Swan Studios Mural and Faux Finish Adventures: December 2016

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Give Me More!!!

Give Me More!!!!

Give me more! That seemed to be this year’s mantra as happy clients requested more & more murals and faux finishes. Of course, that is music to an artist’s ears. If you are venturing into the world of specialty decorative finishes one of the best pieces of advice I can offer is “keep a record of what you paint”!!! I’m always astonished when I hear that an artist has no idea what colors or technique they used on a finish. I have been painting professionally for over 20 years and I have records on everyone. Sure it means you have to be disciplined and organized. As a business owner that is crucial though. Each client has a file with a paint diary page in it. I log the colors, paint finishes, ratios of mix, any unique technique, etc. And call me crazy, I will give the customer a copy of it if they would like it for their house diary ( If you are a home owner- please keep a diary of what is used in your home. Not just paint colors- ANYTHING! Grout color and brand, manufacturer’s info of appliances, etc.) Just as shocking to hear from a home owner as it is an artist that they have no idea what colors are in their home. Over the years I have come behind other artists to fix damages done to faux work. Maybe there was a pipe that burst or electric circuits reworked or wall moved, or whatever. Without records I have to reinvent the wheel.

Fortunately, because I do keep records on my clients, I was able to expand a beach board wall faux finish I created onto even more wall surfaces.

The original faux work was featured on the Swan Studios Inc. art blog at: http://swanstudiosinc.blogspot.com/2016/06/todays-weathered-report.html

The home owner’s loved the wall so much they called several months later and asked that the treatment be painted onto the kitchen bulk head. It made perfect sense and now the area looks even more fabulous.

To get the paint color just right, I had originally mixed on site. Thank heavens I logged my mixes as I painted.

Ready to give your home the lift it needs to be super fabulous? Contact me at: http://www.swanstudio.net/

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#fauxpainting #beachfinishes #beachmural

Sunday, December 4, 2016

How to Paint Patina

How To Paint Patina

Quite often – perhaps more often than not- after a home is faux painted or mural-ed the homeowner wants even more work done. A few weeks ago a home with some exquisite Verdigris Patina faux finishes was featured here on the Swan Studios Inc Art blog:

http://swanstudiosinc.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-home-tour-in-deliciously-faux-painted_13.html

There happened to be a Hope chest in the master suite that had belonged to the home owner since her childhood. It was hard to see since the finish on the chest blended in with the finish on the footboard of the bed. She asked to have a faux finish created to help it stand out. It is now faux painted with aged copper verdigris and oxidized rust. It is GORGEOUS!

The chest was transformed through a series of steps:

1) The chest was cleaned with denatured alcohol to remove and dust and debris

2) A primer coat is painted on in a deep brown

3) A second base coat was applied in Metallic Copper

4) Using reactive metallic paint the lid and sections of the side were painted copper, while some sections of the sides were painted bronze:

5) Using the bronze sections as the blending point, reactive rust paint was painted onto the lower portion, the feet, and the backside:

6) Here's where the real fun begins. ( If you're using reactive paint-especially reactive rust- make sure you are in an extremely well ventilated environment. Occasionally, I get up and walk away from the paint because it will make you dizzy). Wearing heavy industrial gloves :

Blue and green reactive solution is sprayed onto the metallic paints and rust activator is sprayed onto the reactive rust paint:

7) Sections were retreated to get to the depth I wanted to achieve and a urethane was put onto sections while it was semi-dry allowing the paint to react with a crackle:

8) Permacoat is used to seal all the processes ( if you are using the rust reactive paint this step is extremely important and be sure to follow the instructions ):