Painting in England

by Gary Lord

See more photos from our September 2002 trip.

After leading three separate decorative painting workshops to Europe with my partner Dave Schmidt, we have learned many different things about the European decorative painting field. Let's face it, 30,000 years ago in a cave in Lascaux, France some wife told her husband "The cave is a little dark and dreary honey, DO something!" The next thing you know, the neighbors were talking..."You know dear, the Smiths have a bison on their wall, and we need something too." Since then the Europeans have been perfecting their decorative painting skills.

In Germany, King Ludwig built many famous castles including Neuschwanstein, in which he used artisans to replicate real marble on concave and convex walls where real marble could not be installed. These artisans would either faux paint the marble, or use plastering techniques such as scagliola or marrezzo to replicate the marble. When executed as well as some of the master painters have done in the past, you truly cannot tell the difference between faux and real. I was fortunate enough to see five faux marble panels done by Thomas Kershaw at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Kershaw is considered to be the best faux marble and wood grainer of all time, and it was truly unbelievable work. I have also been to Versailles to see the summer home of King Louis XIV. The murals, gold gilding, faux marble and wood graining there are some of the finest examples of their kind in the entire world. Most recently, I have been to Chatsworth in England, which was the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The massive amount of excellent decorative painting in all categories was staggering. To have been an artisan on any of these projects, and to know your work would last for centuries must have been an honor indeed.

With all of this said, during my travels in Europe I would also look in restaurants, hotels, bars, stores and residential areas for what was "new" in faux finishes. I was amazed to see that most of the wall finishes were just a small variety of what is done here in the states. I would see Venetian Plaster, dragging, positive sponging and ragging, and some stenciling. That was about it. I kept looking for something newer, more like what is being developed in America, but it was not to be found. Instead, I found that the Europeans are in awe with how we have advanced the field of decorative painting, while they have been doing the same old thing for centuries. They are amazed by our use of products such as Aquastone in a raised embossed stencil, or Soft Tex with embedded stencils, or the multi-layering of glazes to create visual depth, or crumpled up tissue paper pasted to the walls and then painted and glazed.

While working in France, we met one of the top Belgian architects. He was thrilled to see what we were doing with such new and innovative paints and techniques. In England our main prep person, Nigel said he had seen nothing like what we were doing, and he had been in the field of painting for over 40 years! He said that many people in England are no longer entering the painting field like they did when he was younger. He attributed this to lower pay, and the fact that the field was not as exciting as he felt it once was. According to Nigel, everyone in Europe must go through an apprentice program to become a painter, and they learn how to stencil, marbleize and wood grain as well as paint. Many of them are masters in all of their fields, and this suppresses the market price for their work, as well as lessening its value. Nigel had never seen painters doing what we went in to do, and was very excited about the possibilities for re-energizing his own work, as well as that of the whole field. By contrast, here in the United States. I am fortunate to have been associated with the Aqua Finishing Solutions program for almost 10 years. With the use of this extensive, innovative paint line, and the endless creativity it affords the artist, almost anything can be done.

On our most recent workshop, we traveled to Northern England, and worked in Broughton Hall. Owned by the wonderful Tempest family, the hall is an 80 room manor estate, nestled in the English countryside. My friend, international teacher and faux finisher, Bill Holgate had worked in Broughton Hall for years doing wood graining and marbling finishes. It was Bill who first spoke with the Tempest's regarding our trip, which would entail holding classes on site, and painting finishes in their home. The Tempest family requested to see some samples to choose from, so my wife and children turned a preliminary trip into a working vacation.

Mr. and Mrs. Tempest, along with their adult children Roger and Bridget made six selections to be used in their home. The first selection was to complete a Verdigris Venetian plaster with inlaid marble panels in one bathroom. The products for this room included a mixture of Venetian Plaster Ruby Red, Sand and Black Onyx, Bronze Palette Art, Hi Li Venetian Green, Aquacolors and Aquacreme. Another bathroom would be done in a soft suede finish with a subtle stencil of the family crest. The products for this room included Venetian Plaster tinting base, Soft Tex, Aquacolors and Aquacreme. The next room was a billiard room that had a 3 color parchment treatment with floral image imprints. The products for this room were Aquaglaze, Aquagard, Prime Etch, and floral tile Custom Art Images. A third bathroom was done in an embedded damask stencil with colors coordinating from the wallpaper in the adjacent bedroom. The materials used were Soft Tex, Aquacolors, and Aquagard.

Another room provided an opportunity to do a hand painted mural featuring trees and birds from the local area in England, all painted on a soft, mottled background. The materials used were Aquaglaze and Aquacolors. The last room was a beautiful custom designed stencil to be used in a drop match pattern with a stenciled border, all relating to the curtain fabric used in the room. The materials for this room were Aquacolors and Aquaglaze.

With all of the logistics worked out, our tour departed for England on September 14th, 2002 with 21 members on board. Dave and I were fortunate to have Pam Tinkham and Donna Phelps help teach the techniques and assist in being room leaders. We were able to teach all six techniques and totally complete all of the rooms listed above in five normal working days. This could not have happened without the wonderful work of the17 other people that went with us. A great big thank you goes out to Gail Boge, Marinelle Chandler, Evelyn Gibbs, Janie Gulick, Kay Harlan, Linda Hunter, Linda Kelledy, Bonnie May, Jody Nickel, Judie Noffsinger, Soni Parker, Cinde Paveglio, Rebecca Roth, Louise Sanfilippo, Jill Scott, Linda Waters, and Cassy Williams.

Our greatest honor was bestowed upon all of us by the Tempest family. They were so pleased with our collective work that each member of our team received a formal document that stated that we had "skillfully, artistically, and conscientiously redecorated and thus enhanced the beauty of six assorted rooms in the Manor of Broughton Hall." We were also informed that the names of everyone involved in the project would be logged into the family archives as having worked on the estate, which has been held by the same family for over 600 years, and whose ancestry can be traced back 29 generations. Perhaps our work will last for centuries.