here is a picture of the mural

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelgermain/2763454591/

did that work?sarahla

I don't know if you can directly link to pictures from flickr here.
Here's a clickable link to your picture.

Here's another image that I found:

Why paint? Why not do it in tile? These were done using a diamond band saw. Although a little tougher, your mural would certainly be doable.

And the saw used to cut those:

mic111 posted this on the gallery side about how they did their decorative design. Scroll down for the method. Don't know if it would work for what you want.

Here is a link that might be useful: dolphin, turtle, fish shower

wow what a lot of choices! thank you so much, Bill, I do have a diamond band saw, inherited from my dad who was a stained glass artist, but sadly, I think that is beyond my skill at present. I'll definitely remember for the future though.
And Olychick, that also looks fabulous, I went to the website for a quote. I have looked into colored cement before for another project and had forgotten about it, so thank you for reminding me. In the meantime, I thought of buying enough bisque tiles (unbaked) and painting them myself. I could arrange to have them fired at my local paint it yourself pottery shop and have them installed that way. That would be more fum for me. I'll have to compare but I'll have to compare prices.
And, of course, Terriks, thank you for putting the photo up. i just haven't mastered getting photos in.

Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures of whatever I am able to do to my new bathroom walls.

thanks again, Sarah

What you might do is go over to John Bridge's forum. There's a woman over there named Marge who when she first joined the forum, was trying to do something different with her bathroom. I talked her into buying a diamond bandsaw (DL 5000) and talked her through it once she did. Go over and talk to her about her "bears and trees" bathroom, that I sent you.

This woman is a DIYer with no experience in tile before that project.

I can't find the link to her first project, but here's the link to her second, which was even better:

Here is a link that might be useful: The new old house

yes, Marge did a wonderful wall. I love that inset fish. In the meantime a glass artist friend of mine suggested I use ceramic tile that I can paint myself and have fired myself and I thought of painting on the back of glass and baking it using those ceramic paints. They work great on glass too. http://www.dickblick.com/products/pebeo-porcelaine-150/ so just thinking of ideas now....

Sarahla,

The ceramic tile idea looks very good. If you go with just paint, you need a real good clear coat to protect it, and most of the best ones are a gloss finish.

Most of the higher end sign supply shops carry One Shot UV clear and Frog Juice, which are both excellent clear coats and would allow some cleaning/polishing without problem. A lot of the sign type paints are cost prohibitive, as you can usually only get pints or quarts and end up with way more than you need for a small project.

I'm not sure how "crafty" you are, but if you decide to go with any painted route invest in some quality brushes of the appropriate size. They will make life much easier on your project as they hold a lot more paint and make for long brush strokes and even coverage.