Lookin' good, Monsieur Fox!

My mom was gracious enough to come last week, not only for the baby shower, but for a full week to knock out this bad boy.  She has been a mural artist for years, painting everything from a giant Bucs mural in our local mall back in the 70s to my own nursery, in which she painted several scenes from Bambi.  When I told her I was pregnant, the first reaction was, "what do you want the mural to be?"  This is how generous of an artist she is :-).

The design itself is not original, but based on the July 2013 teapot from Crate and Barrel designed by Andrew Bannecker.  I couldn't quite afford the $300 price tag, but I could certainly commission a replica!

Our walls were already blue, so bonus!!

After a lot of tinkering, we settled on a simple oval design around his portrait.  We tried to figure out how to incorporate some flag garland, but the scale and sizing never quite came together in a satisfactory way.  No worries, simplicity works for this design!

After day one, it looked like this:

Hard to see it, but it was just the rough pencil sketch of the design.  She worked so hard, all day, to make sure that everything was laid out well and the right scale for the room.

After day two, we arrived here:

Six, yes SIX coats of white paint were needed to cover the blue.  Notice the thoughtful addition of a layer of ivory on the fox's face to make it different from the brilliant white of the star, and to make it a more of a white that would occur in nature.

After day three, she was nearly there:

We went to the craft store to ensure the perfect red and orange and she spent the rest of the day painting like crazy to accomplish as much as possible (she was leaving the evening of day four).

And finally, halfway through day four, he was here!

I think the eyes are my favorite part

Monsieur Fox, looking dapper and dreamy, watching over her crib with lidded eyes, which conveniently avoids any creepy feelings of being watched.  I love how it ties the colors, patterns, and characters in the room into one cohesive focal point.  I truly couldn't be any happier with the way he turned out!  Again, I have to be mindful of how lucky I am to have this woman in my life, as my mother.  It certainly gives me hope about my own chances of successfully raising a daughter.

Thanks, Mom!!!!!