April 3rd, 2007
Florence Art!
I wrote about my upcoming trip to Italy on the Art of Living blog, but wanted to talk a bit more about the project here. I am going to Rome and on to Florence next week to sort out the details of a trip that Gary Lord and I are hosting for a group of students next October.

We have joined up with Alison Woolley Bulkghalter (whose exquisite work is shown above) to plan a program around doing some painted decoration in her new studio that is housed in a former small theatre built in the 1800′s. Alison runs a Florentine painting studio and offers art courses year round, both there and at the Maiano estate, where we will be staying.

We will be using a decorative motif that was originally on the plaster ceilings and adapting it to create a design for a “faux marble” floor pattern that will be done with an integrally colored concrete overlayment. This will be set off with trompe l’oeil paneling around the dado with plaster columns. The back rooms will receive wall finishes designed to replicate the local Florentine silk fabrics. More about that “manana”, I mean “domani”. Oh yeah! Gotta start crammin on that Italian language CD.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Melanie: so gld you have a BLOG!!!! and I am so glad I saw it at the bottom of the Modello email. I cannot believe you have time! The studio in Italy looks fabulous. Can’t wait to see the pics. And the asian design/motif you have at top and bottom of your blog??: is that a combination of stencils from royal design studio. It is brilliant along with Kimono wall. Glad to see you getting into some bright, gorgeous colors.
Cat
April 9th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
So totally cool! HOpe you have a great trip to Italy. I can’t wait to be inspired by YOUR inspiration from this trip.
Oh yeah, I want to sign up for that class RIGHT NOW so I can beat the crowd!
Michele
April 10th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Dear Melanie,
Enjoy Italy, and all the inspiration!! Look forward to seeing what you ‘bring back’ to share. Relish your time there…it’s going to be a busy year!!!
April 26th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Cat-Yes, it is actually created using a combination of Japanese designs that we offer both through Royal Design Studio as stencils and through Modello Designs. I came up with the basic concept, layout,sketch and colors and my awesome graphic artist Lauren put it all together with the shading and layering. It was a lot of fun to do!
I DID come back from Italy more inspired. It’s hard to decide where to focus my creative attention first!
September 12th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
[...] One of our decorating projects in Florence next month will be to do a large floor area (250 sq. ft) in Alison’s studio with an aged tile treatment that we will accomplish with SkimStone and Modellos. I had shared some of the tile treatments we did in a recent SkimStone class and these four samples build on that idea. [...]
May 6th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Your trip sound fantastic, you will come back with all soughts of inspiration. I am a Interior Design Artist from Australia. Two years ago I went on at tour around Europe and spent 12 months away. The inspiration I got was amazing. When I returned I was so inspired that I created a DVD series on how to create modern abstract art. The series is called Step by Step Interior Design Art. I am now selling then online around the world . It has been great. I hope you come back as inspired as I did. My website is http://www.artfusionproductions.com.au so I hope I have helped inspire you as well . Good luck