Mermen and Lily pads on a Hand Painted Pond

On my trip to Jacksonville last week, my brother, Randy, had me paint a pond on the floor of his craft room.  Every time I go to visit Randy, he has more for me to add to his "mural room".  We started about 10 years ago with a bottle of champagne, Phantom of the Opera playing on the stereo, and a crazy idea to add his friends to the wall of his guest room as fairies.  Over the years, and many bottles of bubbly later, the mural has grown to include  a sunny sky, an enchanted forest and a rock wall.  This trip was the most elaborate change, pulling up the carpet and painting the floor as a pond (with stepping stones in place for furniture to rest on of course!)

Here are steps to follow for a basic floor:

• Remove all traces of carpet (nail strips, fuzz, etc) and clean the floor well
• Prime with a water based bonding primer- use an extender poll on your roller or your back will go out before you even begin on the artistic part!!!
• Roll on your base color in eggshell interior wall paint (my fave is Behr from Home Depot-thick, good coverage, affordable)
• Using acrylic craft paint and artist brushes, add your creative touch. I recommend sitting on a short stool to stay limber while doing this, sitting directly on the floor is a killer.
• Top coat with a polyurethane of your choice, usually satin, but of course, it depends on what compliments your design. 

Steps to follow for a pond theme:

• Chose a blue/green you like for the base of the water
• Figure out where furniture will sit and add rocks or grassy areas, so the room doesn’t look silly with floating furniture.  Also add rocks in traffic patterns, and later observe how guests will always walk on the rocks, not the water of the completed pond!!
• Paint the rocks first with a tan color, add depth with 3 colors in a stoney hue that are dark, medium, and light and apply with a sponge for rocky texture. Splatter with all three colors after and don’t worry if spots land in the "water".  Little spots of rock colors will look like small rocks underwater.
• For grassy areas, paint a dark brown base, then with a 1/2 inch flat brush turned sideways, paint three colors of green in dark, medium, and light with quick strokes overlapping and going all directions, like clumps of grass.
• Using a darker shade of the blue/green mixed with a bit of clear glaze, paint shadows around all the rocks and grassy areas.  This is easiest with a sponge dipped into the paint and washed on.
• Start with the "deepest" areas of the water.  Use darker colors mixed in with some of the base coat to make fish and plants look deep.  Shadowey shapes and little detail are all that is necessary.
• Next paint the mid-level of the water, brighten up the shades you used for the deeper plants and fish, using less of the base coat color.  Still, use few details in your features.  Overlap your first layer.
• For the shallow parts of the pond, make fish and plants look closer to the surface with more detail and brighter colors, none of the base color mixed in at all.  Overlap this layer onto the other two previous layers. 
• Let the first three levels dry well, then mix white paint into a clear glaze and make "ripples" over the pond by washing big sweeps on with your sponge.  Make sure some of these ripples and waves overlap the edges of the rocks a bit too.
• Finally, add floating flowers and lily pads, once again, overlapping a bit of what you have already painted.  Add the white glaze mixture ripples around the flowers. At this point, some of your first fish might not even be discernible, but they will still add a sense of depth to the water.
• Let dry and top coat.  Keep furniture off for a couple of days.  If using a oil based poly, have plenty of ventilation and keep pets and small children out of the house, the smell can be overwhelming.