Photo by Barbara Perkins 

Child's play

Murals inspire one-of-a-kind decor

By Barbara Perkins

Whimsical color, birds, bees and spiders. What a perfect environment for a 3-year-old to while away the hours playing with his favorite toys and reading storybooks.

Inspired by children’s book characters and a toddler’s toys, that’s exactly the setting Ketchum muralist Nicole des Champs created with the strokes of her brush and her folk art style in a Sun Valley area child’s bedroom.

A journeyman house painter, this 30-year local resident takes inspiration from her client, even if that client happens to be 3 years old. Too often a parent or decorator institutes his or her own childhood fantasy when decorating a child’s room.

“It’s not about me,” says des Champs, who has worked on murals and interior designs in a variety of locations across the nation and even in Mexico, where she collaborated with students on a school mural.

The first step, des Champs says, is to discuss what a client is looking for in a mural.

A child’s room is a space where his or her personality and interests should really shine. In this case, paging through young Ethan’s favorite storybooks with him inspired the rising sun-setting moon theme and cast of characters for his bedroom makeover.

White walls painted a beautiful blue set the background for the wrap-around mural that flows across three walls of Ethan’s room. The mural gradually transforms from the brilliant colors of a rising sun to subtle tones of the setting moon and stars over Ethan’s bed; trees, flowers and a host of whimsical characters dot the landscape in between.

“It’s a creative process,” explains des Champs, who never sketches out her figures. “I ask what the client is envisioning, then let inspiration dictate the outcome. Even I don’t always know how it will turn out. On murals, my clients just let me paint.”

Des Champs’ clients are familiar with her work. Dramatic color and fun images are her signature mural style, familiar locally to patrons of Ketchum’s Roosevelt Bar and Grill and Desperado’s Mexican restaurant, among other local hotspots.

“‘Murals are an expression of hospitality’; that just says it best,” des Champs explains, quoting a Mexican artist from whom she has drawn elements of her muralist style.

Creating playful mural images is a welcome break from her interior colorizations and decorative painting, sought after from coast to coast. The talented artist took time out this spring from a commissioned Southwest colorization project in a Palm Springs home to stroke the imagination of young Ethan onto his walls.

“I do more interior colorizations than murals,” says des Champs. “ I wish it were the other way around.”

Des Champs does not confine her artwork to walls. Over the past 20 years, she has also been involved in the conceptualization, design and production of artwork for apparel. From 1987 through 1996, she was a partner in an imprint sportswear company called World Ware.

“We developed original art for printing on various garments and sold in the apparel and gift marketplace,” des Champs says. “Our customers included Disneyland, REI, Macy’s and Yosemite National Park.”

Using the Internet and www.mtdreamworks.com to market her talents and art, literally worldwide, des Champs enjoys the lifestyle Sun Valley has to offer while pursuing her passion for art.

In 1997, she added decorative painting to her palette and enjoys the challenge of creating imagery that “manifests the vision of my client.” Her style, emphasizing color and expressionism, adorns furniture, canvas mats, interiors and many other materials.

Her experience in such a variety of mediums and materials may inspire the next phase of Ethan’s room: furniture.

Many locals and visitors are actually familiar with des Champs’ work through her painted furniture. These pieces are designed as standalones or custom painted to carry through the theme of a mural or other accessory, turning bland second-hand pieces into inspired trimmings.

With the mural providing the focus, it’s now up to Ethan’s parents to build on des Champs’ motifs when adding other room elements, furniture, bedding and window treatments to complete the space for young Ethan.

Ethan enjoys his room filled with bugs, bees, flowers and spiders, where perhaps he too will become inspired to join the arts. Already, his paintings adorn the walls throughout his parents’ home. •