Marti deBenedetti
Marti deBenedetti tells us how it got started:
Over a year ago I spoke with Sita regarding my desire to “fresco” my outdoor dining area ceiling. I wanted the Kona Village, old Hawaii, look and feel. While Sita had never done mural type projects, she was up for the challenge enhanced with the need to blend this concept into the existing color scheme I had going on in the space. As a big fan of her art I was totally confident it would work out. Besides, if it didn’t, there was always paint to cover it up! We spent many months discussing what to include and the flow of the surround imaging. I left on a 3 week trip and returned to find a result which takes my breath away. It is perfect. I can not imagine the toiling work involved in painting upside down on such a big space but she did it and I could not be more pleased. Sita is an amazing person with an incredible talent which she executes beautifully. I want to share her accomplishment with other homeowners, mostly for all to see how skilled she is and perhaps, a little bit to say “hooray for me! I have the first SITA-ANGELO”!!!!!!!
There will be a formal showcasing next fall and a chance to admire Sita’s Soesman’s work.
Sita just beginning
From Sita’s Web Site:
When a SitaScapes collector purchased one of my “Have a favorite beach? I can paint it for you!” donations, she quickly contacted me and stated “I want you to paint my ceiling!”. I immediately answered “sure” and the rest was history. Although the project was well beyond my current expertise, I was ready to jump in and make her dream become a reality. She missed the wonderful ambiance of the Kona Village Resort and wanted to recreate fond memories on her outdoor dining room ceiling. I created a sketch, reviewed the color scheme with her and then got to work! There was planning to do, supplies to purchase and time to schedule in on the calendar to work on this project.
I began the project by sketching in the outline of the scene from the original sketch in hot pink. It was important to keep bits of the background paint color so that it blended well with the surrounding walls. Painting with latex paints was very different and challenging at times. There were some positives such as the dry time was much quicker than oils and I could easily paint in glazes to achieve a nice variety of colors. The challenges were mostly related to worrying about falling off the scaffold, replicating major color groups across the vastness of the “canvas” and keeping the paint from dripping off my brush before I could get it on the ceiling. A few unanticipated “surprises” were getting splashed with paint, unruly trade winds, and sore muscles!
Once I laid down the major groupings of color, I was able to get into the wonderful details requested by the owner. Details you remember of time spent at Kona Village; calm waters filled with canoe paddlers, dolphins and whales, Maui in the distance, fierce tiki gods protecting the North and South ends of the Resort, a luxurious black sand beach, wonderful palm trees, lush landscaping, thatched roof bungalows, reflective fresh water ponds, tiny bridges connecting the various sandy pathways and so much more! These details were the most fun for me to paint as they really provided life and brought fond memories into the project.
Once I finished the last details, took down the plastic drop cloths, touched up the edges of the ceiling and gave it a final nod of approval, I signed my name- the largest scale signature I have done so far in my career! Whew! That was exhausting but FUN and I hope my client loves her new ceiling! It’s now official – SitaAngelo is born
Filling in details
The Scope
The finale!
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