Claudio Solano is a busy man these days. He is creating the ceiling murals for the new Keller-Williams building at the Adriatica Development in west McKinney.“I have had three murals and each has taken about two weeks each. There is a barrel shaped ceiling, a rotunda and there is a recess ceiling,” he said. “They each bring a challenge because you have to figure out the shape of it. But at the same time, the dynamic works with you.”The Adriatica development is being built like an old world Croatian fishing village. Solano’s wife, Vesna, is Croatian and she has played a large part in the murals Claudio is creating.“She does tremendous work behind the scenes,” he said. “She researches the history that helped bring the authenticity to this project. She lived there all her life so she did some of the research with her family, along with the Internet.”Painting ceiling murals is a physical challenge for Solano.“It is a challenge on your neck,” he said. “Everyone has asked me why I didn’t create a scaffold that I could lie down on. That would be interesting. The problem is I like to come down and see my work as I am creating it.“Another challenge is that you have to think upside down. You have to develop a way of doing it and go from there. I sketch everything out ahead of time first and then I enlarge my drawing on paper and go by quarters. I transfer my drawing onto the ceiling.”Solano spends approximately six hours per day on his murals. And, he noted, the work does get old for him.“I think it gets old during the process because I can hardly wait to see the finished product," he said. “The payoff is seeing the finished product.”Solano said he does second guess himself after he completes a project. That is also a part of his learning process.“You always think about how this could be better, I can do it better the next time,” he said. “I learned something extra this time and there is something I can do better the next time.”Solano is working at Adriatica for five years. He started about 18 months ago.“In 1997, I met Jeff Blackard [President of the Adriatica community] and he hired me to work on a project in Frisco,” he said. “We worked well together and in 2000, he took me to Croatia and he started developing the idea to create a European village here.”Solano, 46, who is a native of Brazil and moved to the United States 20 years ago, began drawing as a youngster. He then went to graphic arts school and went to college to study fine arts.He said computers have changed the way he prepares for a project. I still have to have the hands-on process. Ninety percent is hands on,” he said. “I have done floors, walls and ceilings.”Solano said America is his workplace and his heart is still in Brazil.“I go back there once a year to visit family,” he said. “I do very little work there. If I did work there, I would go to higher end residences or a higher end institutions or to a commercial level.”The biggest challenge for Solano is the stay true to the original Adriatica concept.“There have been some changes, but we try to reinforce the architecture and the way they built things,” he said. “Jeff wants no fake stones here. And that is a challenge. We can find similar stones here, but we try to be as authentic as possible.”So this question begs to be answered. Why a Croatian fishing village?“Jeff went there and fell in love with the place. When I went there in 2000, I understood why he fell in love with it,” Solano said. “What he is trying to bring here is the spirit of people walking on the street, parking their cars and having more interaction with each other.“The whole goal is to bring the architecture and structure of the village here. But the real challenge is, how do you bring the spirit here? You have to fill in this place with Croatians. That will be the challenge forever. Some people do not even know where Croatia is, so there is a big explanation process.”Solano said he doesn’t know how he will feel when he sees the entire development finished.“I wish it was as simple as painting a mural. I can see the end of that,” he said. “I think there will be a sigh of relief and then, what is going to be the next challenge?”If he could pick his next project, Solano said it would be a project in France or Brazil.“That is a dream of mine or to have my own business in my home city in Brazil, Sao Paolo,” he said.