The  Art  Company

Guide To Decorative Painting and Faux Finishes

Just as paint may be modestly functional it also may fulfill a much more significant purpose as a vehicle for human imagination.
 

• Interior surfaces may be created historically accurate or venturesomely to reflect contemporary harmonies and standards of taste.  To the flat unyielding wall The Art Company's deft techniques give life and suggest atmosphere.
• A prosaic molding, fire surround or clumsy piece of boarding house furniture can be transformed into sophistication or as much folksiness as you desire.
• The Art Company enriches color with glazes, textures or patterns to impart depth, suggest rare woods, marble, tortoiseshell, fossilstone, mosaic, gold and other precious materials.
• The Art Company uses paint as an endlessly pliable means of transforming brute fact such as brick, board, wall or box into statements of soul. 

Wall Finishes
 

• Color Washing gives a soft, delicate dapple of thin colors, one over the other.  It is informal and most suitable for aged rustication on old or new walls.

• Rubbed Color gives a Mediterranean or country French effect of old weathered walls, which have been repainted over and over again.

• Sponging is capable of infinitely varied effects such as irregular distressed surfaces, regular granular patterns, close textured stone-like or "knobby knitting."  The soft marbled look of one sponging technique looks opulent in a small room.

• Ragging leaves an elegant flow of softly variegated textured color when daubed over a closely related color background.  The ragging can impart vibrancy when more color contrast is used..

• Rag Rolling gives a rich dramatic patterning especially suited but not limited to 18th Century American decorative treatments.  Rag rolled surfaces will be soft and serene when rendered in close colors.  Double rag rolling builds a sumptuous layering of two analogous hues over background color.  Double rag rolling has a Victorian elegance.

• Dragging consists of controlled brushmarks, usually arranged vertically.  The effect is silky.  Dragging in opposing directions creates the impression of hand weaving.

• Stippling makes a fine freckle or soft mottling of color over a base color.  Walls with faux vellum or parchment are stylishly Art Deco.  This is achieved by pale close color stippling.  Blending from one color to another or a gradual transition from dark to light tones is done by stippling.

• Faux Lacquered Walls have a wonderful glow and depth of assertive color which is well worth the little extra cost.  This is a fine finish similar to lac-de-chine but is done with successive layers of tinted and rubbed varnish glazing.  It is very glossy, most effective over perfectly prepared walls in well proportioned rooms, along with highly finished woodwork.  Black lacquer is seldom applied to walls nor is white.  Vermillion, sunflower, yellow, olive, chestnut, cerilian blue and deep purple are the classic wall lacquers.

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Images and Patterns
 

• Trompe L'Oeil means "to deceive the eye."  It suggests three dimensions where there are only two, so that for a moment one believes a flat painted image is real.  Trompe l'Oeil is a witty architectural or decorative enhancement.  The cham of the contrivance is that you can conjure up nearly anything imaginable.  This is the ultimate grand illusion, yet also a practical way to add features such as moldings, alcoves, paneling, inlays and ornaments of great variety. 

• Faux Fresco uses methods borrowed from the ages old technique of painting into damp fresh lime plaster.  Our faux fresco conveys the subtle flow of luminous color washes which characterize true buon fresco, but without the considerable expense of replastering.  Faux fresco can be distressed to soften and age the finish.  Murals and panels of faux fresco evoke Roman luxury, Byzantine splendor, medieval mystery or sunny Italian exuberance.

• Direct Decorative Painting and Stenciling are versatile decorative techniques for rendering patterns and repeats, overall, borders, panels.   This can improve a room's apparent proportions, draw attention to fine or quirky features or complement a theme.  Colors can be faded, bold, glossy, mat, metallic, gay or solemn as you like them.

• Stamping consists of imprinting small units in repeat pattern -- similar to some printed fabrics.  It may have a folk art look but can also be quite sophisticated.  Stamping is especially effective in small rooms, in panels or borders.

• Faux Mosaic is achieved by stamping small blocks of color to form an image or pattern.  This looks like an inlay of small tile or stones.  Gold or other metalic pigment can also be stamped for an antique radiance.  Panels or borders of faux mosaic enliven flat or gently curving surfaces.

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Themes
 

• Battered French is an all-over distressed look which combines several techniques:  rubbing, sponging, flogging, washing, mottling and sometimes touches of trompe l'oeil.  The effect evokes Provencial cottages, sun splashed fields and troubadours, country lanes and morning mists.  Rough irregular, cracked walls are well suited for our version of "Battered French."

• Crumbling Palazzo has the mien of fading classic grandeur, Italian palaces, Aegean temples, Spanish cloisters or Crusader castles.  All depends on the architectural theme you choose.  Much use of trompe l'oeil masonry, architectural detailing and faux distressing combine to create a charmingly witty interior.   "Curmbling Palazzo" does equally well on old flawed walls or well-finished new ones.  Painted flora and fauna can be used to enliven the setting.

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Woodwork, Cornices, Moldings
 

• Shades of White or Color emphasizes the three-dimensional relief of doors, panels, shutters, cupboards and other details by modeling dark to light or light to dark.  The effect is especially gentle and airy when done with shades of white.   A gradation of one hue or softened tints of analogous hues gives atmosphere.

• Picking Out crisply defines the details of modling, carvings, plaster work, panels and other architectural elements.  It can break up large monotonous expanses such as a wall of fitted cupboards.  Prominent parts of the features are painted in a somewhat stronger color than the background with the recessed spaces a softer tone.   This brings out the three-dimensional qualities of the surface.

• Pickle Finished molding is rubbed, sponged, dragged and flogged with color glazes to simulate the appearance of old many-times painted and peeled woodwork.  Either soft close colors or emphatic color combinations may be used for the effect you want.  The Art Company version of pickling is well worked to avoid raw globs and enlives floors, paneled walls and furniture..

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Imitations and Fantasies
 

• Graining masquerades as wood.  The grain may be soft or emphatic.  Some types are:  burr walnut, oak, mahogany, bois clair, rosewood and fruitwood.  The Elegant historic townhouses of old Savannah, Georgia, were profusely decorated with schemes of faux wood graining.  Victorian era artisans delighted in graining and it shows up on surprising spaces or objects.  Graining can disguise or it can simply harmonize.

• Tortoiseshelling is especially rich and resonating so it is normally applied in panels, as faux inlay, or accents.  In large expanses tortoiseshell tends to overwhelm and look contrived.  Faux tortoiseshell consists of spectacular harmonies of rippling tawny yellow, chestnut brown and shiny blacks.  The effect is stunning when applied over a base of gold leaf.

• Marbling is the sumptuous and versatile depiction of polished mottled and veined metamorphic rock.  You can marblize an entire wall, dado, base board, cornice, molding, panel, fire surround, furniture piece, floor or whatever you imagine.  Faux marbling used in combination with other finishes can have a most pleasing look of luxury at a fraction of what the real thing would cost.  Some of the many types of faux marbling we do are:  Georgia gray-white, Athens honey-ochre, Toledo black-green, Florentine green, Egyptian blue, and Gaelic rose.  Fantasy marbles are both fun and enticing by suggesting rather than imitating nature.

• Fossilstone marbling must be done on horizontal flat surfaces.  The earthy natural stone colors are low-keyed tawny browns, green-gray or dull blues.  It can also contain dobbs of metallic pigment within the mottled play of tones.  Fossilstone is wonderful on floors.  Hardboard panels finished in fossilstone can be cut and installed like tiles or veneer on verticle or gently curving surfaces.  Mix it with other faux finishes for a marvelously sumptuous harmony.

• Malachite marbling must be done on flat surfaces.  It is both vivid and bold, luxuriously handsome as a frieze or decorative band, and on accessories such as tables, lamps or boxes.  It is rarely used on large areas since it is so dominating.   The base color is a middle greenish-blue with a strong irregular pattern of interlocking scallop shapes done a rich dark bluish-green almost black.  Other colors of malachite are sometimes invented but the green most often occurs in nature.  The stone is usually polished to a glossy luster.

• Porphyry marbling results in a profusely flecked spattered glossy purplish-brown stone-like finish.  It was symbolic of imperial birth in the ancient world.  Porphyry is a splendid foil to gold leafed, lacquered, grained and other marbled surfaces.   Faux porphyry may be done on curved and irregular surfaces as well as sculpture and furniture.  It does well on large as well as small areas.

• Lapis Lazuli imitates the vivid ultramarine blue flecked stone greatly admired in the ancient Near-east.  The flecking of lemon, gold, light blue, and earthy red give touches of warmth to the dominant blue overall.  Lapis does much better on small objects, bands or panels than it does on large expanses.  Our version is rubbed to a fine luster.

• Verdigris results in a variegated greenish patina look of old weathered bronze,copper or brass.  The Art Company verdigris is well worked and blended to give softly glowing effect.  We avoid the splashed paint look that commonly passes as verdigris.  Sculpture, objects with three-dimensional modeling, outdoor furniture railings, posts, and the like take verdigris especially well.

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Furniture Flourishes

The following are specifically appropriate for furniture and small accessories.   Other "Furniture Flourishes" suggest themselves from wall or woodwork techniques and the study of antique furniture.  Possibilities are nearly endless:   rubbed color, sponging, dragging, stippling, shades, pickle, picking-out, trompe l'oeil, graining, faux wood inlay or marble inlay, tortoiseshell, fossilstone, malachite, spatter, prophyry, lapis, faux mosaic, stamping, stenciling, crackling, distressing, gold, brass, silver or copper leafing are just a few other suggestions.
 

• Crackle Glazing imitates the fine network of lines which develops on old painted and varnished surfaces.  This can have a mellow depth of color when rubbed back.  Frames, tables and even some larger objects can take an overall or panelized crackle, alone or in conjunction with other painting techniques.  The look may be subdued or dramatic as you choose and depends partly on the layering of colors and amount of crackle.

• Graphiting gives the appearance of fine old pewter to small pieces or to passages of detail on larger objects:  furniture, frames, art pieces.  Graphite finishing is sealed and rubbed to a quiet luster.  It is permanent and attractive.

• Vinegar Graining was devised by the busy craftsmen of the nineteenth century America to meet the demand for fancy graining on the furniture and woodwork.  Compare to the real look of fine wood graining, vinegar graining is a folk fantasy of vigorous patterns.  It is beguiling on larger flat surfaces:  chests, trucks, moldings.  Rich browns are most often seen yet colors, dark over light, are frequent.   Colors can be earthy reds, blues, greens and ivory.

• Faux Lacquered Furniture deserves special mention.  The glowingly rich black background is normally decorated with classical, oriental, figured or trompe l'oeil and illusions such as faux inlay, marbling, wood graining, malachite, lapis lazuli or metal leafing.  Our pseudo-lacquer is composed of many layers of rubbed varnish glaze.  The effect is refined and gorgeous even on a "junk shop find".  In addition to black we can use authentic lacquer colors:  ivory, sharp yellow, olive, chestnut, blue, and purple.

• Faux Fresco Furniture is a joyous revival of the ancient art in the Italianate 18th Century style of decoration.  Our faux fresco furniture has a soft antique watercolor look painted into a bone-white slightly distressed background.  Birds, flowers, leaves, vines, and other Mediterranean motives seem most fitting to the style.

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