Monstera Mural in Bradley Beach, NJ

Allie and I have been following each other's work for some time, and when an opportunity for a mural came up, I couldn't use my tipy-tapies any faster to text her: "Hey! Wanna do a mural together?!". After an equally excited "omg, yes!", we went right to it.

This custom mural was for Walter Wall’s photography studio located in Bradley Beach, New Jersey. The process involved a lot of planning and collaboration. It was also physically demanding, but we knew we had the gas. Walter trusted us completely with the creative direction, which made this a uniquely freeing and exciting project.

We were all inspired by similar things: color, texture, nature, and a sense of movement. Walter knew he wanted monstera leaves, and to make the background dark. For Allie and I, a challenge was to make sure our final design was flexible, meaning that the mural design would not restrict the arrangement of furniture/equipment that will inevitably happen relatively often due to the nature of a photography studio.

Additionally, Allie and I wanted both of our artistic styles to come through in the composition. After a careful discussion and two rounds of sketches, we decided our mural will depict abstract monstera leaves with coral-like graphic shapes in the background—a metaphor for collaboration and possibility. Inspired by Tulum, we used organic hues of sage, cream, mustard, and charcoal to create an organic feeling of energy and movement. In addition to collaborating on ideas for the concept of our mural, Allie and I worked together to help each other achieve technical mastery in our own specialties: painting murals using stencils vs. painting murals using freehand techniques. After almost eight hours of non-stop painting, the mural was done!

By introducing realistically depicted elements like the giant monstа leaves, and contrasting those with 2D shapes, we achieved the wanted effect of dimension. The space turned out to be everything we wanted it to be—groovy, inviting, and inspiring to get creative and weird.

You can check it out at Walter Wall's photography studio 11 Main Street, Bradley Beach, New Jersey. Book us for custom murals below or shoot an email to marie@promarie.com.