A couple of months ago I happened upon a magazine I’d never seen before in the bookstore. Surface Design is the official journal of the Surface Design Association, an organization that focuses mainly on textile arts. The main title on the cover said, “On the Floor” and I snatched it off the shelf to find a most amazing series of artist’s work inside. The article entitled “Dirty Beauty” features the work of 3 different artists who use dirt, dust and abrasion techniques to create ephemeral installation art. Sounds gross? It’s gorgeous!! For me, it just highlights the power of and beauty of pattern. First up, Catherine Bertola-

Catherine says

My work is about labor, investing time in a very ordinary material….the manual labor involved adds value to something that usually gets swept away. I use dust as a mechanism for storytelling-dust is often described as being the matter of history, a residue or fragment that enables you to reflect on the past.

You can read more about Catherine’s work here.

Recently on Muralsplus, a message board that I help moderate, there was a discussion about faux and decorative finishing as “art”. Well, of course it’s always been art, silly, but recently more and more decorative artists are applying their ideas and techniques to “wall art”: canvases, framed boards, tapestry hangings and such. In fact, I don’t know too many decorative finishers these days who don’t dream about coming down off their ladders to create cool, creative stuff in the comfort of their studios while wearing their jammies. That’s MY dream, for sure!

Well, one of our customers, April Everhart of Wallexpress in North Carolina decided to start working towards that dream after I mentioned Etsy as a great place to sell her canvas art.

April has a new shop, Wallexpress, that features her canvases that incorporate stenciling, raised freeform pattern and lots of cool finishes. Best of luck April!

Here is the last in the series of new panels I’ve been showing you in the two previous posts. This first one is my favorite of the bunch, I think. I don’t want to make the other patterns jealous, but I just am REALLY in love with this one.

It started with this inspiration-a tabletop photographed at ABC Carpet&Home in NYC, a veritable treasure trove of inspiring things to photograph (and maybe to even buy!)

I did an “embroidery” version of one of our new Architectural Panel patterns to get the look of the lines that seem to be carved into the surface (one of my new little tricks). I am going to add this finish to my Boho Modern Workshop and will be doing some new Modello Master Method instructions for many of these.

I can tell you that it is done with Fresco Paint from Safra. This is a paintable and trowelable product that doesn’t have any binders in it, allowing you to easy rub back through top layers to reveal other color layers below. Once it is sealed with wax or water-based varnish, though, it becomes totally durable. I think our Break Room kitchen cabinets are going to be getting treated to this!

This Fabric Damask pattern is blown way up. Each repeat is about 4′ high. I think everyone is loving the larger-scaled designs right now!

We used some new metallic plasters on the market and layered HiLite (interference) colors over it. Then, a good healthy layer of stain to patinate it. I’ll be sharing more of this later….

This one uses one of our new Silhouette patterns along with metallic foils, paints and embedded lace. I’ve never been brave enough to tackle an embedded lace treatment on a whole wall, but limiting it to a smaller design area makes it pretty darn easy.

I love the little birdhouse detail. Wouldn’t this be sweet in a nursery??

OK, it’s time to introduce round 2 of the new canvases of finishes I created in the last couple of weeks for the SALI show. Barring any Fedex disasters, these will return to hang in the long corridor that separates the two sides of our building. I have always envisioned it as a “gallery” space, so am looking forward to that….

I call this one “Rusted Renaissance”. I was trying NOT to do old world in favor of more contemporary looks, but I love this pattern and thought it would be good for something “simple”. Simple being relative.

It IS pretty simple, really. Metallic foils with skip-troweled Ebony Lusterstone in the pattern and a couple of layers of stain on top after the Modello was removed.

This one IS a bit more modern. I love the effect of putting pattern into shapes and REALLY like the way this turned out.

It doesn’t photograph too well, due to the subtle color sheme, but it’s very pleasing in real life and I think the idea can translate to many other options.

Aaah, finally! I have been planning to do a treatment like this in my home office for a LOOOONG time. I am actually writing this from the dining room as the home office has been dismantled for over a year now, just waiting…..

Now that I know how easy this Kimono Collage look really is (once it’s all worked out on the computer) I think I might actually try to tackle this one here at home. Not that the dining room isn’t lovely…..More to come!

You can find all of our latest designs here on the web and in the new Design Library Binder.

When I started in this “pattern” business years ago (as in 25 years ago) I spent almost all of my time drawing and designing original stencils for Royal Design Studio. As that business evolved into two businesses I now find myself too busy “managing” things to actually have time to sit down and draw so have become more of what I consider to be someone who “designs with patterns” more than someone who “designs patterns”. There are so many gorgeous designs to pull from history and different cultures! Plus, I find so much creativity in combining them with different colors, paints, plasters and metallic mediums! Such was the case the last few weeks in creating these large canvases for a trade show to show off some new ideas and designs we’ve been developing. Most of these will get incorporated into upcoming classes and other educational materials. I LOVE having the ability to spark new ideas for other people.

This canvas incorporates one of my favorite mediums, Jasmine Portofino with metallic foil and antiqueing stain.

I was going to to this up very “Hollywood Regency” in a more simple graphic way (black and white, perhaps) but the color bug was just biting too hard.

Instead, I chose the black and white theme (plus a little silver) for this Art Deco panel.

The background is actually a really soft, organic plaster, which helps to soften the highly waxed Venetian plaster.

Inspired by my recent trip to Morocco, I had to indulge myself with a glorious blue and orange color combination.

I love the symmetry and geometry of Zellij tiles. In Morocco you will see numerous different patterns and colorways all used within the same space-but I chose to keep it simple here for American tastes.

I really didn’t know where I was going with this arabesque pattern, but like where it landed. I used polishing plasters and wax for this finish and it ended up looking quite Fortuny-ish, so I am looking forward to reworking this technique with a Renaissance damask pattern. More soon….

The new book Modello by Design-Inspiring Interiors from Artist’s Portfolios is HERE! I’ve told you about it before-remember this?  And this? It is SOOOO beautiful and I am so proud of the work that our fabulous customers do and also need to give a special thanks to Lauren for helping me lay out this book in record time-under two weeks! I just finished writing a press release for an industry message board for the book, so I’ll be lazy and just repost it here- 

Modello Designs was launched in the fall of 2003, introducing the concept of Decorative Masking Patterns to the decorative finishing industry.  Since that time, thousands of decorative finishers worldwide have discovered the benefits of using custom-sized, cut to order vinyl masking patterns for their decorative painting projects.

The exciting and inspirational new book features the creative Modello work of 80 different artists in beautifully photographed interior settings.  Various chapters highlight the use of Modello patterns on floors, walls, ceilings and furniture. Special chapters highlight the body of work of three featured artists: Terri Reisenman of Palm Desert, CA., Robbie Calvo of Nashville, TN.,  and Gina Wolfrum of Hicksville, OH.  Their varied styles of decoration really help to highlight the many styles of surface ornamentation that can be more easily achieved with this versatile medium!

This book, the first in a series, will provide an invaluable resource of design ideas for decorative finishers, designers, and their potential customers alike. For an industry that revolves around a highly visual and tactile experience, it helps to fill the current void of inspiring images of painted decoration that used to be so common in books and magazines.

We mailed out complimentary, signed copies to all the 80 contributing artists this week. Yeah, that was tiring! Thank you, thank  you everyone! If you didn’t get a chance to submit a project for the book, you can buy it here, and…..there’s always next year!
  

A year ago at this time, and throughout last summer, our Modello team had their hands full fulfilling multiple orders for a large hospitality project. The architectural firm that was handling the design and decoration of the new Grand Del Mar resort in North San Diego chose a wide variety of Modello patterns to highlight and accentuate the Moorish theme. Besides a ceiling border that went in each of over 300 guest suites, there were many public areas, particularly ceilings, that were treated with custom-fit frames and medallions. Oh, to have a total decorative budget in the millions! I just recently had professional photographs done, and here are a select few-

This retail promenade is one of my favorite spaces. All the natural light really reflects on the gold leafed medallions. 

I LOVE the colors used in this downstairs hallway. You can see how the patterns were designed to perfectly fit and confirm to the curved ceiling spaces. 

This long hallway by the meeting rooms features multiple recessed ceiling spaces that are framed by a highly ornamental border. The gorgeous uplighting really serves to highlight it! 

There are also some villas (for sale) on the property that got some fabulouse coffered ceiling treatments. Here, a cast of thousands (almost) from a local decorative painting contractor, Shauna Decker, works to complete the ceiling in a very tight deadline before the grand opening. 

And they made it! You can see more photos here.

Final photography by Gary Conaughton.

The Boho Modern class went VERY well, thank you! I’d have to say it is my new favorite class to teach. Generally the last thing I’ve done is my new favorite thing. I just wanted to share a few more samples from the class before I move on to THIS WEEKS project which is getting ready for the SALI convention in a few weeks. I am planning 10-12 new 4′ x 7′ backdrops. Just a LITTLE ambitious. Wish me luck!! More class samples….

Well, there was record breaking heat here in San Diego again this weekend! As we don’t have air conditioning in our house (didn’t used to need it here by the ocean!) I spent the weekend in the studio with the thermostat set at a semi-comfie 78. Well, it beats 101! Actually, I was going to be there anyway as I have a new class, Boho Modern, starting this week and wanted to work on some last minute ideas. Nothing like a deadline to spark some creativity!!! I actually LOVE being in my studio on the weekend. No distractions, no phone calls. I didn’t even turn on any music. Sometimes it’s good to listen to the thoughts in your OWN head, you know? There were more hits than misses. I tried a couple of different versions of an embroidery-ish theme.

Neutral can be nice and tone on tone looks are always classy-and easy to decorate around. I love the subtle textural quality of this. It actually is all smooth when you rub your hand across. This funky floral motifs are originally from a series of old printer’s ornaments.

I was playing around a lot with metallic foils that I got from my friend Gary Lord. These are applied to a bed of gold size, like metal leaf, except that they come on big rolls and in yummy colors like celedon green, blue and plum. I love the way the eggplant glaze settled in around all the little peacock feathers and makes these guys POP!

I found this old sample board painted with this unusual (for me) coral color. It must have been left over from some long ago project. I’ve had these blank boards laying around for up to 8 years! I thought it might be cool to combine these funky modish flowers with some embedded lace.

I transferred some metallic foil first; Candy Apple Red and Orchid. It wasn’t super dramatic but adds a nice little sparkle. The color of the plaster I pushed through the lace was actually a dark brown. The antique gold mica glaze I applied over it turned it more green. At first I wasn’t too sure about it, but one is really starting to grow on me!

Another finish with an embroidered look. This time on a metallic stria finish.

I’ve had these jars of large mica flakes sitting around for some time and wasn’t sure what to do with them. Hmmm. What would happen if I stirred some into a glaze? This!

I call this one blue steel. More metallic foils! This one incorporates a hologram foil as well which gives you some really crazy color shifts as you view it from different angles. I like patterns like this classic modern allover one, that divide the space in half. It has a nice symmetry and balance don’t you think?

Well, I’m off to clean up the studio. I hope you weekend was equally fun and productive! BTW, the next Boho Modern class is scheduled for December….

I picked up a most amazing tile book at the airport bookstore in Casablanca on the way home from Marrakech. I seem to have a grave weakness for very large, very heavy and very expensive books. SO worth it! There are already ideas in the air for future Morocco projects and collaborations and I am positively smitten and inspired by the follow gorgeousness. They say the blue is the big “new” color this year. Um, I think it’s been pretty hot for a few thousand years…..