Wow! How can ten years painting on Etsy go by so fast?!



It started back in 2011. I was one of the first glow in the dark artists to create realistic star murals for ceilings. 
Second generation glow in the dark paint was only just on the market and for the first time the paint was bright and long lasting enough to do something with!
 Glow in the dark art was still a blank canvas, completely new and exciting.



I had the unique privilege of exploring an entirely fresh art medium. I got to paint nebulas, star clusters, comets that had never been painted in real glowing light before. 



That was wild for an artist who loved the stars!



It began with an earthquake in New Zealand…



In Christchurch, New Zealand 2011 we had the most destructive earthquake in our memory. We were told as kids about the large alpine fault line that lies through the entire South Island of NZ. We’d heard it could rupture any time, but no-one knew there were other fault lines beneath our city.

On the afternoon of February 11 we were hit with a large earthquake that shut down the central city for two years. More than ten years later it’s still being rebuilt!

That night, aside from emergency rescue teams and some people for whose lives forever changed, central Christchurch was abandoned.



In the following months total blackout meant no light pollution. Christchurch now had super bright night skies.

All the constellations of summer were passing overhead with a spectacular Milky Way. 
I went out and learnt the star constellations with star maps and a torch with red cellophane.

Aftershocks continued for the next year and when we were woken at night I often crept outside for a quick look at the sky. I loved the solitude of the night and the adventure of discovering the night sky for the first time. Waiting for new constellations to rise, watching for the planets, comets. It was a year of space stations tracking across the sky and trying to stay awake for meteor showers. 
I remember standing barefoot in the soft silky dust of earthquake liquefaction at night and seeing the prettiest white shooting star ever. It had little white break-away sparkles as it fell.



As an artist I wanted to paint it all, inside with large full scale ceiling murals. 
Because glow in the dark art was new, it took more than a year of trial and error, painting solely for myself. I painted our ceilings and sanded them back, painted them again many times. I was trying to make the most realistic murals of the skies I saw outside. That first year was also spent waking up many times every night to check and plan adjustments to the work I'd painted the previous day. Sometimes there wasn't enough wall space and sometimes the room glowed with so much light, there were shadows.



From painting star murals on location I then worked to create completely unique 'star ceilings' for other star lovers across the world. 
The years I spent painting ceilings became invaluable experience when it came to designing the products I make now.

 I’ve pretty much loved every moment painting glow in the dark stars and sharing with you all! 
I love making art that was exclusively original to Stella Murals.



That’s a little of my story, so how would you like to create your own starry world?

⭐ Glow in the Dark Star Bed Canopies will surround your bed in a soft delicate fabric of glowing stars.





⭐ Star Ceiling Canopies are light and airy bedroom décor that will also transform your night time ceiling with beautiful glow in the dark star fields. They are a sheer glossy fabric and come with small pins.





⭐ Peel and Stick Self Adhesive Star Murals are matt white and are painted on the most advanced mural material for easy application and damage free removal. They are reusable. 



⭐ DIY Star Ceilings are kits that consist of hundreds of individual star stickers and are teamed up with larger peel and stick feature decals like Moons and comets. You choose the size and you get to arrange your star ceiling exactly how you like it.



You can cover any size area with hundreds of extra star stickers to create glowing layers of depth or to easily expand the size of your night sky. These star stickers are as realistic and bright as other artwork I paint but leave room for you to design your own glowing skies. Do it your way!



Message me with custom art requests. I'd love to work with any ideas you may have. 

Let’s do it!



Esther :)