In recent years, new interior design trends have led many people to paint their walls a plain color such as gray or even white. These muted colors have been proven to promote relaxation, but they can also be dull and lead to feelings of loneliness.
Some people, including senior Maddie Cavin and freshman Joseph Acree, have chosen to decorate their walls in a more colorful and creative way through painting and drawing.
Out of boredom, Cavin was inspired to begin painting a mural in her room during the pandemic.
“It’s just a giant sun except it has a face — I started it after Covid and ended up finishing it the summer before my freshman year,” Cavin said. “I’m not currently adding to it, but I’ve considered adding some more shading and details.”
Acree started decorating his walls with art about a year ago. Contrary to Cavin, Acree creates his art on paper before putting it on his walls.
“The original paint color was teal, but I’ve been recently hanging up drawings [and doing] whatever I can to stylize the walls because they’re so empty,” Acree said. “It’s like one big teal canvas.”
Similar to Acree, Cavin believes her wall art adds more color into her life and brings more of her own character into the decor of her room.
“The mural itself doesn’t represent anything in particular; I painted it because I can’t stand living in a bland, boring environment without any sort of personality,” Cavin said. “If anything, the mural is just a representation of what goes on in my head.”
Both Acree and Cavin completed their art by themselves, but some of Cavin’s friends have added their own touches.
“Nobody helped me during the painting process,” Cavin said. “However, I did have my friends put their handprints on the same wall.”
Cavin and Acree both pursue different forms of art outside of decorating their walls.
“I usually have a drawing pad that I carry around,” Acree said. “I just fill it with random drawings of what I think [about].”
Even though drawing can be relaxing, Acree finds the most satisfaction in creating art for his room.
“[Personalizing my walls] is important to me because I need something to express my creativity, and I can’t do that just through plain drawings,” Acree said. “I need to hang something up. I need to decorate my room to express it somewhere.”
