BIGGERSTAFF STUDIOS

Landscape Mural

2010-09-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

Here are some images of a Landscape mural painted in a dining room.

Statue Niche Mural

2010-09-02T23:19:00.001-05:00

A Bathroom mural completed recently.
The image above is a picture shot through the reflection of the mirror.

The walls are finished in a Luster stone plaster finish -
The crown is gold leafed to match the antique gold on the mirror.

Hand Painted Bamboo Ceiling

2010-01-14T10:13:00.003-06:00

The images shown here depict a hand painted bamboo ceiling for a residential addition. The entire room is finished in Quarter sawn white oak finished with a multi layer wood finish. There are carved lion heads in the ceiling piece and two carved elephant heads Shown at the entry of the room. The safari theme for this room is executed with the addition of the bamboo ceiling.

I will go through the basic idea of how this was painted, however, I don't have any images available for the step by step process.

I wanted to design the ceiling so it would look as much like an actual bamboo ceiling or at least how it would be if you were to look up and see it in an actual "hut" (though this room is far from a hut). Larger bamboo shafts are depicted in the painting and everything is held together with the idea of rope bindings. Parts of the bamboo are broken away to reveal the sky and vines growing over the top. Additional silk vines are added to help further create the illusion of vines and greenery.

This project took about 4 weeks. It began with a light yellow base coat followed by a light rough in of the main bamboo shafts. A series of glazes in a couple of umber colors were then applied to the shafts in a more general application. I continued to add "shadows" with the glazes getting a little more exact with every single bamboo shaft. Using mainly a "dagger" brush and a straight edge/level, I proceeded to literally define the bamboo piece by piece. Weeks later and a massive neck ache it began to evolve to what you see now. I then painted vines in and out of the broken bamboo areas. Silk vines were added to help further the effect of the mural. The sky was added and kept pretty low key with some subtle clouds. A note on the wood work, The entire room was trimmed in Quarter sawn white oak and finished with a series of shellacs. A white wash was added to show a weathered safari style wood.

Thank you for visiting. Feel free to leave a comment and check out my website .

TUSCANY MURAL

2009-12-28T17:02:00.002-06:00

Here are the final pictures of the tuscany mural recently painted in a dining room. There are some elements like the sconces and main light over the table that have not been installed at the time of these pictures. I hope you like it and welcome any comments.

Tuscany Mural Sketches

2009-12-05T13:52:00.005-06:00

Here are the preliminary sketches done to give a rough idea on where we were going with the Tuscany style mural. The over all look of the walls will be done in a crumbling wall faux glazed effect. It will also show some brick showing through in various areas. One area of the wall will have a Tuscany landscape and another part of the room will have a stone niche with statue. below are the sketches for these to areas. I will be posting the beginning stages of these areas as they develop.

To see the before pictures of the room GO HERE

Tuscany Mural BEFORE PICTURES

2009-11-28T13:58:00.004-06:00

I've been working on a new Tuscany mural for a dining room. The walls will be glazed in an old world style crumbling wall effect with exposed tromp l'oeil brick. It is just under way so in time I will be posting the pictures as it develops.

Here are some before Photos of the dining room.

To see the preliminary sketches GO HERE

More Examples of a Faux Oak Door

2009-11-05T23:15:00.005-06:00

Here is another example of a faux painted oak Door. Again the surrounding oak is actual oak and the door is painted.

If you would like to see a sample of how to faux grain oak go HERE -->

Final Faux Oak Wood Grained Door

2009-11-02T22:55:00.004-06:00

The final full view of the faux painted oak wood grained door.

To see and follow the
process of how to paint
a door like this GO HERE

2009-11-02T22:53:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple more details of the final Faux Oak Wood grained door.

Glazing the door

2009-11-02T22:43:00.004-06:00

Ok, we have established a nice grain pattern throughout the door that has some nice oak grain features. Its not to much and consistent with the other areas of actual oak around it. At this point we really have full control of where the door is going. We can apply one or two glaze coats to dial in the final color. We can then apply some aging effects if that is what is called for ( more on that in other posts). I should also mention that after each stage of the door I used a coat of blonde shellac to seal the previous layer. I then lightly buff it with at 400 grit sanding sponge. Shellac is an outstanding product and works well for barrier coats.

A view of the final door GO HERE

Faux Oak Grain Pattern

2009-11-01T11:33:00.004-06:00

Now, Establishing a realistic or believable oak grain pattern is the critical point to achieving success. It does not or should not (in my humble opinion) need to be over the top or to a point that it actually screams at you "look at me". It should be subtle and blend in with its surroundings. The unfortunate part about some of the graining situations is if it is done correctly no one should know that it has been painted. How sad is that? Kind of funny actually.

So, how to make the grain pattern. There are tools specifically designed to make this a very simple process i.e. the grain rocker (see tools in the right column). It produces a nice pattern that pulls off the idea of oak. However, to me it has some draw backs. Mainly it can get a little repetitive and begin to look contrived. I like to use it very sparingly. I like to actually use a flat brush and paint in the grain by hand creating a unique pattern on every board again taping off each board. This does require some research in different looks of the oak from real oak to mimic and does take more time, but the finished product is more believable (that.. no one .. will notice. lol)

Adding the figure grain on a project is the most time consuming part of the job. Everything else is pretty efficient and is mostly just dialing in the color.

To see a detail of the glaze and grain pattern GO HERE

Faux Oak stage 1

2009-10-31T23:59:00.002-05:00

To begin the process of graining oak, I like to start with an appropriate base coat. This color usually is dictated by the over all color of the actual peice I am matching and can vary from project to project. Generally though a creamy yellowish color can work out just fine. You have to do some testing with your glazes and base coat before you begin.

Once your base coat is applied (in this case I used an alkyd enamel brushed on) you are ready to start the graining process. My method for this particular type of oak grain is to flog on the grain fleck found in oak. I use a medium transparent glaze (usually oil to give me some "open" time) and flog out the panels one by one taping off each panel separately in order to achieve as much realism as possible as well as the authenticity of an actual oak door. Flog in the direction of the proposed grain as well as hold the flogger loosely between your index and thumb, letting the end of the handle bounce off the palm of your hand. More on flogging and other techniques will be posted on one of my other web sites. As you can see in this photo to the left I began with the center panels and on day two did the adjacent panels.

To see the next step
and the door with the
full grain pattern GO HERE

How To Faux Wood Grain Oak

2009-10-31T23:45:00.002-05:00

The first stages of wood graining a door are will be shown here in the next several posts. Here is an image of the door before painting. It is a metal fire door that leads to the clients garage. The trim in this dining room kitchen was refinished at the same time and you will be able to see in some of the later posts how it looks with the final colors. The biggest challenge here was trying to match the color next to the real red oak trim that had NOT been finished yet, so I was basically doing some guess work on the final glaze color. fortunately, I was able to come in pretty close and the trim and the door look nice together.

To see the next step GO HERE