The Mystic of Morocco Here in a Western Suburban Basement

The title itself:  'The Moroccan Wine Tasting Room' is ludicrous (Moroccan's don't consume alcohol)...but it does evoke a sprit of the exotic and mystical.  A place so foreign to most from the U.S. - Morocco is as far away as some of our imagination can take us.

In the 2002 Hinsdale Show House, I was awarded the task of creating an imaginary visual journey and when I first walked into the room.... I was almost defeated by what I saw.

It was a basement of a 100 year old home.  The walls were crumbling plaster with an uneven concrete floor, the ceiling wooden rafters were exposed and spray painted white (not black).  Three small horizontal windows were in the main view where I was hoping to create a mural of Morocco and mechanical piping and a water meter ran vertical in the center of it all.  I have to admit...for about 5 minutes....I felt sorry for myself.... and then got to work!

First order of business was to repair the drywall.  Once that was completed, the walls were oil primed and repaired where divots and cracks remained.  The floor was cleaned several times with with a muriatic acid solution.  Then the visual fun began.

I used Venetian Plaster in a soft tan leather color on the walls behind me (in this photo) and created a glass smooth finish that was waxed and polished.  On the walls to my left and right (of this photo) I painted large limestone hand fitted stone blocks that wrapped themselves around the curved wall.

This allowed me to bring the 'color' around to the wall where I wanted to create the focal art and the faux stone gave me the ability to visually 'open' the wall with a trompe-l'oeil trick I enjoy using.  I also had fun with some of the extra faux stone wall space and added a floor level half-moon sewer grate.  I was going to put a little person's head down here with his hands grasping the bars...but my friends talked me out of it.  

Next on my agenda was the paint the floor and I had this great idea to create a Moroccan mosaic floor pattern as a perimeter design to accentuate the odd shape of the room.  I painted the floor first with several layers of white concrete floor paint.  In the past I would have used an epoxy paint but I was daring enough to try a water-based new floor product.  The product I used worked like a dream but it's been ten years since I did this art.  The products have evolved to be more durable...I highly recommend talking with your paint supplier and following their advice. 

Once the floor was painted white, I used a pencil to create a roughly layout of where I wanted my 'faux mosaic tile' border to be.   The center portion of the floor was blended in a series of colors that resembled shifting sands.  The outside border was painted in a single tan color and I created large copper and gold metallic painted squares to fill that space.  This left a white border where I wanted my mosaic pattern to be created.  Luckily my neighbor had just returned from Morocco and had photographed a mosaic tile pattern on a floor somewhere...so I used his photo as reference.  Now....I'd simply type into Google Images: Moroccan mosaic floor patterns and I'm certain you would get a lot of options.

I used a xerox of his photo as my pattern reference and matched the colors first. Then using a good artist's brush; I loosely painted the pattern on the floor in the space remaining.  I painted the pattern as though I had no intention of it being mosaic tile.  The colors I used were deep purple and gold.

To create the mosaic illusion I used a very tiny artist's brush and painted the grout lines of each little tile.  The grout is the same color as the white background and I intentionally made the tiles uneven and not laid correct aligned.  While it might seem agonizingly slow to most....I thought my progression moved rather quickly and the illusion of individual hand set tiles was visually instantaneous.http://www.coggart.com/sch2.html
  
I sealed the floor with several layers of a clear water-based varnish and then moved back to my wall art.  I wanted to create the illusion of a broken stone wall revealing access to a mosque and market.  I saw in an old Graham Rust painting where he had painted a basket of fruit and then next to that he placed a real basket tipped over and fruit spilling out....so I really wanted to try this illusion, too.

Now it was time for the mosque art.  Again...I researched online for a nice photo to use as reference and began with the sky first.  I created a sunset with deep golden colors and clouds highlighted in purples (I used the same colors from the mosaic floor).http://www.coggart.com/sch4.html
The curve of the wall makes this appear crooked but the art was perfectly set and highly detailed.

The ceiling rafters were covered with 200 yards of crimson and deep purple taffeta silk fabric and the small Moroccan tuffets were custom designed by friends of mine.  When it was finished and open to the  public I had to INSIST that the floor was painted....everyone (over 2,000 viewers) assumed it was a real mosaic tile floor.  http://www.coggart.com/sch1.html

These art projects are intensely fun.  To transport the viewer into a complete fantasy by surrounding them with painted illusion and minute details at every glance.