Airplane Mural - Pushing A Teen's Dreams

Hello everyone. I'm still here. I've been quite busy and trying to get pictures of completed projects so I can share with you the work that is keeping me occupied.

This project has a nice story. In February I was contacted by a mother of a 15-year old son. She told me that her son loves airplanes and aspires to be an airline pilot. She then explained that he had borrowed an overhead projector from school and traced a plane on his wall, then told her that he would eventually paint it himself. Time passed and she got the idea to surprise him by hiring a professional to come in and finish it.

Surprises are tricky - we had to coordinate our visits when he wasn't there and she had to bribe his little siblings so they wouldn't spill the beans. Finally I was able to schedule time when he was going to be out of the house long enough for me to come in and work.

His original drawing wasn't perfect with some skewed perspectives - and a composition of the plane on a tarmac facing the other wall. Did you know tarmac is short for tarmacadam? I digress. Anyway, his drawing didn't quite work for me so I proposed that we put it in the air and add some clouds. I also proposed a second plane to it's left coming towards you as in an approach to land (nose facing the viewer). That increased her budget so we ended up with what you see above.

He also loves water and surfing and has this surfboard bedspread that I thought would be fun to use in the design of the plane.


It was such a fun mural and I just got word that he was quite surprised and ecstatic when he saw it last Friday. This young man is driven. I was impressed when I noticed a list of goals taped to his wall; get a job to make money for flying lessons, take flying lessons, etc. I hope what I created for him somehow keeps that dream alive. Best of luck to you young man.

William Cochran's Trompe L'oeil Class

I'm excited to tell you all about the class I just finished with world renowned trompe l'oeil artist, William Cochran. I had the opportunity to take his five-day class in a condensed three-day version. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, but it certainly forced me to get motivated, focus, and soak up as much knowledge from William as I could! Here is my unfinished study of Ceasar cast in stone.


By no means is this painting done. I would say it's about 1/3 completed. But because I took my time and studied the values it appears to be a realistic study. By day three I was pleased with my painting, but that's not to say it didn't happen without a little bit of left-brain tormenting. As a matter of fact all 16 students were tormented by their painting at one point or another. But the results were outstanding.

Day 1
Day 1 progressing along
Day two - stuck in the mid-tone values and realizing my darks aren't as dark as they should be.
Day 3 - moving onto light values and realizing time is running out with William.

The piece is now hanging in my studio ready for more work. I'll be sure to share more as I progress with this piece.

For those of you who aren't familiar with William Cochran please be sure to visit his website and be prepared to be astounded by his talent. You must take some time to scroll through the works of his public project - Community Bridge. William is one of few living artists adept at the difficult, mind-bending Renaissance perspective technique of anamorphic projection, which creates astonishing illusions of depth when viewed at an angle. You'll see an example of this within the Community Bridge portfolio. My favorite of his works has to be Handful of Keys displayed in Great Neck, NY. Each time I view this piece I am mesmerized, especially by the Asian girl with the handful of keys.

William it was truly an honor to study with you for three days. Look out - I'm about to start setting up still lives all over the house and break out the paints.

A Fan Of Benjamin Moore Paints

One of my clients phoned me in February (just before I fell ill from the flu) to inform me that she and her husband are having baby number two and they needed to have baby nursery number two ready for the baby's arrival in six weeks. How exciting! I'm pleased to say that little Audrey arrived four days before her due date and I finished her room about an hour before she and mom arrived home from the hospital. I think she was ready to see her new nursery.


The room was based on the parent's choice of fabrics for the crib bedding, chair and curtains.

Can you believe the room started out like this?


Thanks to the new Benjamin Moore Aura paint I was able to cover this room in just two coats. That's right two coats of paint over that aubergine without priming! This paint costs a little more than the paint you'll find at other paint stores, but I assure you it is quality paint and will save you time and materials. If you live in Portland visit my friends Roy, Mark or Russ over at Kaleidoscope Paint - great guys and quite knowledgeable.

Here's the first nursery I did for this client - it is just across the hall from her little sister's room.


I'll be sure to repost pictures of the new nursery once all the furniture, curtains and accessories are in the room.

Busy Life and Catching The Bug

Greetings readers. I just wanted to say a quick hello and let you know that I'm still here. I was quite busy at the end of January and February finishing work for three clients - driving from one location to another getting it all done. Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks! That horrible 'ick' that's making its way around.

I'll be back soon with photos of the projects.

I hope all of you are great and staying healthy. See you soon!

Billiards & Faux Leather Go Together

This post is all about paint color selection and how to compliment a room by highlighting the beauty that already exists.

When I first saw this billiard room it looked like this.


The husband loves this room and each evening he enjoys shooting a game of pool after dinner.

I was shown this room because the husband saw my faux leather board while I was showing the couple my portfolio. He thought the faux leather treatment was so cool that he wanted to see what it might look like in this room. We walked down the hallway and they opened the door to this room with amazing south-western light, a gorgeous antique pool table, a fabulous custom tiffany light, and wonderful carpeting that wasn't even showcased because your eye never rested.

He was responsible for the wall color selection, but wasn't sure that they worked together. Can you see the two different green-blue colors on the walls? The paint color below the chair rail had more blue tint, and enough to throw your eye completely. The colors weren't horrible but your eyes wouldn't rest and settle when you walked into this room. Your eye bounced from the pool table to the walls, to the pool table to the walls. I felt stressed. This room needed to be grounded.

Right away I knew the faux leather would look great under the existing chair rail. My challenge was to convince them that the green on the upper portion of the walls needed to go away. I didn't want to hurt the husband's feelings because he was so proud of this room. But that green needed to go. There's enough of it in the felt on the table and in the lamp above.

Here is the end result.

He loves it! She loves it! I am told that he spends more time in here more than he did before. And the wife is happy because I made that carpet stand out.

Specialty Plasters - Dining Room Walls

So, you lived through another holiday season and have already thought about what you might do for 2008. This past year was fabulous and all the family gatherings around your dining room table were a success. But perhaps something was missing. Perhaps you realized your dining room needs to be showcased a little more than it does now. It needs just the right ambiance to enhance all that glitters and glows.

Dining room treatments were really popular for us in 2007 and we created some spectacular finishes. Our clients asked for all types of faux finishes that would help showcase their dining rooms which seem to get very little focus. Specialty plaster finishes like these were the most requested.

Here you have two examples of the same type of plaster but applied differently and of course tinted different colors. These dining rooms are in homes built by the same builder. Luckily the light fixtures are different or you might not believe me.

Can you envision your furniture in either of these rooms? Can you envision all of your holiday decorations sparkling and bringing these dining rooms to life?

Happy New Year!

I didn't want to wait any longer before wishing you a Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2008!

It's been crazy busy for the last month. We've done a powder room, a large kitchen/great room, and currently finishing up a small wine cellar, and getting ready to work on a new chiropractic clinic. All that and the holidays made for a very busy calendar. There was some time set aside for holiday cheer, decorating and busting out the sewing machine to craft a few gift items.


The images on these pillows were found in vintage children's books. Reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas was a Christmas Eve family tradition which my sister has passed on. I hope my sister enjoys her new pillows. I had such fun printing these out on fabric then assembling them. The sachets are filled with cinnamon and cloves. They are ornament size to help fill a tree, or hang on a door knob for holiday greetings, or can be placed in a drawer for seasonal scent. A perfect handmade gift!


There will be more decorative painting project photos soon -- stay tuned. Thank you for all your suport in 2007!