Andy Eccleshall brings surprising things into people’s homes.
Mountain vistas, tigers, sea turtles, city skylines and deep, dark wine cellars are all products of his paint brush.
In the case of Erik and Cathy Odenborg of Snohomish, Eccleshall delivered not one but three life-size trees, all standing two stories tall in their home’s entry.
“He is so, so good,” said Cathy Odenborg, looking at the largest of the three, an elaborately branched specimen that reaches up the stairs and covers the grand entry’s large, main wall.
That tree, and the detailed sepia-tone scenery surrounding it, isn’t just a pretty picture.
The Odenborgs plan to use its branches to illustrate their family tree with strategically placed, sepia-toned photos in similar oval frames.
“It’s such a big wall that I actually wanted a tree,” Cathy Odenborg said, adding that her family ancestors will fill the smaller left half of the tree while her husband’s larger family will be on the longer branches on the right.
In the background, Eccleshall painted scenery to reflect the couple’s backgrounds, including images of Norway to the right of the trunk to reflect Erik Odenborg’s heritage and depictions of France and England for his wife’s lineage on the left.
That’s not all Eccleshall did.
His mural here, one of many he’s done since starting The Mural Works in 2000, is a 360-degree wonder with every wall paying homage to the Odenborgs.
Their cabin near Mount Rainier, their childhood hometowns in Maine and Idaho, and even some of their favorite places to travel — Multnomah Falls in Oregon and mountains in Alaska — are depicted on the other entry walls.
Images jump gracefully over the archways to the parlor and the dining room, where Eccleshall embellished a faux-painted ceiling with realistic cracks and grape vines.
While many residential mural painters work in impressionistic styles, Eccleshall’s specialty is realism.
In some of his projects, Eccleshall creates optical illusions using a technique called trompe l’oeil, a French term that means to trick the eye.
In another Snohomish home, Eccleshall painted a blank wall in an upscale garage to look like an open garage door looking out on a vintage gas station scene. He even included the homeowner’s dogs in the mural and fake pulley runners on the ceiling.
“I enjoy that more than anything, achieving a sense of atmosphere,” said 42-year-old Eccleshall, who grew up in England and came to the United States to work as a residential mural artist in 1994. “That’s where I get my kicks.”
Eccleshall graduated from the University of Plymouth at Exeter with a degree in illustration. But, primarily self-taught, he became a professional illustrator long before that, selling his first freelance collection of paintings, historic illustrations, at age 14.
He remembers telling people at age 8 that he was going to be an artist.
He hasn’t wavered from that path.
Eccleshall doesn’t need an eternity to create one-of-a-kind works.
“He works fast,” Erik Odenborg said, adding that Eccleshall completed their multiwall mural in nine days over the course of three weeks.
The Odenborgs’ son, Christian, 5, and daughter, Taylor, 3, enjoy the otherworldly walls in their entry, especially the intricate trees.
Eccleshall relishes each project.
“Every single one is totally different,” he said. ““Every single one is fun.”
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.
The Mural Works
Contact Andy Eccleshall of Edmonds at 206-579-3211 or visit www.muralworks.com.
Mural prices are based on the time the artist spends on site, which can vary depending on the complexity of the project. See a portfolio and a time-lapse video showing Eccleshall completing a $4,000 mural over the course of five days at www.muralworks.com.
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