The Illusion of Sgraffito....

Have you ever been to Italy? Florence, more specifically. There are so many wonderful examples of sgraffito on building's exterior walls.

Sgraffito is a process of layering tinted plaster in contrasting colors and then scratched to produce an outline drawing.
I recently had the opportunity to create a little illusion of sgraffito on an exterior fountain wall.

Hardie board was used for the wall and then troweled over with tile mortar. The mortar was tinted three different shades of dusty pink, leaving the strongest band at the top for the design.

Some of the medium pink is seen through the main part of the wall as the last coat was skipped troweled to give partial coverage.
The lion head was an "as is" damaged piece with a large chunk missing from the mane. That was filled in and colored to match and made the lion look good as new for a steal of a price.

The sunlight is beautiful against the trim and lion creating nice shadows on the plaster.

source

Now for the fun part! I needed an authentic, intricate design to use on the top of the wall to imitate sgraffito. (Yes, true sgraffito was the first option, but when this stencil was found, plans changed) The stencil is from  the fabulous Helen Morris of  Stencil Library and is under the gothic and medieval stencils in the border stencil section.

I used marmorino plaster and pounced it on with a stencil brush due to the intricate stencil design.

Here is the completed project. The illusion is complete!

Collaboration...

Helen Morris is one of the most creative women I know. She not only runs possibly the largest stencil company in the world, she manages to maintain a blog...and help me with personal advice when I am stuck on an art issue! Recently, Helen helped me with a fashion dilemma I had. I was attending an international art conference and needed something creative to wear. I found a great artist smock in London, but they did not have a way to buy them on line. I contacted Helen to possibly run by and pick it up for me. The store was able to ship to me and Helen did not have to go out of her way. I received the smock and sent pictures to Helen as I started the process of making it a little more custom. Helen thought it was interesting enough to make it a post on her blog-Design Inspiration.  I hope you enjoy the story behind my artist smock! Thanks Helen!

The Fabulous Helen Morris....

This is just one example of what can be done with high end stencils.......

All of the designs you see are available through stencil-library.

Helen Morris is the whirlwind behind the world's largest mail-order stencil collection. England based, they offer over 3500 stencils, many based on historical ornamentation.

Helen's blog Design Inspiration gives us a peek into her world. Nothing is too difficult or too unusual to stencil!

I met Helen about a year ago and follow her blog on a weekly basis. She has a wealth of ideas stored in photos here and browsing through the catalog of stencil library will make your mind reel! So much inspiration!

I would like to thank Helen for featuring me in her blog this week. She is a great friend with a fabulous mind! Check out her blog and stencil company .

International Decorative Artisans League-Memphis 2009

Just got home from the IDAL convention held in Memphis , Tenn. this year. This was a very intense week of classes, lectures, demos and sightseeing!

I was fortunate to assist Pierre Finkelstein in one of his faux marble classes.(never washed so many paintbrushes and cups!) He is the author of The Art of Faux, which is a must have in any decorative artist's library.

Working with Lucretia Moroni is always a class on my list! We learned Italian techniques for producing several varieties of marble.

It was my first time to study with Tania Seabock. We worked with gilding and painting decorative ornament on leaf. Such a beautiful technique!!

Here I am working with Vella, a trowelable product carried by many Sherwin Williams stores in the US. This is a great look with the feel of Venetian plaster. Vella can be waxed, polished to a high sheen or left dull for a more rustic feel. It can be embossed or manipulated to resemble marble...a very versatile product!

It was so good to see Helen Morris, owner of Stencil-Library in the U.K. and Design Inspiration blog. Helen was the keynote speaker for the opening of the convention.

To unwind in the evening, we would hop on the trolley and head down to Beale St......home of the blues and great food!

All the heavyweights in blues are represented here. Music pours from every storefront as you walk the downtown street.

This is part of the menu from the Memphis location of Ground Zero, a popular blues club partially owned by Morgan Freeman....seems barbeque is a staple here!

These conventions are always good sources for cutting edge decorative finishes. Faux Effects booth featured a new twist on animal skin showing it in a high gloss mimicking patent leather! They also featured an asian influenced stencil technique done with layers of texture.

Stencils are much more complicated with intricate designs influenced by delft tiles, moroccan floors and moorish fretwork.

If you are needing a green product, JaDecor is the answer. Teaming up with the Cotton industry, they offer a wall finish that is "acoustic, thermal,repairable, durable, and Green". This is the perfect finish for a home theatre , art gallery, or a noisy environment such as a school.

Looking for sophistication? Sherry Haydel, Ltd has it covered. She is based in New Orleans and features a line of fabrics, hand painted furniture and fortuny inspired stenciled walls.

This is a detail of some of her artisan furniture finishes.

The convention ended with a banquet wrapping up a creative week. Helen's skirt summed up the week featuring an iconographic stencil of Elvis along with the IDAL logo.

All things must end, and the 2009 IDAL convention is now being filed in many tired brains as we travel home to practice newly learned techniques. Exposure to new things makes us see the familiar in a different light. Go out and look at your world with new eyes today!