PHOTO SUBMITTED / Don Jacobs’s mural at Wyolah plantation is a work in progress.

Soft landscapes are lightly brushed across the wall in a monochromatic pallet that resemble a faded photograph. Brookhaven native Don Jacobs paints his way around rooms leaving serene yet majestic scenes in homes across the South.

Jacobs’s skills are currently being used on the Wyolah plantation outside of Natchez in Church Hill, home of director Tate Taylor.

Jacobs grew up in Brookhaven but was swept off his feet at 19 when he left for a summer job in Europe. He attended art school at Kunstschule Westend in Frankfurt, Germany, for graphic design. He returned to the Deep South eight years later and began a career as a graphic designer.

Close to 30 years ago, Jacobs decided to go in to business for himself, specializing in faux finishes and murals.

Don Jacobs

“Although mural projects don’t just happen every day, I’ve managed a pretty interesting clientele list,” said Jacobs.

The story of how he came to be painting a 600-square-foot mural in a historic Jefferson County plantation began at the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson.

Jacobs was asked to paint a mural for the mansion, so he filled a meeting room with tranquil foliage from across the state in his signature style of natural realism. The accuracy suggests that the room’s walls were merely veils separating the politics from the natural landscapes surrounding them.

After seeing Jacobs’s work in the Governor’s Mansion, Sam Haskal asked Jacobs to paint a mural in his Oxford home. Haskel is the former executive vice president of the William Morris Talent Agency in Los Angeles and worldwide head of their television division. Since his retirement, he has written a best selling autobiography and now heads the Miss America Pageant.

Jacobs painted scenes of Oxford around the foyer of the Haskel’s home. From the lush Mississippi countryside, to the Oxford square and Ole Miss campus, Jacobs filled the room in a sepia-toned majesty.

“About a year ago I got an e-mail from someone interested in having me do a mural in an old plantation home he was renovating outside of Natchez,” said Jacobs.

“He told me to Google “Wyolah,” (the name of the plantation), and I could see pictures of the home. It was there I learned that my potential client, Tate Taylor, was the man who directed the movie “The Help.”

Coincidentally, Taylor visited the Governor’s Mansion as well, speaking to Gov. Phil Bryant about a new film.

“Like the mural in the Governor’s Mansion and the Haskell home, the work at the Taylor home will be monochromatic, made up of dark and light shades like a black and white photo, but in this case in blue-green tones,” said Jacobs. “It’s a very subtle, relaxed look, as opposed to a full color mural which on that scale could possibly be a little unnerving.”