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