the murals of skip dyrda
Rosemary Beach
In the walkable community of Rosemary Beach, FL, I painted a pair of large murals that completely cover the downstairs hallway of a home. Each mural stands about twelve feet high, with one stretching nearly thirty feet and the other about twenty‑three. Together they form a sweeping view of Main Street looking north. On the west wall, I painted the actual buildings that lined the street at the time—three‑story mixed‑use structures with shops below and residences above, with the white post office in the distance. I added the homeowners into the scene, along with my daughter and a friend she made while we were there. On the east wall, I painted a hotel that hadn’t yet been built. The architect sent me the west and south elevation drawings, and from those I imagined how the finished building might appear. I also painted a smaller beach scene on the staircase wall. Everything was done on site using high‑quality artist acrylics directly on wallboard.
In Progress and Detail Images
This is the West side of Main Street, Rosemary Beach. At the far right you can see that white building with the black roof. That’s the post office. After I took this photo, I added some people to the scene.
This is the West side of Main Street, Rosemary Beach. That’s the new, at the time, hotel, on the corner. It wasn’t even yet built when I painted this. I had to use the front elevation drawings to give me a clue regarding how it might look.
This is when I first started. The house wasn’t yet finished and I had several delays before I could do anything. There was a lot of detail in this mural.
This is the west side of Main street a few weeks into the process. Little did I realize how many ballusters I would have to draw and paint!
This is another photo of the west side of Main Street, in progress. Many, many windows and porches. All drawn and painted free hand.