African Plains Nursery Mural

My customer was inspired to have a mural painted in her baby's nursery, by the crib bedding that she had purchased with an African Plains theme. She scanned pictures of the actual bedding, so I could come up with a few drawings. She wanted the animals to look cute and she wanted to keep it within a certain budget. I kept things simple and she loved it.

Mural mentioned in article for the Westchester ARC

The following article talks a bit about the mural that I did, a few months ago, for a residential home for the severely disabled. I was so blessed to be a part of it. To see more pictures of the mural discussed in this article, please click here.

New Residence Offers Medically
Enhanced Services

Westchester ARC’s newly opened Decatur House is much like other agency residences. Located on a quiet street in Mohegan Lake NY, it offers large bedrooms, spacious living and dining areas and a modern kitchen. However, the agency’s 43rd home has one important distinction—it is the first Westchester ARC-owned residence created for individuals with developmental disabilities who require significant medical attention.

Residents of the Decatur house receive family-like care.

“The house is a direct response to the needs of our aging population,” comments program director Gabrielle Pikoulas. “Typically, when a person requires medically enhanced services, they are sent to a nursing home or rehabilitation facility, which is often cold and impersonal. In many cases, the individual is limited to center-based activities and has little opportunity for community inclusion. At Decatur, residents have all the comforts of home and receive family-like care. We will also provide day trips to movies, museums, concerts, libraries and other community sites, as well as inhouse activities, such as art and music classes."

An ocean-themed mural by local artist Dawn Papandrea adds a splash of color to the walls. Blue fish, green turtles and pink coral inspire residents to relax and feel at home.

“There’s something very calming about water,” adds Gabrielle. “The mural contributes a warm and inviting sentiment. It ties in with the agency’s desire to provide residents with the highest level of comfort.”

To see more pictures of the mural discussed in this article, please click here.

Poppy Mural

This mural was done for an expectant mother who intends for this room to be her future daughter's bathroom. The customer wanted to tie in the red and white tile floor with the white walls. She chose the design idea of the pink and red poppies. All I did was paint it.

Aged / Vertical Colorwash Faux Finish

This was my first Manhattan job. It took me almost 2 hours to get there because of traffic, but it was worth it. My customer had a picture out of a magazine that she had asked me to match. The finish was originally done on a heavily textured wall, but my customer had smooth walls. I used a 2" brush and accomplished the finish by dragging and blending the glaze.

Italian Tile Border

This was done in my chiropractor's office (Dr. Michelle McCoy in Jefferson Valley, NY). She has been treating me for almost 4 years. I asked her if I could paint the wall in front of their receptionist desk. She agreed and left the design up to me. My chiropractor and her husband (who share an office together) are into being all natural, she is italian, they love earth tones - so, I thought that these italian tiles would be perfect for their space. They love it!

Ribbon and Flowers Mural

I was inspired to do this mural by a book that I read recently called "Creative Kid's Murals You Can Paint" by Suzanne Whitaker. The artist / author had done something similar for a baby nursery. Of course, I changed things up a bit and made it my own. I did this mural for my church's infant nursery. I did burgundy & pink flowers to tie in the burgundy carpeting that was already on the bottom part of the wall.

Hand-painted Clouds on a Ceiling

This was for a little boy's room. His mom plans on hanging large antique airplanes from the ceiling.

Under Water Fish Mural

I just finished this mural today for one of Westchester ARC's group homes for the severely disabled, in Mohegan Lake, NY. The wall was already painted this blue color - the director wanted me use it as the base color for the mural. As you can see, the mural does not cover the entire wall, they plan to put up a chair rail moulding and paint the bottom a light beige to match the rest of the room.

I had a great time painting this mural, especially knowing that it was for a good cause. We are hoping that it will be therapeutic and a great stimulation for the men and women who will be living in this home.

Click on each picture to enlarge.

Old World Plaster Finish

Old World Plaster is one of my favorite textured faux finishes. There are several types of plaster. Some are smooth and some have a rough/sandy texture. I like to use the smooth finish plaster. It is achieved in four different steps. First the plaster is troweled onto the walls. The second step is lightly sanding with a fine grit sanding pad. I then base coat the walls with 2-3 coats of latex satin or pearl finish paint. Any color can be used according to your taste. I often use a lighter tone so the glaze shows up more. The last step is the glazing. It is always done with a darker color. I use a square kitchen sponge (dipped into a bucket of water then rung out)and wash it into the texture of the plaster in a circular motion. I then wipe the glaze off the wall, so that most of the glaze settles into the recessed areas of the plaster. The glaze brings an antique look to the wall. The Old World Plaster paint finish can easily cover any simple imperfections that were previously in the wall. This beautiful and rich faux finish gives the wall so much dimension and character.

Murals & Faux Finishing Gallery Site

I have recently signed up for an awesome photo gallery site designed specifically for murals & faux finishes. I have posted several pictures of my work and it has been an awesome place to use as reference. The nice part, too, is that other artists can post comments about your work. In order to see full size images, the cost is $29.95 per year, which isn't too bad.

Click here to check it out

Some website re-vamping

I started re-vamping my Faux Finishes page on my website. http://www.surfaceswithpaint.com/faux_finishes.htm. You can now click on each sample and see it enlarged. I only have 9 thus far on the page, but I will be adding more as I create and design them. I have started from scratch creating new samples on polystyrene sheets as opposed to the foam board that I was once using. What a difference!! For those of you faux painters out there, I am open to suggestion on what types of faux finishes I should be including. I have the basics thus far, but I am eager to add more. I will start researching through my oodles of great books this week. Thanks everyone for your support!

Here is a picture of one of my samples - a marble finish.

Puppet Theater Mural

I just finished working on a fun project - a 4' x 4' puppet theater that my customer has made for her two twin nieces. They asked me to fun, whimsical, yet realistic flowers. They brought the piece to me already painted the same yellow as the girl's bedroom (you can see it through the opening in the pictures below) I suggested painting it over so instead of blending into the walls, it would stand out. I chose to do background colors of blue and green as a backdrop for the mural, blue for the sky and green for the land.

After doing the background color, I painted the clouds. Then I painted the green of the grass, leaves, and flower stems. The flowers and butterfly's were last.
You can click on the pictures to enlarge.

We now have a mailing list!

I have been doing a lot of updates to my website. http://www.surfaceswithpaint.com We now have a mailing list that you can sign up to receive email updates, news on recent projects, new pictures in the picture galleries, and notifications when new posts have been added to our blog. Please sign up at www.surfaceswithpaint.com/mailing_list.htm

My great grandfather was a faux painter!!

My grandma is 93 years old and living with my mom in central New Jersey. She is my last living grandparent. She is such a special lady, she is still sharp and has all of her memory. Sometimes my mom and I sit with her and ask her questions about her childhood and about old times. It is so interesting to hear how her parents came into America from Czechoslovakia on a ship into Ellis Island. Her parents met in New York city and were married in 1910. They lived on E. 66th St. in Manhattan until they moved to Keasby, NJ and then ended up in Perth Amboy, NJ where my great grandmother (Verona Matey Bohach) passed away in 1929. She died from Hotchkins Lymphoma at the age of 39. My great grandfather, Andrew John Bohach, was left to care for 4 children. He worked for the Lehigh Valley railroad marking railroad cars. The cool part, is that I just found out that he had a second job working as an interior home painter. My grandma told us that he did not only do straight painting, but he also worked with sponges, rags, and even used combs to do specialty finishes. My grandma was 23 when my great grandpa died of a burst apendix (peratinitus). He was only 51 years old. My grandma said that I inherited my talent from my him, and I feel so honored about that. I knew that we had artists on my dad's side of the family, but now I know that I have it on my mom's side too. I encourage everyone to learn about their family history when you have the chance, from your older relatives, before it is too late.

First Post

Well, I finally created my first blog post! I have no idea whether or not this will be beneficial for my business, but I thought I would try. I look forward to becoming a true "blogger".