Mural Painters, Mural Painter, commissioning a Mural, Mural Painting by Kate Lovegrove

The mural painting started by chance, I was at Art School when a friend and I decided to paint a mural on the wall of her house one night, we had just been to Brighton to see an exhibition of Picasso’s theatre sets and we were inspired. Since she is a more of a costumier than a painter, she brought me a lot of coffee and Sushi and I painted. The mural was practically finished that night. One of her friends saw the mural and asked me to paint a mural for her and my career as a mural painter developed from there. At first in private houses and then offices, shops, a church, gardens, bed and breakfasts, restaurants and hotels too.

My first restaurant commission was for Mike Gottleib at Smollenskys on the Strand in 1986. Mike asked Amanda Jeffrey of Cadogan Contempories to find him a new mural painter to paint in a Art Deco style, he was to open a vast basement restaurant in The Strand and he wanted to make the very large bar look as if was permanently full. I painted a long mural in a 1930’s style, with people dancing, talking and drinking and behind the stage a five piece, life size jazz band……… the bar was full from the minute it opened. The restaurant was refurbished in 2006 and the murals can no longer be seen there.

Although it may appear as though I only paint commercial projects, I have painted many murals large and small for private clients. I very much enjoy small commissions, some of these are painted in situ and some are painted on canvas or on board and installed on site. I enjoy painting children’s rooms too. In the last two years my projects have been as varied as 39 canvases for the Great Gallery of the RAC Club in Pall Mall, painting some bees around the entrance to the Bridgeman Library offices, painting a sky ceiling in a private house and restoring the Bridget Riley Murals on the 8th and 9th floor of the QEQM building at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.

For larger projects I employ a team of artists, some of whom I have been working with for many years. We are happy to paint on site or in the studio. The marouflage technique that I employ is painting on canvas and applying this canvas in situ. The murals look as though they are painted on site and they can be moved and they are very durable. I have moved two very large canvasses one from the restaurant Tall Orders in the Fulham Road to a swimming pool, the other a very large “16th Century” map of the known world which was moved from the ceiling of one private house to the wall of another.

How to commission a mural.

Firstly, make contact by telephone or email.
We can discuss your project and then a meeting and a visit to the site for the mural is usually the next stage or good architectural drawings are required if the site is unfinished.
The subject matter for the proposed mural can be the clients’ specific idea or initiative or I will happily offer ideas, it often becomes an agreeable collaborative process. Personal touches can be added.
Prices are usually discussed at this stage or a “ball park figure” can be given on the telephone before a visit if most of the details such as size and subject are known. It is not as expensive as perhaps one might think.
At the site visit, I will take measurements. Subject matter, method of painting, and timescale will be discussed.
I will then make sketches for your Mural, I may propose more than one idea or scheme to choose from.
Payment is usually made in stages, one 40% payment on the acceptance and approval of the contract, 30% half way stage payment and 30% on completion, other payment arrangements can be made by agreement.

Mural Paintings London