Impressionist Panels

Lena and Brooke are painting three panels in the studio to be installed in the retail part of the Raised By Wolves lounge in San Diego. After this base coat of color which will serve as the background for the finished painting, Lena asked me to photograph it in detail before it was lost under many coats of paint. She thought they looked like French impressionist paintings and wanted to preserve the whimsical look. I liked the simplicity but saw the problems of using these images as a final product, since they were not painted with that in mind. After photographing, stitching and correcting the distortion, each of these files is a little over 10 feet high. Below is the end result.

Here are the problems & how I solved them. First, they painted a blue sky background color, but only to the upper part of the canvas. Not only is there a line across the image where the blue ends, but it contaminated the color of the upper part of the painting because it bleeds through the thin paint. The tree trunks transitioning from white to blue is an issue too.

I added the blue from the sky to the bottom half but the result was flat so I added texture mapping, which had the effect of lightening and creating a water like look. I made a mask for the top half of the painting and corrected the colors to match the bottom. The trees had blue sky color coming through them, so I added brush strokes to the trunks. The transition between sky and "ground" is now vastly improved and the color consistent from top to bottom.

This is the image I used to map the texture in the blue, with some added distortion and blurring.

Now I have three impressionistic panels in files that I can print 125”H. . Here are before and after my Photoshop “magic”. 

Lena and Brooke are very excited about this new technique and plan to paint lots more in this style in the future.

Happy holidays to all and a prosperous 2018!

Leaving On A Jet Plane

We are flying out to Sweden today to visit Zoë and, yahoo, Danielle is meeting us there. A mini family reunion in a beautiful place. 

We are wrapping up last minute work, Lena is painting a vent to disappear into the fancy wallpaper it is set in and I am shipping a mural paper I finished yesterday. Lena is standing in front of 4 of the 8 panels going in a 20 year old's bedroom in Manhattan. They are tacked to the studio wall to let them dry before shipping.

Thank you Jos for originally commissioning the girls to paint this beautiful mural.

Bon Voyage to us!

Making New Portfolios

In February 2017 Zoë Design and Dessin Fornir formed a partnership for representation of our Wall Coverings, in their New York, Chicago and Los Angeles showrooms. Since then, I have spent my spare time making new portfolios for all our showroom reps to carry on the road. My first set of books is almost ready and I wanted to share what I have learned.

This is the Murals wallpaper portfolio almost ready for binding.

Each page needed to have all the information about the pattern on it, including name, description or inspiration, approximate repeat, substrate type and size of rolls. 

Below are the all new metallics and an architect's tube, for transport.

The book was getting so heavy and thick, we decided to split the work into three books. Mural Papers, Patterned Wallpapers and Metallic Wall Coverings. The metallics can be transported in an architect's plan case because they relax fairly quickly (see above). This means, with our 5 showrooms, I need to make twelve portfolios! One down, almost. By the end of the month, I should be a master at the art of book binding.

Here are all the pages of the Patterns book, sans covers.

The Mural Papers and Patterns folios are almost complete, needing only the back covers. 

Soon to be the back cover and inside liner of the Patterns book.

Tea Paper on silver, from the Metallics folio. We love this because, when the reflection is dark, it has light lines on a dark background and when the light reflects it has dark lines on a light background. In the photo below, the white back of the next sample is reflected in the left hand side.

Tomorrow, I will finish the cracked plaster samples and get the book assembled. After that, I can relax because I only have 12 more. 

Thanks for tuning in.