Posts Tagged ‘San Diego’
This faux finish technique is one I learned from one of the leading masters of decorative paint and stenciling in the nation,
Here’s another metallic plaster technique that I have yet to execute on a wall but it sure looks nice. It’s the kind of decorative faux finish
One day I walked into my workshop and felt totally uninspired. There were no projects on my agenda, no pressing faux finish samples that needed to be created nothing to that needed to be done. So I fumbled through some magazines I had laing about when I came across a story about an interior designer in San Diego working. The story featured a room in which she had commissioned a New York City artist to create a Pompeii panel.
The panel was created by some big deal artist and came with a big deal price tag, some $ 6,000.00. The panel looked nice, but not 6000 dollars worth. That was when I decided that I could closely reproduce that Pompeii panel for much less money.
All I had to go by was the photograph as there was no mention of materials or process. I examined the photo closely to see if I could discern telltale signs of a venetian plaster application or other decorative or faux finish application method. As it turned out, I couldn’t get a clue as to what went into making this Pompeii panel. So I decided to wing it.
I’m familiar enough with venetian plaster, faux finishes and decorative painting techniques that I could put something together that would look great. But, I also wanted make sure I could execute this panel without spending too much time on it. You see, I’m always looking for a way to market whatever I create so this Pompeii panel had to be practical too.
In the next few posts I will describe step by step the process I followed to make the Pompeii panel you see below. I will use no authentic venetian plasters will show you that you don’t even need an artist brush. 
My previous post mentioned the decorative treatment I gave the doors and windows of the Shaw “Palace in the Sky” penthouse in San Diego. That part of the project took nearly 5 weeks as there are nearly 40 window and doors some reaching 25 feet in height.
Now the real work begins. In Italy, the Baroque style was reflected in opulent ornamentation that was both dramatic and extravagant. To this end the owner decided to install nearly $ 70,000.00 of molding from J. P. Weaver. J. P. Weaver produces a flexible, paintable resin based classic interior ornamentation. Very cool stuff to work with. We would create a design motif, figure out the placement of the ornamentation then create a color scheme for the various pieces that would come together on the walls, ceilings doors or fireplaces.
I had a workshop set up what would become one of the guest guest bedrooms and it was here where I experimented with color combination. Some of the moldings were given a faux bois technique to simulate some of the exotic woods installed in the penthouse.
All of the molding pieces had a lot of distinctive detail all of which had it’s own particular color scheme which the owner insisted needed to be adhered to. That meant that all the berries had to be a specific color and all the branches had to have this effect and all the leaves had to be shaded appropriately etc. This was quite an tedious undertaking. I could spend an entire day painting just two pieces of molding.
After the moldings were decorated they needed to be glazed to give the illusion of age. The following photographs show the many areas we installed the J. P. Weaver molding.
Completed in 2007, the Shaw condominium required the workmanship of several artisans in many fields. My contribution was as decorative painter and faux finish artist.