The countryside of Montana, the town of Butte, and Death Valley have all been relocated into one Medina resident’s basement, thanks to the work of Edmonds painter Andy Eccleshall.

A muralist for 15 years and artist for 27, Eccleshall’s current project is to bring the resident’s model train set to life by providing over one hundred yards of hand-painted scenery inspired by actual photographs of American landscape. It would be a difficult task for any artist, but Eccleshall’s backdrops provide more illusions than immediately meet the eye.

Not only will the scenery blend seamlessly into the three-dimensional landscape placed before it (including scaled mountains and towns, created by another artist), the paintings are customized to interact with the installed LCD and halogen lighting to simulate 24 hours of daylight, including sunrises, sunsets, and the midnight glow of the moon.

“I’ve loved every inch of this thing,” said Eccleshall, 40, at his project site last week. “It’s something I never would have even imagined there would be a need for.”

Eccleshall is an accomplished muralist.

His work is can be found in Connecticut, Nevada, Hawaii, Florida, New York, and all over Washington, including a few murals in Edmonds and featured at the Pho Cyclo restaurants in Seattle. He has also participated in both the Seattle and Everett home shows.

On Nov. 5, Eccleshall will open his first ever solo art show in the Marine Muir Gallery at Pioneer Square. A range of his work will be on display, including architectural art and what he calls “landscaping with a twist.”

The Medina basement has had a bit of a learning curve, admitted Eccleshall, who usually spends between twelve and fourteen hours a day on the project. Only once before had he painted with regards to fiber optic effects. The owner also requested all the backdrops be transportable, so removable canvas was installed around the entire basement wall onto which he was to paint — an usual substance to work on for a project like this.

“There’s no hard and fast method of bringing this project to fruition,” he said, “It’s a colossal amount of work, but it’s a lot of fun. They’re going to enjoy it for a long time. It’s such a treat.”

The project began last March and is believed to last another year, with a break in the winter while Eccleshall waits for new spring photographs upon which to base his murals.

A native of Stafford, England, just north of Birmingham, Eccleshall has desired to illustrate since the age of 14. After earning his honors degree in illustrating from Exeter Art and Design, he moved to Connecticut to work as an assistant to a professional muralist in 1997. He moved to Seattle in 1999 with his wife Ingrid, herself originally from Vancouver, and to Edmonds a few years later.

“I was environmentally at home,” said Eccleshall about the similarities between UK weather and that of the Pacific Northwest.

While he began in politically-based abstract, he has since focused his time and many Web sites to mural works and paintings of landscape and of the architecturally-based sort.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’m less inclined to do stuff I don’t want to do,” he said. With landscape and architecture pieces, “I’m indulging myself in it, losing myself in the details.”

While his first company came together in Connecticut, Eccleshall’s current business adventure, The Mural Works, began in Seattle. Specializing in residential work, with some commercial projects, Eccleshall brainstorms with each buyer to provide whatever they wish, from home portraits to Trompe L’oeil pieces — a phrase literally meaning “to fool the eyes” — that creates the illusion of a niche in the wall that doesn’t truly exist.

Between finishing the train set, prepping a few side projects, and preparing for his own show this November, Eccleshall has quite a few exciting months ahead of him. While the hours may be long and the jobs precise, he insists it hardly feels like work.

“I’m disgustingly lucky,” he said. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’ve kept this going for 27 years. I worry about telling the owner how much I’m enjoying it, because he may ask ‘Well, then why am I paying you?’”

To view work by Andy Eccleshall, or to contact him about a project, visit either of his Web sites: www.MuralWorks.com or www.FineHomePortraits.com.