In the decorative painting industry, one of the most popular conferences is the IDAL convention.  (The organization has the cool digital online magazine, Artisphere Online.)  This year it was held in Hampton, VA.  It was my second time attending and my first time teaching.  Dana Tucker and I taught Building Your Online Brand to a class of 27.  It’s amazing how fast the time went — you prepare so much for it (Powerpoint presentations, research, fun giveaways, countless Skype & phone conversations) and then you look up and it’s done.  We tried to pack so much into two hours (and of course, went a bit over…). The students were a really fun bunch with great questions.  I can’t wait to hear of their progress!

If you are a fan of my Fauxology Facebook page, you’ve probably already seen the two notes I wrote on my IDAL experience.  I decided to write this one as well for those who do not have access to the fan page. I was truly excited to meet with many of the artists I correspond online with as well as see what the expo was all about.  The following are some of the images I took during the two days I was there.  BTW, brace yourself — this post is a bit on the longer side.

This is how most of the classes were set up. Nice, large rooms that were organized and well-protected.  This is the Faux Impressions class given by Ed Mattingly of Sherwin-Williams.  BTW, do you know about our contest to win $200 worth of product from Sherwin-Williams?  All it takes is a picture of a space you created that makes a great “Impression”.  Enter the contest here.  Deadline July 29th.

Live demonstrations were conducted throughout the conference.  Here, keynote speaker Pierre Finkelstein demonstrates his considerable skills with woodgraining.  He is very charming and gracious.

There were several faux studios who had fantastic booths at the show.  I didn’t get a shot of one of my faves, Dundean Studios, and a few others but here are some I came upon…

Gorgeous samples at Houston’s Wonderfaux Studios. That feather had crystals and was SO pretty – I’d love to do that one in a powder bath.

Had a great chat here — am considering taking a class by William Cochran.

THE Studio Destin. Fantastic samples all around and they had some of the best counter finishes I’ve ever seen.  (Ye Olde Jaw dropped. Not kidding you.)

Gary Lord’s Prismatic Painting Studio. Even though a “rock star” in our industry, he is totally approachable and friendly to everyone who comes up to him.  Wish I had better pics for you of those great samples in the back.  Totally dying to go to his Greece tour.

Sarasota School of Faux & Architectural Finishing is one of the studios I frequent the most.  Donna Phelps’ samples never fail to impress and I’ve sold quite a few.

Saying there were amazing samples at the Royal Design Studio booth is almost a given, no?  I took this pic before the expo opened — it was paaacked afterwards.

Patterned foils by V-Mask. We’ll be doing some cool stuff with them on the blog soon!

This is the philanthropic mural in progress during the convention.  It’s final home will be the Virginia Living Museum.

After the convention days, artists would gather for drinks and also to firm up dinner plans.  Here is a nice mix of newbies, up-and-comers and well-known Masters at the convention hotel, the Embassy Suites.

BTW, do you remember the gnome whose pic was taken all over the world?  Well, take a look at Faux Buddy…

Faux Buddy hanging out at the Chalk Paint booth...

We wanted everyone back home to get little glimpses of the IDAL convention so we gave him out so that he could travel with everyone and showcase little snippets of all the different classes and locations.  Imagine where Faux Buddy could go and what we all would be able to see with him!  The pics were to be shared on the Fauxology Facebook Fan Page but also on the IDAL page and personal pages, too, of course.  The bonus for our students is that each time they posted a pic, they would get an entry into our contest…someone is going to win their class fee back!   For those who were not in the class, there is a prize, too!  Robyn Story Designs out of Tampa, FL is a fantastic distributor of Chalk Paints and she is giving away a quart of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to the person who can come up with the funniest caption for a Faux Buddy pic.  Plus, the pic taker wins a quart as well.  Yeah!

Here’s the cool Faux Calendar sponsored bag that was given out.  It’s fantastic to reuse as an extra carry-all for a jobsite or as a green bag for going grocery shopping.

What I love about conventions is that not only do your fellow peers provide inspiration but also just being around so many artists excited about the industry make it easy to tap right into the love and enthusiasm you possess for it.  Unfortunately, I had to head back early since I did travel via car and needed to head back over the weekend.  I did miss meeting so many but I hope to see them soon.  The attendance improved upon last year’s and many of us felt next year would be even better.  BTW, next year’s conference will be held July 25 – 29 at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, Nevada.  It looks fantastic!  Until tomorrow!

Columns are traditionally round but they can also be square and hexagonal.  In fact, square columns are called pilasters.  The Romans are credited with creating pilasters as well as the half columns attached to walls.  When full-figured figures are used as columns they are called Caryatids (female) and Atlantes (male).  I find that so interesting.  Today’s column project interested me greatly as well.  In fact, it was submitted as an idea — the columns had been approved as a project but had not been worked on yet.  Construction timelines pushed the commission back but our feature artist today, Tampa’s Lisa Cameron, was able to share her story and very cool images with us.

Think 1970′s…reminiscent of a time of disco, foreign mystique and  Moroccan-inspired influences.  Now fast forward those elements to today and you have the perfect setting for a design of bold, graphic patterns mixed and matched, interplaying upon one another.  Throw in a designer (with a savvy sense) and a decorative faux painter (who loves color and texture) with a collaboration of ideas, and you have created an essence of design alchemy.

Completed Column — well almost! The painters are slated to finish the bases.

Interior Designer Michelle Wiebe of Interiors by Studio M in Tampa, FL, had the wheels in motion for a 70′s-inspired Moroccan disco entertainment room for her clients.  She needed final touches and sought Lisa Cameron of Faux Painting Design . “Once colors were handed to me, I knew I was going to have fun creating a fantastic faux finish!”, Lisa shares.  In fact, Lisa already had in mind to use a graphic pattern and gold foil for added glam.  She then spoke with Donna Phelps of the Sarasota School of Faux & Architectural Finishing in Sarasota, FL for inspiration and they collaborated on a custom stencil for the column motif.  Once she had her pattern in hand, Lisa went to work.

Metallic Base (above) and Stencil (in blue) wrapped around the columns (below).

The work continues…

Almost there...

Here is a close-up of the truly beautiful pattern that emerged…

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Please hop on over to visit Lisa’s site, Faux Painting Design, and if on Twitter, do follow her tweets.  If you need a custom stencil or an innovative finish, look no further than one of my fave studios, Sarasota School of Faux & Architectural Finishing.  The interior designer, Michelle Wiebe, also has a beautiful site in addition to a very popular blog called m{pression .  She has incredible plans for the room and Lisa Cameron will be sharing completed pictures of the completed space with us.  Can’t wait!  I do hope you enjoyed Column Week and that it provided a bit of inspiration for you.  I’ll be featuring more columns in the future as there are always new techniques and finishes for them.  See you next week!

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DAY 1 – Column Week: Ashlie Bickford, Kindra Benge and Sharon Leichsenring
DAY 2 – Column Week: Arthur Morehead
DAY 3 – Column Week: Mindy Hunt Harrell
DAY 4 – Column Week: Krista Vind and Cindy Everett Smith
DAY 5 – Current Post

A Solomonic Column is one which has all the typical components of a column except that the shaft twists into a spiral and creates a serpentine motion.  They are mostly created from wood, metals and especially marble.  Speaking of marble, today’s columns are made to mimic the look of with a wonderful twist.  They were created by Krista Vind and Cindy Everett Smith of Ufauxrea and the wonderful THE Studio Destin.  Generously, they’ve included the recipe for you.  Let’s dig in!

A few years ago, I spotted this image in an issue of Elle Decor….

The columns installed by designer Stephen Sills were so beautiful that they inspired this 2009 blog post wherein I stated that a decorative finisher could reproduce the columns — but they had to be done extremely well.  Cue to a few years later and there I am receiving the submissions for Column Week.  When I saw these beauties submitted by Krista Vind, they immediately reminded me of my post from so long ago and I knew they would make the final list.  Once I started receiving all her project information, the inspiration pic was sent as well — and it was the SAME pic.  I was floored at the coincidence and it was only then that it dawned on me that they had beautifully executed the finish I had written about years ago.  Love how it all comes around, you know?  Krista shares their story.

“These are the columns in The Country Club of Mobile.  The designer, Tricia Willis, wanted the columns to have a beautiful banding design,” she explains. “We created six of these 12′  tall columns for the entry hall. The color and type of marble were changed to go with the interior design club.  In fact, here is the original “recipe” just so you can see the colors used and how messy I can be!”

“We ended up changing it a bit when we did the columns.  The finish itself has a lot of steps but each is so quick and easy, its amazing to me how realistic they look!”

Hallway with beautiful Banded Columns at end.

Guess what, dear Readers?  The recipe has been shared!

Tumbled Marble Banded Columns

1)  Basecoat with white paint.

2)  Mix 2 paint/glaze mixtures: one in a deep tomato red, the other a dark gray. Cut a few pieces of plastic sheeting into different sizes. Apply a bit of the paint/glaze mix to the plastic with a brush – each color separately. Lay the plastic on the surface to apply the paint.  Using both colors, you are looking for about 30-40% surface coverage. It should look like a positive frottage. Let dry. (This is the really scary stage. Be SURE to warn your clients!)

3)  Using a very light gray color, again “bag” on to soften the look of the red and dark gray. This time, wad up some plastic and just lightly dip it into the paint before bagging on the surface.

4)  Using glaze and dark brown colorant, overglaze the entire surface to tone.

5)  Now, using a thin mix of the same gray as in Step 2 and water, rub onto the surface randomly with a t-shirt cloth.  Do as much coverage as you think necessary.

6)  Now comes the fun part – making the “stones”!  My first go-round with this I used three different glaze color mixes.  I found it really wasn’t necessary, so I ended up using a) a mix of Aquacreme with Brown and Dark Brown colors and b) RS Glaze with a Chestnut color. (If you aren’t certified to use RS glaze, just use Aquacreme.)

7)  Tear brown paper into stoney shapes. Dip in water, dab off on towel and then apply to column surface.  Apply brown glaze all around and add in only the chestnut color here and there, varying the size of the areas where you add it. If you use RS Glaze, use a color shaper to “pull” the glaze and create its unique movement. Pull off the paper. Soften the edges with a paper towel or tool of choice.  Before this glaze is dry, I also like to use the color shaper to create movement in the larger areas of solid glaze. It leaves faint lines that look like fissures.

8)  Topcoat using a shiny water-based material. I used Rock Kote gloss.

Unless otherwise noted, all products used are from Faux Effects.

Krista shares, “This process sounds difficult to me as I write it out, but in fact it is SO simple and creates such a really convincing marble!”  I would have to agree — the columns look wonderful!  Please be sure to visit their websites, Ufauxrea and THE Studio Destin, to see more of their work and available classes.  The studio also has a great Facebook page.  Tomorrow we conclude Column Week with another Florida artist — her first feature here on Fauxology.  The inspiration? The 70′s mystique mixed with Moroccan influences.  Intrigued?  See you tomorrow!

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DAY 1 – Column Week: Ashlie Bickford, Kindra Benge and Sharon Leichsenring
DAY 2 – Column Week: Arthur Morehead
DAY 3 – Column Week: Mindy Hunt Harrell
DAY 4 – Current Post
DAY 5 – Column Week: Lisa Cameron

There are five main types of columns, referred to as “Orders”. These are: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and Composite. Each has its own style and history. I find that type of information fascinating and it enhances the experience of travel and architecture for me. I also had a great experience coming upon the today’s column project by Mindy Hunt Harrell of Utah’s Faux Assured Studios. Faux Assured is a full-service workshop studio and shop. Mindy also launched the wonderful Pittura magazine, the online decorative arts and design publication.  Let’s take a look at her project, shall we?

The above is a gorgeous project that Mindy and her team executed in Naples, Utah.  She teamed up with artist Ron Hansen to create Stampino Impressions & Contours which she used as the pattern on this project.

Mindy Hunt Harrell

 As you can see, they created the embedded patterns by troweling LusterStone through the Stampino Impressions.  Mindy explains that she used a total of three Impressions for this project and although they had to wash the patterns after each use, she endorses them because they were easy to use and kept material costs down.

Love how panels can be used to create interest and panache with just the use of tape.

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Beautiful, no?  Please do take a moment to visit Faux Assured Studios and check out their Facebook Fan Page.  Do contact her if you are interested in learning more about this particular Stampino pattern or custom Stampinos.  Also, if you haven’t checked out Pittura magazine, please do so — it’s chock full of great information, images and video. (I’m not just saying that because I happen to write for them, pinky swear!)  Pittura also has a Facebook page and Twitter stream.  We come back to Florida for tomorrow’s project and this time, there’s a recipe in it for you, dear ones.  Always so generous, those girls.  (<– Hint.)  See you tomorrow!

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DAY 1 – Column Week: Ashlie Bickford, Kindra Benge and Sharon Leichsenring
DAY 2 – Column Week: Arthur Morehead
DAY 3 – Current Post
DAY 4 – Column Week: Krista Vind and Cindy Everett Smith
DAY 5 – Column Week: Lisa Cameron

Columns are most frequently made out of stone but can also be made with steel, brick or concrete, among other materials.  They consist of four main parts: 1) the Shaft, which is the cylinder, 2) the Capitol, which is the top of the shaft, 3) the Abacus, which is the part between the Capitol and the area being supported, and finally 4) the Plinth, which is the base of the column shaft.  Good to know, right?  Also good is today’s technique by artisan Arthur Morehead of Art-Faux Designs.  He explains the use of a semi-precious stone, onyx, as the inspiration for his beautiful column project.  

Art explains, “I get calls from interior designers, new clients and referrals from my repeat clients in regard to producing finishes that are not common and what some would call difficult or unusual, which is the kind of art that I love to do. I am always challenging myself with different techniques that are not only associated with just faux finishing, murals, trompe l’oeil work but especially love it when you get those clients who really want the exotic woods, precious and semi-precious stones and marble.  In this instance, an interior designer brought this project that was of a contemporary design — she wanted a marbled column that would make a statement but yet not look too busy.”

“The name of the onyx is Algerian Ribbon Onyx and is now replicated because it is rare,” he continues.  “Probably the most difficult part of this onyx was trying to find reference to the actual marble.  With both its warm and cool colors makes it a bit of a tricky of a finish to execute. I did find something similar called “Brazilian Ribbon Onyx” and then, I referred to Pierre Finkelstein’s book The Art of Faux for the technical end of replicating this marble. I have heard other artists refer to this book as “the Bible” for decorative artists and must say that it is an important part of my reference library. I would highly recommend his book for the novice and professional.”

He concludes, “I wanted the marble to come out both “painterly” but also “realistic”, which would be a mix of both the Italian and French style of rendering a marble surface. The next thing was the composition and structure of the work which had to be uniform to reduce the urge of a person viewing the room to be immediately drawn to it. With the other things that were going on around the area such as the artwork, rugs and furniture, I thought this technique would be a great addition.”

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Art tells me both the designer and the client told him that he “hit the nail on the head” with what they wanted to accomplish with the design. I think the onyx is very striking — you?  Art does have a blog with his website in which he shares his projects and all manner of resources.  I hope you check it out!  Tomorrow, we leave Florida and head to Utah on our journey to see beautiful columns. Until then!

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DAY 1 – Column Week: Ashlie Bickford, Kindra Benge and Sharon Leichsenring
DAY 2 – Current Post
DAY 3 – Column Week: Mindy Hunt Harrell
DAY 4 – Column Week: Krista Vind and Cindy Everett Smith
DAY 5 – Column Week: Lisa Cameron

Columns are vertical structures that are used to safely transmit weight and pressure from above to a strong ground.  The earliest recorded columns were in Egypt and have since been used as both a needed structural element to a purely decorative accent.  Our Column Week starts with a collaboration between Ashlie Bickford and Kindra Benge, of Texas’ A Fabulous Finish, and an old friend of Fauxology, Connecticut-based Sharon Leichsenring, who has previously been featured in our Portrait of an Artist series as well as during Elevator Week.  Here, Sharon recounts the beautiful commission.

These six column form a separation of the dining room from an open-spaced foyer and living room. The work was done by Ashlie Bickford and Kindra Benge of A Fabulous Finish in The Woodlands, Texas and myself, Sharon Leichsenring of Leichsenring Studios in Trumbull, Connecticut. Ashlie had invited me to work on several  murals in this home. The columns gave us a great opportunity to pool our talents. Here are the results.

Below, you can see the columns with the initial coat of texture troweled on.

Next, using the Royal Design Studio Flourish Allover stencil, an embossed design was applied in a spiral fashion. The plaster was then primed.

The entire columns, except for some trim bands on the capitals and bases, were then foiled in Antique Gold. We applied an umber glaze over the foil.

The capitals were highlighted with bands of metallic teal paint.  The scrolls of flowers and flourishes were dry-brushed in a medley of metallic colors including bronze, pewter and saffron.  The pièce de résistance? All the flowers were covered by Swarovski crystals of amber, silver and turquoise.  In case you’re wondering, there’s only one way to apply the crystals: one by one.  The crystals were cemented to overlap each other for maximum Bling! effect.

It’s ironic to call this work—we had a wonderful time. BTW, check out the fantastic wall finish which provides a drop dead back drop (say that 3 times fast) for the columns. That was executed by Ashlie and Kindra. They applied a layer of texture, then stenciled embossed random  damask elements.  The stenciled areas were then foiled in Antique gold with a rich umber glaze toning everything as a finish.

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Dazzling!  I love teamwork — especially between artists in different states! This particular home also won the ladies a spot on the 2011 Top Job Awards given by American Painting Contractor magazine. The prestigious award was for their work in the entire house — this was just one space in the gorgeous home. Ashlie Bickford and Kindra Benge’s site is A Fabulous Finish and they have a great Facebook page. Sharon’s site is Leichsenring Studios and she also has a wonderful Facebook page. Please do be sure to visit their sites and see more of their work. I hope you’ve enjoyed their incredible collaboration — I think we started Column Week in the right way! Tomorrow, we travel back to my home state of Florida to see an amazing “stone” finish.

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DAY 1 – Current Post
DAY 2 – Column Week: Arthur Morehead
DAY 3 – Column Week: Mindy Hunt Harrell
DAY 4 – Column Week: Krista Vind and Cindy Everett Smith
DAY 5 – Column Week: Lisa Cameron

Dana Tucker and I have been knee-deep in preparing for the IDAL convention and our class, Building Your Online Brand.  We’re SO excited to see fellow artists and also to teach the class together.  We sent out a survey to those who have registered to gauge what information they wanted most of and it was great to have that feedback readily available.  We don’t want anyone leaving without the information they need to have to enhance their business!  In fact, trying to pack all the information we can into two hours is the challenge!  We’re also planning a fun surprise for those who have signed up for the class.  You’ll see soon enough…

I've even been seeing IDAL in my dreams...

Speaking of social media,we had a great Twitter #DecArts chat last night!  It was more of a “cocktail party” where everyone could e-meet fellow tweeters, discover new blogs, see a few great links… It was truly heartwarming to see those who came by for a bit.  In fact, one of my co-hosts, Barbara Rocha of Paint a Lifestyle, wrote a great follow-up last night.  I think it was a promising start to the regular chats we’ll be having with great topics and special guests.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.  BTW, Marketing and Social Media were two of the topics suggested for future chats.  We love all suggestions!  Of course, you are invited!

Next week we will have Column Week — I do hope you enjoy the five projects that are set to be profiled.  I’ll probably be giving updates on the IDAL  conference on Twitter and on the Fauxology Facebook Fan Page.  Are you going?  Look me up if you are!  Have a fantastic weekend, dear Readers!