The Big Picture

Linda Wheat’s mural painting grew out of her years of doing commercial renovation, decoration, and art installation. Today, she paints murals and applies decorative finishes for private homes, as well as commercial and public spaces. To Linda, mural work is a separate category from fine art, though many times her clients want their murals to be in the style of a certain artist. It’s a compromise that she willingly accepts.

Linda sees creating murals as a collaborative effort with her clients. “Listening well and responding intuitively to the client, even though they think they don’t know what they want, is crucial,” she says. “In all settings, the most important desire is that my artwork enhance a space and respect the architecture and the people who live, work or visit there.”

The sheer size of the murals and the spaces to be decorated demand scaffolding, ladders and other cumbersome equipment. “You’re going into someone’s home, and you have to be very respectful of that,” Linda comments. To overcome some of the natural intrusiveness, she often creates the murals in transportable sections in her studio and then installs those sections onsite. The result is just as effective as painting directly on the wall – perhaps even more so. And, clients have the option of reinstalling the mural in other locations.

Linda is available for commission work. She can be contacted through her website, www.artspiritstudio.net, or at (985) 264-2079.

Jewelry for Houses

For David Mudge, the evolution into forging and shaping molten iron began with his family’s business – making jewelry using unusual rocks and semi-precious stones. Cutting the stones to fit into standard settings often ruined them, however. Dave eventually created his own settings. Fashioning unique jewelry pieces supplemented his income as a shipyard welder.

Then, he recalls, “I hit a block where I just couldn’t go any further with the jewelry.” Aware of his skills and creativity, Dave’s dentist asked if he could craft a rustic, blacksmith’s-style pie rack. “I had always admired blacksmiths and read about them whenever I could,” Dave says. He created the pie rack, to the delight of his new client.

Magic Hammer Forge, the company Dave founded in 1983, custom forges iron pieces ranging from massive gates for estates to intricately detailed interior pieces, such as furniture and accessories. His mirrors, embellished with wreaths of individually hand-forged metal leaves, and whimsical fish lamps are popular items from his forge.