountains and the trees. A thoughtful color scheme was chosen so that the enclosure under the tent is pleasant without being dull.
The mural was painted with the luminous colors of the 1-Shot Lettering Enamels. The substrate are two( 4' x 8' ) panels of Alumanite, a very light weight aluminum faced panel with a plastic core. Extremely easy to drill and hang. One person is able to lift a single panel. The entire mural is then framed with a no maintenance PVC lattice strips.


This panel was seen on an episode of "Curious George" on PBS.

Three 8'x10' aluminum garage doors were first primed, then the landscape was sketched with Sharpies. After all the elements  were rendered, the mural was executed with 1- Shot Lettering Enamels. Brilliant and durable sign paints created subtle effects of light and space. By using compositional elements, the eye is marshalled from the sculptured forms of the kangaroos back to the wall of Ayer's Rock and forward again to the joyful leaps of the Roos moving towards the horizon, up into the sky       
( a hunting hawk) and back to the foreground, where the lizard watching becomes a diagonal back to  Ayer's Rock.This movement represents an action within the framework of sky and land, with the viewer imagining a landscape full of life and drama.