Painter Girl

New Folding Screen

I thought I'd move on to the latest folding screen I am working on, since there is little to report on my front hall project.  Remember the Geisha Girls, on the three panels?  Well, I have another folding screen,  exact same size and shape to play with.  Yay!

This one is going to feature 3 Gals from the 1920's.  A fabulous fashion era, with lots of beading and glitz.  Perfect for these panels!  At first it was to be fashions from the 30's, but once I started doing the research, I could see the 20's was much more in sync with my client's style.  She has two chairs from the 1930's in her living room, where this screen will reside, so that is why she initially thought about doing something from that era.  We poured over a lot of dress styles and both agreed, the 20's would be a lot more fun.  I bought this book with CD from Dover Press, which has all royalty free images to use.

 

Here are the three Gals we choose for the panels. The colors will be altered.

 

 

I set about the arduous task of removing the existing fabric from each panel, i.e. pulling out a zillion staples!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, I peeled off the paper liner and cleaned all the glue off with TSP, rinsing it all well.  Of course, I have no sink in my studio, so this meant several trips upstairs to my kitchen for clean water and back down to the studio.  My previous source of water was always from my top loading washing machine.  Unfortunately, that recently died and I made the maybe not so wise decision to get a front loader instead, completely forgeting about this handy source of water when I'm working!  I do love my new front loader for laundry though, and I guess I'll eventually catch on to the idea of filling up a few pails of water every time I'm working down here now.

Here they are, all primed and ready to go!

 

Putting on the Finishing Touches

I used some black mica flakes for the girls hair.  To adhere, I used some sizing, let tack up for a bit, then just liberally sprinkled the area with the mica.  Later, I brushed the loose flakes away.  This was messy and not the best idea to do near areas that I had already foiled, as flakes stuck to that too, and I had to pick them out.  Note to self, I'd apply the mica flakes before I began any foiling.

 

 

I've had this jar of mica flakes for months now, just waiting to use some.  A little goes a long way, so I will probably have this jar until I'm 90!

 

 

 

 

I pulled out all my smallest patterened stencils and applied them to all the various sashes.  I shaded and  highlighted the fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

The hands and facial details were kept very, very simple because I wanted the focus to be on the clothing.  I struggled with the positioning of one of the hands, so ended up taking a pic of myself with my hand in the position I was trying to draw.  I look quite intent, don't I?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a close up of my Umbrella Girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far shot, trying to fit her in the whole frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Girl with Fan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming along!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up of Hat Girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up of bottom panels. If you are not noticing in the pics, I glued on a lot of fairly tiny Swarovski crystals. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, installed in the client's Master Bedroom!  I won't tell you how long it took me to put these 3 panels together correctly!  They have piano hinges with a bizzillion screws.

 

 

 

This pic shows the screen against the wall I had previously done in this room.

Well, I'm kind of sad to see my girls go, but the good news is I have a second, identical size and shape screen to do for this client.  This time the theme will be Women from the 1930's.  These screens are very fun to do, so I'm excited to begin the research on this next one.More on that later.

The Folding Screen

Oh yikes!  This week has just gotten away from me and I had no time to post more about the Folding Screen Project until just now.   I last left off with the screen panels on my table in my studio waiting for me to get to work.  I had already projected my images on the top portion of each panel, upstairs in my living room, where the light was better for this.  Each panel will have a different Geisha Girl image on the top 2/3rds of the screen and the bottom 1/3rd will have a foiled and gemmed panel. 

I made a rough mock up, to scale, on an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper for my client, so she could get the general concept I had in mind.  This screen is going in the Master Bedroom I recently completed, so she understood the same foils and gem colors would be used and the theme would tie in with the Gingko leaves on the accent wall.  While I used a projection method to get the size I needed for each Geshia to fit on the panels and still be in proportion, you can find Geshia modellos at ModelloDesigns.com and also Geshia stencils at the Stencillibrary.com. 

This blurry photo is the only photo I have for a "Before" shot of the screen.  It was covered with this fan fabric print.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to put the Geisha Girls on it.  I found because the panels were each so narrow, that I could not put one large one on each panel, but would have to size them down a bit and come up with something to fill in the blank spaces.  Whoever covered this screen with the fabric did an incredible job.  It was meticulously sewn and also stapled with no less than a zillion staples.  I had to pull them all out with pliers and then discovered there was also wallpaper liner adhered to the luan, which needed to be stripped off.  The prep work seemed never ending!

 

 

All the work for the panels was done in my basement studio, so you know what to expect as far as what my studio looks like.  It's a far cry from an artist's light and airy loft studio!  But... the commute can't be beat, the price is right, and there is certainly no worry about spilling paint anywhere!  Oh, and the best thing about my studio this time of the year is the fact that it is very cool.  Of course, it is also very cool down here in December, when I'm wearing gloves and 3 sweatshirts to stay warm.  In this photo, I have based the bottom 1/3rd of each panel with a copper metallic paint, in preparation for some copper foil.

 

 

 

 

 

Applying the copper foil.

 

 

 

 

 

Finished foil....

 

and right off the bat, I've made a mistake!

Could I Really Be Done?

I will have to take photos again when I return in a few weeks to deliver a folding screen and some lighting I am working on.  Then, the new window treatments will be up and furniture all back in place.  The Accent Wall with the large, foiled Ginkgo leaves really does not look good here, but it will look much better when the room is together!

Three walls look like this.

 

          

Border stencil set:

Oriental Floral Design Elements

Wall stencil:

Hourglass Allover Stencil

Swarovski Rhinestones

Artbeads.com

Metallic Foils:

Prismatic Painting Studio

 

 

This headboard has got to go! I'm trying to convince my client to have it replaced with a fabric headboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up so you can see the gems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corner shot, because I spent a lot of time lining it all up and wishing I had an extra pair of hands and two good eyes.

The Milton House Foyer/Upstairs Hall Completed

In the end, I was really happy (and so were my clients!) with how this all turned out.

 

This view is from the second floor hallway, looking down to the landing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see some of the crystals on the flowers in this photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second floor hallway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the diamond wall, before the furniture is placed back.  I have about 8 layers of various gold products on this wall!  I wanted to do it using just Gold StucoLux, but it was soooo thin and watery that the layers would not build up and it did not burnish.  After four unsuccessful layers, I added layers of gold glaze mixes to get the color and sheen I was looking for with the StucoLux. I have used non-metallic colors of StucoLux before with great success, so was quite disappointed with this gold and would not recommend it.

 

 

 

 

The same crystals, in a larger size, are placed at the corners where the points of the diamonds meet (hard to see here).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This wall does have a nice glow to it now and works well with the stripes and adjacent back hall.

 

Thanks Chris, for all your help and hard work! 

 

The Milton House Foyer/Upstairs Hall Job

I am well underway with this job and hope to have it completed in a few days, but will start from the beginning to show you the transformation.

Here is the "Before" picture, taken from the top of the stairs on the second floor.  This floral wallpaper was everywhere, right down to the foyer.

When I was pulling together design and finish options for this area, I had in mind that it would flow with the adjacent back hall I had just completed.

 

The carpet was staying, so I had to work the small floral, diamond pattern in with whatever I came up with.

The ceilings are low, 7'5", so I felt I needed a design that would give this space some visual height and not close it it, as the wallpaper did.

I had come across this wallpaper pattern online somewhere, and I'm sorry to say, I don't know where.  I liked the way the flowers were in vertical rows.  I saw Melanie Royal of Royal Design Studio was posting some new pics on Facebook of her latest stencil designs, so I sent her this pic and asked if she had anything in an over scale, vertical floral design coming out.  Well, lo and behold...Melanie to the rescue!  Ask and it shall be yours! 

This new stencil is one the Hearst Castle designs Melanie has been working on.

It is called Phoebe's Tulip and comes in two different sizes. This photo is from the Royal Design Stencil website. 

I showed it to my client and she said "no flowers". :-(   Well... when I looked at the Tulips and then at her wallpaper, I could see her point.  But, there are floral patterns everywhere in this house, so I new she loved flowers, but just wanted a change from the all over repeat pattern she now had with the wallpaper. 

I was determined to make Phoebe's Tulip work! 

To be continued...

 

 

 

 

More at the Milton House

Continuing on with my adornment of the Milton House walls, this week I will show you the back hall project I just completed.  Here you see the "before" picture, with that "w" word I hate to use, wallpaper.

My favorite painter, Warren, was on the scene before me to strip off this paper and apply the base coat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first layer was a soft gold metallic glaze.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was followed by this great stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils. I have been drooling over their selection of stencils for some time now, so was delighted when my client picked this one!  I had them enlarge their original design by 20% because I wanted an over-scaled look here.  The stenciling was done using a metallic green.

 

When I ordered the stencil, I also ordered this great new tool... a clip on level!  For those of you who use these all over repeat patterns, this is a real time saver and I highly recommend spending the extra $10 for one.  I did not want to use spray adhesive on this stencil, so that is why you are seeing so much blue tape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a closer look at my little level at work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This design works up very quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, I did all the easy sections first. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This stencil is a very good weight and was easy to wrap around the corners.

 

More tomorrow...

Milton House Four Seasons Room, continued

I am using one of my favorite stencil designs, the Moorish Trellis, from Royal Design Studios.  I have it in the large, production size you see here and I also have the smaller size to use in the corners, above the doors and wherever needed. This pattern works up very quickly. 

 

 

I am using the same Modern Masters Metallic Burnt Orange, only straight from the jar, to do the stenciling.  I mix in a touch of glaze to make it easier to apply.  The room is already really starting to have a warm feel to it.  Of course, the homeowners keep the heat on 70 degrees and I'm moving all about, so that might have something to do with my feeling warm!  I forgot about the high heat situation here the first day and wore a turtleneck.  I easily drank a gallon of water that day!

 

 

One little glitch are these radiators.  This whole project came about because the homeowners decided to replace their older baseboard heating system with these new, more efficient, sleeker looking units.  When I initially talked to the heating contractor he told me he would install the units AFTER I did my finish.  Much to my surprise, they were all installed AFTER the base coating was done, but BEFORE I arrived to do my finish!  It's a bit tricky glazing behind these and trying to stencil...not mention very hot! 

 

 

 

 

Here is the wall to the left of the door, completely stenciled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the wall to the right of that door.  More again tomorrow.

 

 

Milton House Four Seasons Room

Did I mention to you how much I love this painter who does the base coating? I've got to get his card.  His name is Warren and he is the nicest guy and just look at how he moves ALL the furnishings to the center of the room and COMPLETELY wraps everything all up!  Those of you who are decorative painters will truly appreciate this.  He leaves plenty of room for ladders and to be able to easily move around.  Amazing!  This wall will be the focal point wall. 

 

The other three walls are mostly floor to ceiling doors and windows, so little wall space to play with there.  See all the snow we are getting in the background? This job was delayed a few days because everyone fell behind because of the snow.  It is beautiful, but since we are getting so much of it every week, it is negatively impacting the local economy.

 

 

The first step was to put a soft glaze, using Modern Master's Metallic Burnt Orange, on all walls.  I'm loving this Burnt Orange.  I used it for the thin stripes, straight from the jar, in the Living Room...on those stripes.  Here is a glazed wall and an unglazed wall, so you see the difference.   When the Burnt Orange is mixed with a glaze, it becomes less metallic, with more of a soft glow.  Very warm.  More tomorrow.

 

 

The Perks of Being Self-Employed

I had a little sign project to do for the VW dealership where I did that mural and giant VW logo a few months ago.  I had also added this signage on the wall. This picture to the left shows the "before" shot.

The dealership felt customers were still confused as to where to wait for service when they first come into the showroom, so I was asked to come up with another sign option to put here.

 

I did a rough sketch on my computer and emailed it over.  Because this is a very busy hallway with little room for me to work in, I proposed the sign be done on canvas, like the mural, and then installed.  It would cover up the previous signs, so no re-painting/prep work to the wall would be required.

 

 

 

In my studio, I base painted the canvas, taped out areas, and cut some lettering to be stenciled.     Then, I looked out my window and saw all this beautiful snow and the sun shinning, so decided to go for a little cross country skiing.

 

 

 

 

 

A quick drive over to Habitat, a wonderful wildlife sanctuary, only a few miles from my house, and I was ready get a little exercise.  I came home two hours later and did a some more work on the sign.