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We are finally in and are now getting ready for the opening!

Yes I know, the construction delays have been horrendous to say the least, but as of a couple of weeks ago they gave me the “O.K.”

So now I will work as hard as I can to regain some of the lost time.

This weekend was very productive for me because I was able to get the basis of the new studio mural project started, and I must say for an old guy I even impressed myself and was able to get all of the trompe loeil architecture features laid out on this 20′ x 14′ wall and the first coat of base paint applied. I am going to blog this with progress posts to document the procedure for my current and future clients so they can get familiar with some of the steps involved

Being that I limited the space on the reception area to only a small area in order to have as much working studio space as possible, I had already planned to create the illusion of  space through the use of trompe loeil and landscape murals. The east and west walls will adorn more trompe loeil in the form of marble and wood panels with some ornamental designs.

As you can see there are a few problem areas that have to be worked into the concept which is really no problem at all once you have a plan of attack, but in this case I am working on the fly with this because I have no time to spend on renderings if I plan to be open by the end of March.

I work well under pressure and sometimes I even amaze myself when I have to be creative in situations like these. Two of the problems like the return air vent and the double doors leading into the class room I have already remedied and will hide these within the mural project. The A.C. duct I am still thinking about. The “kick plates” are really an eye sore but I am not allowed to paint these ……but now that I think about it they didnt say anything about removing it though lol

Being that its tight quarters I am forced to do the best I can with the Sony camera I have to get the shots necessary shots to show the progress.

Tomorrow I plant to get the color and over glaze done accomplished so I can move on to the trompe loeil…….

It seems I just cant get away from the trompe loeil work for hand painted furniture, but you know I love this kind of work especially when I have the time available to do my own thing. I was introduced to yet another Interior Designer from one of my vast array of contacts that I have built up over the last couple of years as a result of  my “Gonzo Networking” as I like to call it named so after one of my favorite writers Hunter S. Thompson who was a well known author and a controversial journalist of the 60’s on up until his demise a couple of years back. This type of networking just proves  that you should do this everyday no matter what  shortfalls the economic conditions throw at us, but I will go into these kind of things on my new blog that I am getting ready to launch on marketing for artist as well as some ways to make some additional income during times like these

But for now here’s couple of pics of a hand painted furniture piece with some ornamental trompe loeil in a french country style

The design and layout was all hand painted with an orange gold metalic to compliment the french blue

This is a better shot to get an idea of the kind of depth that can be created with a simple design and a little trompe loeil

I personally like hand painting projects like these because of the authentic look you end up with.  It gives the piece a much higher quality end result than using a stencil design. It’s Not that there’s anything wrong with stencils I just prefer  not to use them on furniture which gives you the freedom of designing your own unique touch

With the opening of the new studio simple techniques such as this one will be taught at the new location in Bonita Springs. I have just received the Certificate of Occupancy and am in the process of getting everything in order to have a nice opening , Sign up for our newsletter to keep updated on all of our events that will be coming very quickly

Well here I am up all night again doing the things that I really do enjoy doing, but I just wish there were more hours in the day to be able to do all the things I need to do so I can fall flat on my face more often due to lack of sleep, but it must be done….and so it goes…….

And yet another powder room finish in which I have discovered, or rather truth be told the idea was passed on to me from another artist friend of mine, Lin Lam, for this tissue finish technique.

Although I would like to lay claim to this, it just wouldn’t be right  not to  give credit where credit is due in my opinion, which is more like a code of conduct and a respect that we all have for one another as artists……..or at least most of us do…..

It seems that modern day faux painting is really taking quite a foothold in todays market and I am starting to see some formulated product lines coming out that reflect this for use with contemporary and modern designs.

I know color is color when it comes to an artists stand point but lets face it, most of the products that where made available in the past where all designed for Traditional and Old World techniques so really didn’t see a lot of the bright cadmiums, thalo and a number of others for reasons other than just what I speak of

When Lin showed me a sample of this finish it blew me away because of the verticle application and it so happened that I had a client that was interested in a grass cloth look but didnt want what everyone else had.

So after adding my own twist to the finish the client fell in love with this look which actually turned out quite subtle to my surprise

I like how it’s some what sporadic in the movement which leaves a lot of room for different looks and ideas, for instance when I look at this I think of Birch trees in the mountains and I suppose you could even use this idea for a canvas piece….hmmmmm

Maybe I’ll get on that idea as a relief ……

As redesign seems to be the trend for decorative artists,

I to am participating in this adventure of

New Looks and Re-Designs.

I recently changed an Eastern design foil application to a warmer colored foil which one of my existing clients absolutely loved  when compared  to the other foil I have used in the past for this finish. The previous foil was on a greener cooler side which looked grayish against the warmer gold finish on the mirror frame which we all know is one of the main accessories that holds the whole design together in a room such as this

Now there are a few things I must warn you about.

When working with foils  it can be a very temperamental medium so when it comes to applying them as a

“stand alone” finish, it is difficult to achieve  a 100%  coverage with the first application sometimes and there are a lot of factors involved.   It can not be achieved most times which is why the design side of the finish needs to be thought out when creating your samples for your client if you are wanting to only apply one layer of foil.

This particular design I was actually introduced to by artists Pam and David Schmidt many years ago and fell in love with it and the use of foils but was first introduced to them by Gary Lord and Donna Phelps who are very dear to me.

I loved their approach to mural painting which is what I used here for the bamboo

but I have made my own changes by leaving the cooler gold foil for a warmer color of gold

for this particular client

The New Look and Re-Designs

are important in todays market and sometimes even the most subtle changes can make the difference of what sells or sinks a treatment

If you look close you can see a lot of the back ground color of the red coming through the foil which is one of the reasons

I used a warmer “redder” foil

I also kicked up the intensity of the highlights on the bamboo to bring the contrast and values closer to the brightness of the foil so as to try and “meld” the two together before over glazing the finish. The highlights had just the right amount of intensity to pick up the glow of the foil but yet not to much to throw the contrast out of whack

because in most cases they these small baths have ceilings that are either to high or to low are

composition ally challenging, especially when it comes to a mural design.

With the mirror spanning nearly a third of the wall space plays an important part in the room design, as with most powder rooms, so I had to bring both the mirror frame and the foil finish together without losing one within the other, which made the room even more challenging and with my arsenal of unique materials that I find through many hours of research I am always prepared for any challenge

I love working with things that no one else has which is why a lot of the foils I work with you don’t find very often. Reason being is that distributors simply wont sell them because of the difficulty of applying them sometimes.

I find ways to make things happen which separates me from everyone else which is why I have these foils. When everyone else has given up on them, kind of like the proverbial “Red headed step child” that is cast aside because of being the problem child, do I see  something worth not giving up on, and it becomes a challenge to be able to create something beautiful and unique….

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Oh yeah! I love this combination!

Even though the current trends of today

are on modern and contemporary designs where there doesn’t seem to be a lot of the traditional  or

“Old World Faux”

There is a combination of the two in what seems to be a new trend that I have seen coming into play as of late to where

Interior Designers are combining the two where the old meets the new

So in order to experiment with this combination, a friend of mine Craig Lebeau of Studio West in Naples Fl had a cabinet built to see what we could come up with to reflect this combination where

“Old Meets The New”

Now these are only the progress pictures that I have so far but as you can see the cabinet has straight sharp lines as in the modern/contemporary look, but with some old world embellishments this prototype is really starting to take on a characteristic all its own and actually  has a very unique look.

If this finish looks familiar to most of you, well you are correct. It is my

“Trompe Loeil Foil”

finish which I developed not long ago that keeps on selling and selling and selling…….

As a matter of fact I still have this finish available on DVD in my

“How to Faux” “Amazing Accents”

video series on the upper right of this page or by

this link here

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