Small Hours Wake, γκρι

The composition is anchored by the moon, set just right of centre, with the heaviest branch running across its face so that a lone vulture sits in crisp outline against the disc; from there the great limbs radiate in a loose X, carrying the eye to the smaller birds spaced along every bough. At a distance the mural reads as a bold graphic of sweeping trunks and a single luminous circle, while close up you discover the ridged bark, the soft folds in the clouds, the hunched shoulders and folded wings of each bird and a nest of hair-fine twigs. The strong contrast between the bright moon and the dense trunks holds its drama even in full daylight, and once the lamps go low the sky recedes and the branches seem to step forward off the wall. Its wide landscape format and horizontal limbs stretch a wall visually, while the heavy lower trunks ground the scene and make a large room feel more enclosed and intimate. Style it with smoked oak, aged leather, wrought iron, slate and heavy wool, adding a few sculptural ceramics to echo the twisting wood. It is strongest as a single feature wall behind a desk, a long sideboard or a dining table, with the moon kept clear of shelving and tall lamps. Each panel is printed to your measured wall, so the moon and its perched sentinel land exactly where they command the room.