Faux Painting Artist

Garage Door Painted Like Patina Copper

2008-07-26T17:06:00.010-05:00

I just finished painting two garage doors and surrounding trim to look like patina copper. One was a double and one a single car door. When I started both doors where painted the color of the house so the first thing I did was to paint the doors the color of copper that has been aged which is a dark reddish brown.

Then I start the patina process by painting on the first glaze coat of patina color.

Here is a picture of the door done but not the trim and then the next picture is a close up then a close up in the same area with the trim painted.

The completed doors.

Bamboo Beadboard in Powder Bath

2008-07-19T19:31:00.004-05:00

This is a new one for me. The client had beadboard installed in the powder bath. He gave me a color pallette and a bamboo roll up blind to go by. I also painted the char rail and baseboard to match. I have to say that the beadboard is the perfect thing to paint to look like bamboo.

Garage Door Painted Like Wood

2008-06-12T14:17:00.009-05:00

Boy, do I really, really like this garage door painted to look like wood. It's a two-tone wood painted approach that really works great.
First the base coat goes up on the garage door.

I first painted the wood grain look in the areas around the central panels.

A close up shows the nice wood grain pattern painted on the garage door.

After the surrounding wood grain was painted on the garage door I painted the center panels to look like a rich cherry wood. To me this is the nicest garage door I have painted to look like wood, I just absolutely love it.

Front Door Painted Like Wood Planks

2008-02-16T16:45:00.005-05:00

Worked on my own front door today. I thought I was going to work on a job but stayed home instead. Been wanting to do something with the front door and finally got off to a good start. The door was white before I started. First I painted it a very rich yellow, almost an orange yellow, then used a deep reddish brown and then a black brown. The idea is to make it look like aged wood planks. Cathy is going to paint some big black hinges on it soon to complete the look.

The window area was a job. It was faced out with some very small trim wood. So I took that off and put this one by four around it. I distressed the one by four by knocking it around some and then put it up. I chalked all around it and then primed it before painting.

I did the garage door one day last week. It was the same color as the house before I started. It looks sooooooooo much better painted to look like wood than painted just the color of the house.

Painted Ceilings

2008-02-10T20:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a couple of pictures of two ceilings I painted this weekend in a home that is just about finished a major remodeling job. The first is in the dining room. I am assuming they are going to get a nicer chandelier after they move in.

The second picture is in the living room with 24 foot ceiling height.

Pool Bath Distressed Wall Finish

2008-01-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

I recently finished this pool bath with a distressed glazing technique. The base coat of paint is a light yellow. I then used a Sherwin-Williams color called Toasty for a glaze.

Mural in Child's room

2008-01-25T16:20:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from a recently completed mural Cathy did in a child's room.

Finished Ceiling Work

2007-11-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

I finished up the ceiling work this week. Now its off to the doctor to get an alignment to my neck.

Here's some pictures. The first here is of the completed foyer ceiling.

These next two are the living room ceiling.

Ceiling work

2007-10-27T08:19:00.000-05:00

I have been working on several ceiling areas the past week, a dining room, a foyer and some smaller areas. Next week I will be working on the living room ceiling. The living room and the foyer ceiling are 25 feet in heigth. The highest point in the curved dining room ceiling is about 14 feet.

The ceilings started out white. First I primed them, then painted them a solid sage green. When that dried I applied 2 glazes coats. The first was a glaze using Sherwin-Williams Java, that is a fairly dark brown, the second glaze coat I mixed the green with some black. A closer view. So when you use a solid color base and 2 color glazes you can see three colors in the finished product.

The next picture shows the foyer ceiling but only after the sage green base is up. It takes 3 levels of scaffolding to reach the ceiling.

Still Here, Still Working

2007-09-04T17:14:00.000-05:00

Hi All, I haven't posted in a month or so because I have been so busy and all the work I have been doing is sort of stuff I have gone over in the past year.

I have done a few ceiling jobs since my last post. Here is one of them.

The living room ceiling height on this one is about 25 feet. You can see some wiring hanging down where the pendent lighting is going to go.

The first thing I did on this was to prime the ceiling and paint it a basecoat color of Lara Ashley Gold 4. Then I put a one color glaze using a Sherwin Williams color of Java. The beams are quite large. They were painted to be a deep walnut to match some crown molding I had previously painted in the dining room.

I also painted the ceiling in the kitchen. It to was divided up by wood beams.

Wood Grain Garage Door

2007-07-11T19:18:00.001-05:00

I recently completed a project which had me faux wood grain 2 garage doors, each one was a double. The pictures that follow are the first door I painted and the other door is across the large paver driveway. So the client has a large double garage on each side of the house. The first picture is the completed door.
This next picture shows the door after I have worked on it for a while, at least one full day's work after the basecoat was already on. The basecoat is a Sherwin-Williams color, Saucy Gold. That is the golden color I applied to the door first. The brown color is also a Sherwin-Williams color called Java. I also mix a black with the Java about 1 to 1 for the final glazing coat.

The most common type of garage door has a wood grain texture imprinted on it. That wood grain runs horizontally across the entire door. Now if the door was made out of real wood that would not be the case. If the door were made out of real wood the individual vertical pieces would have a vertical grain to them. So I paint my doors as if they were real wood and give the vertical pieces a vertical grain even though it has an imprinted horizontal grain to it. It looks fine and no one ever objects to this technique. The following shots show how beautiful the grain can look on these vertical areas. Notice how I have taped off these areas before I painted them. Then before I took the photos I removed the tape.

Notice the way the grain pattern is different for each vertical area. You want to make each grain pattern a little different so sometimes the grain has a leftward bias and sometimes a right directional bias, sometimes the left side is darker sometimes the right sometimes the center, etc.

The final two pictures show you parts of the completed door. Notice how each panel on the garage door has a little different wood grain pattern to it. Also in these last two pictures you will notice that around the center panels the wood is darker than the rest. That gives the individual panels a 'picture frame' look that is the final touch that really makes for a very beautiful looking door.

Master Bathroom Mural

2007-06-17T07:10:00.000-05:00

Cathy recently completed a beautiful mural in the master bath at the home she has been working in since December 06. She has created wall finishes in 12 of the rooms so far. It is the same home she is creating the foyer mural in from the last post.

Mural in Foyer

2007-06-09T18:13:00.000-05:00

Cathy and I started a new mural this week in a very high foyer. From the floor to the ceiling is 32 feet. In order to do this mural we rented a sissor lift. You can see in the picture how high it is. Cathy is actually doing most of the work for this piece with me providing logisical support.

Those windows are the second floor and the wall goes up another 10 feet after the window. As you can see there is going to be sky above the block wall. Lots more stuff will be going on than that but this only after 2 days of work.

Free Standing Shelves

2007-05-08T19:03:00.000-05:00

Not only do I paint furniture some times I make it too.

This is basically what Cathy saw in a store. It was $600.00. The shelves were 20 inches wide but she only wanted them 14 inches wide. So I told her I would make one for her with 14 inch wide shelves.

At first I was going to build it all out of 2 by's but she wanted the flat part to be smooth and I was going to put 2 - 2by 8's together to get the 14 inches but I don't have a planner to smooth out the edges to join them so it would not have been a very good surface. And besides I was buying the wood at Home Depot and the 2 by's there are pretty rough.

so I bought a 4 by 8 sheet of good cabinet grade 3/4 inch plywood and had them rip it to 12 and a half inches wide. Then I bought some 1 by 2 and ran that around the edges so it ends up looking like a 2 by anyway. When the 1 by 2 is around the edges it gives you the 14 inch wide shelf.

For the vertical supports I bought a 2 by 12, (which we know is only 11 and 3/8's wide) the feet are fence post tops.

One of the things I like about it is when I attached the vertical supports I drilled down thru the top and up thru the bottom of the shelf and countersunk the screw heads (3 inch screws) from both directions. Then back filled the holes with M and H ready patch. After it dried I sanded it down and after it was painted you can't see any mark at all where the screws are. I also used that polyseamseal adhesive chalk on all the joints and then chalked with it around the top and bottom of the vertical supports. Man that thing is as solid as a rock, once that polyseamseal sets up it is strong.

Cause one thing I was concerned about was like if you stood at one end and pushed it it would start to lean and collaspe but it is totally solid, doesn't move at all if you try that.

Its painted flat black and then I went back with my dremel and sanded back the edges to give a somewhat aged look. Total material cost is about $80.00.

Garage Door Faux Wood Grained

2007-04-01T09:49:00.005-05:00

I finished a new faux wood grained garage door last week. This door was painted to match the real wood door to the entrance of the home. It is a walnut color but probably like a warm walnut tone wood.

The absolutely most important thing to know about working on a garage door is to use ONLY 100% acrylic paint. NEVER use any oil based or alykyd based paint or sealer.

So the first thing is to prime the garage door. Typically new doors like this one have a white paint on them. It is an aluminium or steel door that has been painted with a factory finish on it. So what I do is prime it with a primer called Benjamin Moore Fresh Start, that is an acrylic based primer for interior slash exterior and you can paint.

What I like to do is tint the primer before I paint with it. If you can't find a paint store that will do that you have to paint on the white primer and then put a basecoat on before wood graining.

A really good basecoat to use for a walnut look is a Benjamin Moore Peanut Butter or one called Dark Mustard. It will look pretty gold when you paint it on but don't worry about that. The reason you want a very gold base is it will give the wood look that warm undertone it needs to look authenic.

If I am trying to make the door look more mahogany or cherry I use a Sherwin-Williams color called truepenny 6355. That will make the door look like a pumkin at first but it gives the final wood tone you want. Typically when I use Truepenny for the cherry look I use a SW color Fiery Brown for the actually wood tone.
You want to use acrylic paint and not oil. You can use a similar color paint from Benjamin Moore using their Mooreguard line for exterior.

Back to the walnut colored door. I use a SW color called Java for the wood tone. (By the way use exterior paints.) A quart is way more than you will need to do a double garage door. After painting on the grain pattern with the Java color and it dries I take a black and mix it with the Java about one to one. Then I go over the same area again with that thined down a little with Floetrol or use some of the clear seal product that I use to thin the paint. That product is called Varathane Spar Urethane Waterbased. I buy it a Lowe's.

At this point you just want it to be a transparent pass like a glazing effect. I have found out that using this two color pass technique really makes it work to where the door will look real.

Take a look at the first picture.

In this picture you can see I have done the top two rows. You can also see how I have taped off the vertical areas to paint. Now with all the garage doors I have done, the factory imprinted grain pattern goes horizontal, that is fron left to right. But if this were a real wood door that would not be the case. The areas I have taped off would have vertical grain pattern. So that is the way I paint it reguardless of the imprinted grain pattern. Just inform your client about this before hand.
In the next picture you can see what I mean better.

See how the grain goes vertical in the places it would if the door where constructed out of real wood. When that dries I tape it off to do the horizontal grain direction.

A caution here is only use the blue tape that says its for sensitive areas. Don't use the regular blue tape. Because typically like this job I only have about 30 minutes to an hour between coats so the regular blue tape would rip off the freshly painted paint. In the last picture you can see how I paint in the horizontal grain pattern.

After it is all done I top coat it with two coats of the Waterbased Varathane spar urethane.

Kitchen Cabinets

2007-03-15T18:29:00.000-05:00

I completed a nice one week project today. I distressed the center island cabinets in this new kitchen.

The first picture shows you the color we started with. All the cabinets in the kitchen were the same. There has been a trend in the last year or so to have the island cabinets different than those on the walls.

In the next picture you can see that the plan was to paint them black and with major areas sanded thru to the raw wood.

The first thing I did to create this look was to sand down to the raw wood in the various places where I knew I wanted to leave that area without any black paint. Then I painted on the black paint and dry brushed it over the sanded areas. Once the side was dry I sanded along the edges of the moulding with a rotor sander. A close-up view below gives you a better idea of how it all came out.

Condo Lobby job complete

2007-03-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

I finished up the lobby project in 3 days. They were small lobbies. I painted a new base coat of paint in each lobby and then applied a one color wash.

All the residents who came and went during the process really liked the new look. So that job went well.

I have been doing sample boards and estimates thrus and then on Friday I completed a small one day job.

This weekend I will work on doing more sample boards and the new neighborhood monument markers I have been commissioned to create.

Some of the sample boards I am working on are venetian plaster. Fine mormarino plaster. That is the kind that when finished has a gloss finish and feels like polished marble. Really nice stuff but the material costs are more pricey than paint.

Big Job Complete

2007-03-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

I finished that big job I have been working on for the last month. It alwasy feels good to finish up a big job.

I went on a job estimate yesterday but had to decline the work. I didn't realize how far it was from me. It took over 2 and a half hours round trip and that is too far to go.

I have a few small jobs coming up and then some really big ones.

Monday I am starting on doing a color wash in two small lobbies of a condo on Treasure Island. It should be about 3-4 dayer at best.

Big Job

2007-02-17T14:06:00.000-05:00

I have been working a very large job this past week. I have been creating a tuscany type of wall finish using a colored glaze technique over the existing textured wall. As you can see from the first picture this is a large space. The foyer I am working is app. 12 feet wide and 45 feet long with 25 foot ceilings. I have 3 levels of scaffoldling set up to do this job.

This next picture is a good one to let you see just how the finish is looking. The wall to the left is what I started with. Quite a dramatic difference after the glazing goes on. I use a two pass technique which I developed. This technique allows me to work on large areas without worrying about the dreaded "overlap" lines.

Perhaps the biggest challenge in creating a look like this is making sure you get that "consistently inconsistent look" over the entire wall. You want those darker areas and lighter areas but you want them to be fairly uniform without being a repeating pattern. Now, a large part of that challenge is to not get any of the "overlapping lines" on your wall.

An over lapping line occurs when the glaze has dried on the edge of the application area and then when you go back to that area again and overlap onto it. Look at the next picture. This is where I finished at the end of one days work. When I come back the next day and pick it up again I don't want to see a line down the wall where I had stopped and started. So what I do is create a stopping point like you see. On the leading edge of the glaze, after I apply it, I take a cotton rag and wipe it back taking off most (if not all at the start) of the glaze with it. I probably wipe off about 5-6 inches of glaze, feathering it back from the edge.

Then the next day I start by applying the glaze in the area which has no glaze and working back into the previous days work. I feather the glaze back into the previous days work so that when it does overlap only a very little amount of glaze is actually overlapping the previous day's work. But I overlap it by the 5-6 inches I had wiped off the previous day. Then I intergrate the pattern flow into the new application areas again using the two pass technique. In the picture below you can see where the wall is now done and there are no overlapping lines. There is a smooth flow across the entire surface of the wall.

cabinets

2007-02-16T06:27:00.000-05:00

I recently worked on some built-in cabinets. Often times when I do this I bring the doors home to do at home. Typically I paint both sides of the doors so it goes faster if I can bring them home and work on them in the evenings to at least get the backs done.

These where white when I started out and so I primed them with a golden tinted primer first and then put on the first coat of a medium brown. Actually the color is a Sherwin-Williams color of Java.

There were four doors to do. The next step was to use another S-W color a dark brown called French Roast, then on top of that I used a light golden color. The end effect was to have them aged. After that I painted the center diamond and trim molding a distressed metallic.

Here you can see with and without the metallics painted in. The next is a close up.

Installation of Big Painting

2007-01-10T20:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally got the big painting done and installed today. Here are some pics. The bottom two pieces are about 5 feet off the floor and the top is 16 feet up from the floor.

Fireplace

2007-01-06T19:45:00.000-05:00

A good one day job today. This fireplace is brick but the previous homeowner painted the bricks white. It would have been too much trouble to try and sandblast off the paint so I was called in to paint the bricks back to original form or better.

As you can see in the picture below I have already painted the top half of the fireplace to what I think is a really nice looking brick pattern and color. I really like the different colors here and especially some of them are almost white and some are dark. Then I painted in the a dark, warm gray for the mortar.

In the next picture you can see how the progress of painting the white brick gets going. The photo is actually where I am about half done. Here I have painted the basecoat brick orange color then painted some darker and some with a golden color and some with a tan color but those colors are lightly applied over the base orange brick color. Looking at this picture it doesn't look like I am going to get where I am going but its almost there.

The next photo is a close up of the finish hearth section of the fireplace and then a photo of the completed project. All in all a job well done.

big painting

2006-12-29T17:56:00.000-05:00

Still working on the new big painting. I hope to have it mostly done by the end of the weekend.

Been doing a lot of ceiling work the past 3 weeks. Oh my aching neck.

Here's how far I have gotten on the canvas piece.

Big Canvas Painting

2006-12-19T17:31:00.000-05:00

I have started on another big canvas piece. It is going to be 8 canvases, each one is 32 inches square. I have the background done on the top 6 canvases. Because of height considerations I can only work on 3 up at a time.

After I sketch out the image in pencil I use a liquid frisket and paint that on all the spaces that I don't want the background color to get on. Then I paint in the background and peel the frisket off.

What you see is the white canvas of the image I will now paint in.

front doors

2006-12-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

These front doors just needed a little touch to make them come alive. They were finished off with just a clear urethane and needed something to give them a little character. The handles are an anitque bronze so we aged the wood.

To do this I used black oil paint and applied so it that the paint would be in the crevices around the molding as you can see. Then I carefully applied the black over the entire door and wiped it off in a way to leave some and 'age' all the surfaces.