Faux Fresco Project 1
Jul 18, 2013
6 Comments
“Faux Fresco” Project 1 A Step by Step Guide To How To Paint A Faux Fresco Since preparing the fine art studio in Bonita Springs
© All rights reserved Art-Faux Wall Designs
About The Artist
Arthur Morehead,
behind Art-Faux Designs
a native of Illinois, discovered Naples Fl. in 1987.
“When I first landed in Naples Fl. I fell in love with the area right away and knew I had found what I’d been looking for as an artist ”
About The Artist My Personal Story (The Inside Scoop)
Having always been working with my hands since a young lad, I was immediately drawn to art even before my first day in school. Back then art class was a normal part of school in Illinois and I couldn’t get enough of it. I enrolled in just about every class that had anything to do with being creative, from turning wood with lathes to drafting and blue printing cabinet designs in high school.
My first real experience with a paint brush was when I was 6 years old.
You see my father and his father before him worked very long hours in the local steel mill and back then you had to work very hard for very little. We were always looking for little ways to help out around the house.
I learned What not to do as an artist at an early age when deciding to help my father by painting the rental house that we lived in. I had discovered this bucket of old red lead paint (I’m sure a lot of you out there of my age can relate to those days) and we began painting the entire back of the house as high as our little arms could reach, which really wasn’t very high or level but it was still more than enough to attract the attention of our landlord.
I won’t go into details about the ramifications of making adult decisions and the few trips behind the proverbial wood shed, but let’s just say I couldn’t sit down for a week and something else besides the house was red too…
Needless to say that didn’t stop me from continuing my “Paint Rampage” as my father put it because the neighbor’s fence was my next project and even Spike our dog got involved and became part of my plans when I tried to make him look like Petey the dog from the old reruns of “The Little Rascals.”
Time passed but I’m still a curious child when it comes to all art forms. My education consists of many years of experience (30 years plus) in the painting business and I have been painting my whole life. When the faux finishing craze hit the industry I was introduced to Donna Phelps owner of The Sarasota School of Decorative Arts and decided to further my knowledge and hone my skills. From there I took extensive training from Faux Effects International in Vero Beach, Florida to learn the product line and now this quest for knowledge has evolved into studying with professionals from all over the country and some of Europes’ most renowned artists.
Armed with these special skills I started a new company called Art-Faux Designs & Painting Inc. Since I have been painting all my life this has had a profound effect on me. I am not just an artist, or just a craftsman but a fusion of all aspects of decorative finishing with a real love and a passion for what I do. As the older I get I have found myself teaching others and have actually became passionate of yet another art form and have decided to do this more often. Being that I have not had the opportunity when I was young to take my education to a higher level because I had to go to work and raise a family.
I encourage architects and designers to contact me when they are still in the design stage all the to determine the final result. I love to be involved, and in fact I love challenge too! Stretching the limits of creativity makes me feel alive and excited so I made my company motto, “The pickier you are the better we are.”
I can get pretty “geeky” and anal about painting too, so sometimes if I start to go too technical just remind me to tone it down a little more and let the pictures do the talking. I created this blog to share my love of faux and decorative finishing with everyone and I hope you enjoy it. I love to meet and work with creative people so don’t be shy, leave me a comment and say “HI!”
Find What You Need
Read More »
Foils and Textures
Jan 9, 2009
2 Comments
albert12, originally uploaded by artmorehead. This faux painting idea consists of two colors of foils along with two layers of texture and two overglazings. This is
The New Look and Re-Designs
Jan 30, 2010
3 Comments
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
Sunrise in Vero Painting Process
Feb 13, 2012
10 Comments
This is a first in a series of three paintings I will be offering for a limited time only with the first being made available before the second and the third only after the second
Metallic Suede
Jan 17, 2009
No Comments
Older faux finishes stand the test of interior design trends Design trends can change what seems to be overnight sometimes depending on who and what
Southwestern Style Gameroom Makeover with Texture Effects
Feb 2, 2009
3 Comments
Art-Faux Designs Inc featured in Home and Designs magazine It featured a heavy “Old World Plaster Finish” that took many layers of texture effects with
18 thoughts on “About The Artist”
Mr. Morehead,
Let me first say, in the article ” About the Artitst”, just the fact that you mentioned about “behind the woodshed” makes me laugh. We must be a kin to one another. I am from upper east TN. I have so loved the faux finishes and have never had the opportunity to take any formal classes. I saw on here the mention of classes although some time ago. I was wondering if you have any week long classes. I would really like to take some. Thanks, Annie
Hi Annie , It’s funny you should say that about the area you’re from as I have been thinking about Chattanooga for sometime now and how well the arts are supported there. I have often thought what might be like to rent a place there during the summer months and paint my art and then just living here in Southwest Florida (Naples) during the winter. Being that I paint murals and fine art, Faux Finishing has been my mainstay and I do teach from time to time. As of right now I am putting some things together in the virtual reality kind of thing to be streamed and on occasion “Live Broadcasting” and am going to launch very soon as now I have managed to get most of the equipment together which cost considerably more than what others online were trying to make it out has said (always goes like that) I am very close so just keep an eye out on my Facebook and newsletter. Thanks for posting.
I would like to get a contact email for your company for a client. Does your company use email or is there another form of communication preferred?
Thank you
Hi Julie, There are several ways to contact me and the comments section or my contacts https://art-faux.com/contact/ page is the quickest, but I do have these monitored for spam. I have a weakness and a passion for helping others and receive a couple hundred emails a day. Generally I get to the genuine emails and comments pretty quickly and sometimes faster than phone because of reception limitations. Hope here soon I’ll have an IPad. Anyway I sent you an email.
Art, You are the coolest dude EVER, what en insperational Personality! I work with easter bunny eggs and liquid windo tints, see my photos on my face book page, Gary Chipman, the one with the Jimi Hendrex guitar and stain glass cowboy hat, there are stain glass guitars and drums in my photes Lets Be friends and maybe colaberate.
CHEERS Gary Cell 603-339-9662
Lol Hey Gary, thanks for the compliment you do have a way with words. I will go check out your Facebook page. Hmmmm liquid window tints now that sounds interesting, I haven’t really tried doing anything with that medium but I like the thought of it.
I found your bog on linked-in and find I relate to your personal story and art to be very close to my own. I also was “saved by art” without this one particular art teacher in my high school I would have been lost in black hole having no hope or interest in anything. I also help as many people as I can to heal their lives with creating art. I have built my site myself on artspan, I have carefully followed the discussion on linkedin on SEO and blogs. I know I need help with mine and in defining my market between my more “spiritual” and my more abstract, decorative work. I would love to have your imput and would pay you if you like. I have been helping my daughter with recovering from a brain injury 2 years ago and am only now able to pick up my marketing and exhibitions again.
Thank you for the inspiration on helping others. I hope to do the same sort of teaching of kids again when I can.
Hi Kathleen,
Glad you found Art Faux, I will take a look at your site and see what I can do to help, artists do have a busy life juggling everything that we do and I hope everything is working out for you. I will be announcing a seminar schedule in August that will cover many aspects regarding the arts, faux finishing, classes, marketing and a number of other things. I will email you with what I find about your site. Thanks for the comment and joining.
Hi Art, I’m very impressed with your work and creativity. I live in Olde Cypress off of Immokolee Rd. in Naples and I have some high ceilings that I would like to get faux painted or glazed. I really don’t know exactly what I want so I was thinking that maybe you could come out and put together a recommendation and quote for me.
Best Regards,
Thanks Joe, I am very familiar with Old Cypress and will give you a call in the morning. I also took a look at your site and am impressed with the functionality of it and how well it was done. I ran an analytic on your site so when I call I’ll give you a few SEO tips to help you get more traffic. You should have much more than you’re getting for the page rank that you have. Oh! yeah, I guess I should tell you that internet marketing and SEO is one of many things that I do creatively as well as decorative painting, it’s really quite fascinating.
I’m a decorative artist in Vero Beach with 35 yrs. experience in art. I really enjoyed the videos and blog. Keep up the great work even though times are tough. What are your most successful marketing strategies?
Hi Carol
Welcome to my blog, your website is awesome. I have several marketing strategies that I work on and they all work together, I guess the first thing I would do is to start a blog and maximize it with a few plugins and some SEO tactics and it doesn’t take long to get ranked.
Hello Arthur,
I am very happy to find your website! I have been searching for an faux finishing class to take. When are you going to start teaching. I often pass your new studio in Bonita.
I would rather pay or donate to local talented artist than travel hours away.
Please keep me posted!
Deborah B. Ft Myers, Florida
Welcome Deborah, I am starting to hold classes on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm on basic faux techniques for Do It Yourselfers and home owners. take a look at this link and drop me an email as to what your interested in Faux Finishing classes.
Thank you for sharing your expertise. I’m looking for the foil you showed on one of your videos. I’m unable to find art-fauxworld.com to buy the foil from you. Do yo still sell this?
Thanks,
NDKeegan
Hi Nannette,
I no longer carry the foil products because of my busy schedule but you can order them through this website and contacting Donna by phone at
Phone: 941-921-6181 or 888-454-FAUX (3289)
Email: info@sarasotafauxfx.com
Hi Arthur. I just found your website/blog and wanted to say thank you for sharing your thoughts and talent, I am a faux/trompe l’oeil artist in Bonita but don’t get to meet others very often. Enjoyed your video! Keep up the good work! Christi
Thanks Christi, Glad you found the site and hope you took a tour of it, I have a lot of information on the site and am getting prepared to add more because you just cant get enough. I would interested in your work and will stop by your site…..thanks for coming by and feel free to ask if you need anything. I have a new studio in Bonita you should stop by some time ….