It’s not surprising this pub nativity wall mural is so good. Janet Shearer may be local to Cornwall, a county in the south west of England but she is well known worldwide for her artistic works in films, music albums and even in airports. She designed a backcloth for the rock band Pink Floyd’s The Wall album as well as creating murals for London Heathrow airport and the film Aliens.

The Blisland Inn nativity wall mural is a realistic interpretation of the 2,000 year old story of the birth of Christ. The baby Jesus is cradled lovingly in Mary’s arms whilst Joseph looks on beside her. Three wise men and a shepard also stand around the baby and bring gifts of homage. What has made the wall mural more personal and indeed remarkable is the fact that some of the locals faces have been used in the tableaux. For example, the landlord is Joseph whilst the chief barmaid is Mary. The three wise men and the shepherd are some of the pub’s most regular customers. At the bottom is a Jack Russell which is owned by Janet Shearer herself; a little bit of artistic licence.

The nativity scene in the Cornish pub was made using the trompe d’oeil technique which gives a wall mural a 3-D effect and can look extremely life-like. So much so that one local to the pub, before even sipping his pint of beer, said: “I have been coming here for 40 years and I never realized that door was there before.”

It took Janet three weeks to complete the Nativity wall mural scene in the pub. The pub landlord Gary Marshall is pleased with the Christmas mural and says: “I was delighted to let Janet turn this blank wall into such an incredible scene. It was something different and has turned out to be absolutely brilliant. My customers absolutely love it. It has made our Christmas.”

You can see larger images of this mural here: Extraordinarily realistic Nativity mural.

Merry Christmas to all my readers and visitors to Home Interior Design Themes.

Annora Spence studied printed textiles during the 1980s at Liverpool Polytechnic. From there she advanced her education in the same field by gaining an MA from another polytechnic in the relatively nearby (by US geographical norms) city of Birmingham. During the 1990s Spence worked as a freelance artist and designer as well as forming a career as a painter. With the latter career path especially, her fame and global reach grew and she enjoyed sell-out gallery shows in numerous major capital cities include her own, London. In the mid-90s she evolved her work to encompass silkscreen painting which gave her style yet another dimension.

Throughout her life, Annora Spence has travelled widely. Like with anyone who visits foreign countries and continents, the sights and sounds that she came across could not help but have an influence on her art work. In particular, her journeys across Europe and India provided inspiration for many of the characters and colors she has used on many of her prints. The richness of tone, of color and texture hark back to the cultural gems she must have seen in the Mediterranean regions of Europe and the fashion and craft of the Indian Subcontinent.

Much of her work is filled with humor and certain amount of quirkiness. This provides a wonderful basis for abstract enjoyment which comes across in her art prints. What I particularly like is her use of color which shows her ability to merge different hues and tones that many people just cannot do, in a tasteful manner anyway. Eccentricity is a key factor in her work and this is intentional on the part of Annora Spence.

I recommend looking through the wonderful portfolio of British artist Annora Spence. If you want to add some color and originality to your walls, then her work is certainly a very good option to consider. They look good placed into nice simple wooden frames as well. You can also search out cheaper art prints in poster format here: ART PRINTS – Art.com!.