The Magic of Decorative Painting

Debra Disman

What IS Decorative Painting?  The term is bandied about, and used to describe just about anything from stenciling to murals to hand-painted lettering. In fact, all of the above, plus much more, falls under the rubric of “Decorative Painting”.

by Debra Disman
Prinicipal-ArtiFactory Studio

This is one of the reasons why this rapidly evolving, yet historic art form is so exciting, innovative, and applicable to today’s fast-changing world.

“Decorative Painting”, as it is used currently, is a broad, “catch-all” term. It covers a diversity of skill-based disciplines which engage aspects of  art, craft, and design to transform the surface of an object or built environment. 

Decorative Painting Takes Many Forms

Decorative Painting draws from an infinite range of sources for inspiration, including nature, world cultures, and our immediate environment. Some of its most familiar forms include:

Wood Grain Faux Finish in a historic Spanish Revival Woodside home.

Faux Finishing, faux is the French word for fake  and the technique is used to simulate aspects of the natural and man made world. Creating the look of wood, marble, stone, and precious metals has been around for centuries.

The methods and materials of faux continue to develop and evolve. Many faux finish techniques use a translucent material called glaze, which is manipulated by various brushes and other tools.

 Murals are works of art created directly on a wall or ceiling. Not limited to paint, murals can be created of mosaics, ceramics, photographs or other materials. They may include such techniques as “Trompe L’Oeil”, French for “fooling the eye” to create the sense that what is painted is actually there.

The crumbling edges of a building, a rose forgotten on the floor- are they actually there? Or is it the painter’s trick of optical illusion?

Custom Stencil at new SF Dress for Success boutique!

Stenciling employs a cut out of an image or pattern which can be applied to just about any surface in innumerable ways.  It’s bounded only by the imagination and intent of the practitioner.

Letters, numbers, text and repeated patterns are great uses for stencils, but their application can go far beyond these.

Decorative Painting Through a Historical Lens

From the cave paintings of pre-history, to the wall paintings in ancient Egyptian tombs and Greek temples, to the development of Mural painting in ancient Rome…advances in decorative painting continue to be motivated by a mix of the practical and aesthetic. The use of faux finishes to cut costs of construction of Europe’s grand cathedrals during the Renaissance is an example of both practicality and aesthetics, which continue to inspire us today. The many applications of decorative painting continue to expand and adapt to our modern and changing world.

Enhance-Beautify-Communicate-Transform

Decorative painters seek to enhance, beautify, communicate, and transform our world by paying close attention  to the objects we surround ourselves with and the environments in which we live. The visual evidence of our history would seem to indicate this as an intrinsic human need.

As the 17th Century philosopher and physicist, Blaise Pascal put it,

 “Beauty is a harmonious relation between something in our nature and the quality of the object which delights us.”

Here’s to the transformative nature of beauty, in the healing of our world, and ourselves.

May your new year be a beautiful one!

Debra Disman’s passion is to translate her Client’s inner vision into concrete visual form. She can help you use the magic of decorative painting to transform a piece of furniture, a wall, an entire room!

She is principal of ArtiFactory Studio, a decorative painting company based in San Francisco, which provides custom decorative painting, murals, and color consultation to customers from all backgrounds and walks of life.  Debra holds a degree in painting from the University of Iowa and has studied in France, San Francisco, and San Diego.  She is a provisional member of the International Association for Colour Consultants/Designers. To learn more about decorative painting, please visit ArtiFactoryStudio.

If you enjoyed this article and want to share it with a friend or the world:) …it’s easy. Click on the Share/Save button and you can e-mail, Tweet or Bookmark it! 

Related posts:

1. Decorative Painting: Innovative Colloboration Delivers Unique One-of-a-Kind Results!
2. Decorative Painting: The Fine Art of Client Collaboration
3. Celebrate Life Events with Decorative Painting!
4. Decorative Painting: Creating Our Paradise
5. What is the best place, space, surface or location for Decorative Painting?

Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by SFWJ in Interior Design

Tags: Home, Inspiration, interior design