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/ 

You can follow the Swan Studios Inc. art adventures on :

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#fauxpainting  #beachfinishes #beachmural

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: 

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 ):

9) The chest now has the patina of age. time, and weather. And is is stunningly GORGEOUS !

Ready to have your own furniture piece transformed? Contact me at Swan Studios Inc:

http://www.swanstudio.net/

Be sure to follow the Swan Studios Inc painting adventures at:

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

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You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

#fauxpainting #paintedfurniture #verdigrispatina 

Doorway to Paradise

Doorway to Paradise

Southwest Florida is Paradise! That’s why the states above us and those abroad flock here every winter.  Yesterday we experienced a high of 83, gorgeous sunny skies, gentle breeze- basically, the perfect beach weather. It’s delightful to bring the happiness God has given us outdoors into the “great indoors”. And in this case, literally “in-doors”.

If you’ve followed my blogs you’ve seen plenty of doors commissioned to be painted. Usually the requests are for faux finishes with wood grain to look like mahogany or a rustic look. But some doors go beyond. Like the one below:

Painted in serene blues and dashes of  cream and off-white this beach mural tempts you for the paradise that beckons beyond the door:

A close-up view shows the details in the mural. It’s painted as if is the beach mural is on bleached out weathered wood planks. The mural paint mimics a time worn wind battered look including paint that has crackled due to baking in the Florida sunshine:

This inside door beach mural fits in perfect for this Florida paradise home. You can see the full home make over in my article titled "Florida by Way of Wisconsin" https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6227045769602344223#editor/target=post;postID=2837256429060076375;onPublishedMenu=publishedposts;onClosedMenu=publishedposts;postNum=81;src=postname 

This beach mural door make-over doesn’t stop on the inside. The exterior side of this front door is painted as a faux wood grain:

The home owner had installed a screen door with a dolphin motif. The faux finish wood grain allows the dolphin motif to pop:

You can see more of my wood grain faux finishes for doors and garage doors at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/141716424@N04/albums/72157666735253851

To see more of my Beach Murals just click here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/141716424@N04/albums/72157664505893574

Ready to have your own door painted? Just contact me at Swan Studios Inc:

http://www.swanstudio.net/

Be sure to follow the Swan Studios Inc mural painting adventures on:

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

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You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

#beachmural #fauxfinish #woodgrain #muralpainting

The Pink Dolphin

The Pink Dolphin

Yes, there really are Pink Dolphins!!! I did a little research before painting a mailbox statue and found several pink dolphins in nature. There is one in China:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/pink-dolphins-hong-kong/ 

There is one in Brazil: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/dolphin-pink-river

There is the albino dolphin:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150909-pinky-albino-bottlenose-dolphin-

animals-science/ 

And now there is one right here in Cape Coral,Florida!!!

The project itself started out with the front door being painted in a peachy pink crackle finish and the garage door painted a weathered beach wood in the same tones.

To see more details on the door transformations: http://swanstudiosinc.blogspot.com/2016/08/everythings-just-peachy.html

The weather here on in SW Florida has been interesting this year, raining almost every day from April to October. When by chance there was a break in the rain for a few days we seized on the chance to finish the outside and get the mail box painted. The city of Cape Coral, however, decided to do the same thing and just I was headed over to paint the mailbox I received notice that the street was being repaved. Fortunately, the weather break continued and finally "Pinky" was created.

Weather had taken its toll on this dolphin mailbox. But now she is in glorious full color. After painting the dolphin I added an opalescent glaze to give her added shimmer. 

To see how Pinky was created visit the Swan Studios You Tube Channel:

https://youtu.be/ysdQlPikM6E

To have your own outdoor faux finishes painted contact Swan Studios Inc:

http://www.swanstudio.net/

To keep up with all the Swan Studios Inc painting adventures be sure to follow us at:

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You Tube:https://www.youtube.com/SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

#fauxpainting #pinkdolphin #paintedstatue #paintedmailbox

A Home Tour in Deliciously Faux Painted Patina

A Home Tour in Delicious Faux Painted Patina

The beauty of patina on copper, bronze, and other metal surfaces has long been admired for its colorful variations in blue and greens. The weathered vintage finishes are sought after here in Southwest Florida and are used for both interior and exterior home finishes. This week’s featured home is bursting with the color combination of antique dusty blue & green patinas along with brilliant metallic shades of fresh polished copper. The palette is so delicious we decided to show this as a home tour.  

We’ll start the tour in the center of the home: The great room. The ceiling is to die for in matte blue and green patinas of aged copper veined in oxidized rust with flashes of brilliant copper peeking through:

The feature wall in the great room is reactive copper oxidized in a solution that allows natural occurring patina to take place within hours what would naturally take decades. Rather than oxidize the entire wall, the solution was sprayed across the top and gravity gave the random effect:

Incorporated in the great room the kitchen features a matte chalky finish of blue green:

The home's entrance offers the first look at the breath taking faux finishes with copper foil texture ceilings overlaid with blue and green patina :

The same faux finish is carried into the formal dining room ceiling:

The dining room is a delightful combination of the ceiling colors brought onto the walls:

View from the dining room into the entrance hall. You can see a copper metallic faux painted niche created as a backdrop for the client's tropical artwork:

The guest powder bath is a delightful very personalized faux painted finish. The walls are a gently wash of pale sage green and off white. The marquis pattern is in bright copper. At the center of every other marquis is a marble. The marbles are inspired from a personalized commissioned art piece painted by Mossad agent turned artist, Victor Ostrovsky.:

The master bedroom is a romantic oasis. The ceiling is faux painted in metallic shades of deep teal and peacock blue and deepens on the edges into an oil rubbed bronze:

More photos of this stunning home will be featured on the Swan Studios Inc You Tube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

In future blog articles I'll discuss the creation of the copper finishes.

Ready to have your own stunning faux finishes painted for your home? Contact faux artist Marty Wisher at: http://www.swanstudio.net/

And be sure to follow Swan Studios Inc on our social media pages:

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+SwanStudiosIncCapeCoral

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swanstudiosinc

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#fauxpainting #copperpatina #copperfoil #fauxpaintedpatina #patina