Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Painted Ceiling - Master Bedroom project

Our new master bedroom addition is a project that is still in progress, but here is the completed painted ceiling. It was fun to do and I was delighted when I showed Jim a few colors and he said he loved the purple! Who would have guessed?! It was difficult to photograph, so I took a few sample shots to show some closer views.

The painting was done very free-hand and without any plan. I made it up as I went adding color and textures until I got something I liked. I have found that is the best policy for any of the faux finishes I have done on walls -- If you don't like it just keep adding more until you do. This celing is much more dramatic than any house painting I have done before, but the philosophy still worked for me. I never use a roller when I paint, just don't like them. So even when I make a solid color wall I use a brush with free flowing stokes in every direction and thinned paint. The benefits of this method are that I get good, even coverage after a few easy coats. I do not have the roller texture and missed, alligator spots, each coat dries very quickly and - important for me - it is much easier to get stray dog hairs out of the thin coats. I find it a much more freeing, fun and creative way to paint a wall than the rigid rollering and cutting in of edges. I mostly use a good 3" brush and mix my own colors from "junk" paint that others return. Other size brushes, sponges and rags, and my artist acrylics enter the scene when inspiration strikes.

The walls of this room appear solid colored at first, but there is a subtle, gradual blending from the ceiling gray-green through yellow and down into a peach. I had not planned that, but I like it the way it is so it can stay like that for now. I enjoy how the colors appear to change as the light of the day changes.

This is partial explanation for my not posting more completed art lately. I am bound and determined to move into this addition within the next week. Still have a big cement floor project to complete with a lot of unknowns - learning as I go. Wish me luck!