Paint Decor Studio

Proud mom moment. I wrote in an earlier post how expressive 4...

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:43:27 -0400

Proud mom moment. I wrote in an earlier post how expressive 4 y/o Charlie’s art is. This is Charlie, giant head, spazzy body, goofy eyebrows and all. I swear he’s even raising one eyebrow in self definance. Love this kid!

Quick snapshot of a dining room I just finished.

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:13:37 -0400

Quick snapshot of a dining room I just finished.

The Dragon Room. These crazy Chinese dragons are painted on the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:55 -0400

The Dragon Room. These crazy Chinese dragons are painted on the ceiling of a boy’s room in Denver. The walls are beige with a few clumps of bamboo painted on them.

Dining room starting to take shape.

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:24:39 -0400

Dining room starting to take shape.

Another boy’s room by Paint Decor Studio incorporating a...

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:30:37 -0400

Another boy’s room by Paint Decor Studio incorporating a faux finish, a custom chair rail and murals. In this Ferrari room the lower walls are an attempt to mimic ‘Ferrari Red’ car paint. I happen to live within a mile of Denver’s Ferrari dealership so I actually went over and compared Benjamin Moore reds to the cars (fun!). I had a friend of mine spray on the paint as well as three coats of polyurethane to give the walls a super high gloss. The thin wooden chair rail is painted to look like chrome. The car murals are meant to look like designer sketches of the different Ferrari models and are painted over a clean white matte finish base-coat.

Dad’s original vision was of a race track with stands and hundreds of tiny people… I’m glad we went with this. I think the kid will like it for much longer (he is only three but I can see him loving this room well into his teens).

Boy’s room dilemmas? - never fear, Michelle is here....

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:08:00 -0400

Boy’s room dilemmas? - never fear, Michelle is here. This lacrosse mural has to be one of my favorite rooms I’ve ever painted. Mom knew she wanted some sort of retro looking lacrosse art reproduced above the bed but, beyond that, I was free to play. This room is big and I imagined that a simple image above the bed wouldn’t be ‘enough’. The room was asking for more. We played with an poster image we found, changed the colors (to match the bedding) and added a player to make the design a bit more horizontal. The lower walls are painted green, given a faux treatment to mimic grass and then I painted on ‘turf’ lines. The result is a collage of segments of lacrosse fields. The final touch with the paint is a bit of tone on tone white detail here and there on the upper walls. But the creme de la creme is chair rail made out of actual lacrosse sticks mounted to stained molding.

Meet Boomer, my most recent ‘pet portrait’. He...

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:52 -0400

Meet Boomer, my most recent ‘pet portrait’. He isn’t really a pet though… he is an assistance dog. The most amazing assistance dog. I have had the honor of following him on facebook for over a year now and he and ‘his guy’ amaze me with what he does and what he is called on to do. We all need to do what we can to ensure that everyone who needs a Boomer can get one. It’s my new ‘pet’ cause.

Vintage posters make for brilliant Mural Inspiration.

Mon, 13 May 2013 01:41:39 -0400

Vintage posters make for brilliant Mural Inspiration.

Pokemon mural work in a boy’s room in Denver. This was a...

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:15:07 -0400

Pokemon mural work in a boy’s room in Denver. This was a fun room to design as it is a conglomeration of many different manga images I found on line. The sky, although it is stylistically very similar, was taken from a series of vintage national parks posters. The room has great ‘bones’; the floor is a pretty wood, the ceiling is architecturally interesting and the furniture is nice and neutral. I always have fun when my murals can grow out of some wonderful ideas and a fairly blank visual ‘slate’.

Enjoy.

Video of murals I finished yesterday for a seven year old Denver...

Wed, 08 May 2013 01:30:00 -0400

Video of murals I finished yesterday for a seven year old Denver boy. Chinese dragons galore. This room began with two white walls, a bright kelly green wall and the blue wall (which I wasn’t allowed to change). I was given the task of painting (fairly friendly) Chinese dragons onto the ceiling in bright colors (which would coordinate with the blue wall. I also had to find a way to incorporate an unicorn (which later became an alicorn with the addition of a pair of client requested wings).

Fantacy murals in progress in Denver home… I wish that wall...

Sat, 04 May 2013 21:35:00 -0400

Fantacy murals in progress in Denver home… I wish that wall wasn’t blue but Mom couldn’t part with it. Alls well though. The murals are looking great. Unicorn (Alicorn), bamboo and three Chinese Dragons.

Finish up Boomer’s portrait

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:29:16 -0400

Finish up Boomer’s portrait

I’ve decided to show you some of my renderings. This...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:10:00 -0500

I’ve decided to show you some of my renderings. This rendering was for a playroom mural. Unfortunately I did not get the job (I think it was a budget thing) but I love the design and hope I will get to tweak it for another space some day.

Every rendering I do is different. Sometimes a rendering is enough, sometimes I need to show sample boards of paint techniques as well. This style of watercolor painting with a few printed images pasted on is fairly typical of one of my kids’ room mural design boards. I use the printed images where I need to show detail that I wouldn’t be able to achieve with my watercolor brushes.

Preschool Murals - how much is Too Much, how much is Not Enough

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:01:12 -0500

I have been painting murals in preschools for years and I have learned a few lessons….

* Mural Location! - Although you want the kids to enjoy looking at the murals you don’t really want them to be able to ‘add their own touches’. The best plan is to keep the mural work in the hallways. Classrooms fill up with posters, kid’s art, teaching aids, etc etc and turn into visual clutter-fest fast. There is not need to add to that by putting murals in the rooms. Owners will be heartbroken when the murals they spent so much money on get destroyed. There is only so much that a protective coat of polyurethane can do.

* Subject Matter - Squeeze as much ‘education’ into those murals as you can. My favorite preschool murals are in the Erie, CO Goddard School. There are bears (different species) outside of each room. They each have a geographically appropriate tree near them (panda/ bamboo, black bear/ maple, polar bear/ windswept pine) and the seasons progress as you walk down the hall. It is spring at the front of the school and winter down at the end of the hall by the polar and grizzly bears.

* Murals are FRAGILE! - There will be touch-up every few years no matter what but there are a few things you can do to help. First, if it is at all possible avoid having the walls sprayed with texture. The little bumps will pop off and leave tiny ‘holes’ in the mural. Texture will also make it more difficult for the teachers to hang their posters on the walls so they will use super sticky masking tape… and you can guess what that means. Once the murals are finished coat them with clear polyurethane - multiple coats. The schools cleaning crew is going to have to scrub those walls… count on it!

Pediatric Dentist/ Doctor Waiting Room Decor and Murals

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:15:44 -0500

Are you a pediatrician or pediatric dentist setting up shop. How do you decide how to decorate your office? As a designer, mural artist/ painter, student of developmental psychology, and mom I have some ideas.

My wild little four year old is easily distracted and highly intelligent. His pediatrician has a very simple waiting room. The walls are beige, the chairs are colorful and there are a few (easily washed) games, silly full length mirrors, and plenty of Highlights magazines. Charlie finds plenty to entertain him and hes usually in a good mood when we finally go in.

In comparison, the dentist office is insane. There are five computer game stations, a huge TV (generally playing an animated movie which is often too scary for my son), wildly colored walls (no murals), a giant salt water fish tank on the way back to the ‘chairs’ and lots of (not so easily washed) toys. The place makes him crazy and, so far, we haven’t managed a ‘successful’ dental visit. He doesn’t want to be separated from the TV, then he wants to spend hours with the fish and by the time we get to the hygienist he is already overwhelmed and upset. This is not wholly the fault of the waiting room but it doesn’t help.

There is a delicate balance between keeping kids entertained and overwhelming them.

Doctors want their offices to be fun; someplace the kids will look forward to visiting again but lets get real. No matter how many TV screens you have the shots are what the kids will remember. So, how about making your waiting room peaceful and nurturing instead of overstimulating. Parents may have to play or read with their kids while in the waiting room (instead of surfing on their smart phones) but isn’t parent/ child interaction something our doctors encourage anyway?

I do understand that there is a marketing element to all of this. Parents are drawn to offices that ‘entertain’ (we do like our smart phone time). If you are in private practice you need to market to parents who don’t want to spend an hour waiting with nothing to do. But, as doctors, you have an opportunity to enlighten us. Put murals on your walls, fill the office with washable hands-on toys and lots to read. Teach us, as parents, what will stimulate our children’s minds and keep them calm. Take clues from Highlights Magazine (and the like) instead of the latest kid’s design trends. Pediatric waiting rooms can be places to teach and explore. Murals of seascapes or landscapes are good. Keep your colors soft (no need for pastels but steer clear of overwhelming primary colors). Hide some little elves, butterflies or tiny dinosaurs in the image and have a list of things for the kids to search for in the mural while they wait. Ask your mural painter to create a ‘coloring page’ version of the mural for your patients to work on. Your receptionist can suggest that older kids write stories that could take place in the mural and have a contest every quarter (maybe post with winning stories on your blog). Do not over stimulate the kids with monkeys hanging from 3D vines or scary dinosaur heads popping out of the walls. Simple and subtle please.

Unlike preschool murals waiting room designs can’t be targeted to a specific age. A mural that will entertain a 12 year old boy might terrify a three year old. A mural directed at a three year old will make a twelve year old boy feel like he is visiting the ‘baby doctor’. A seascape, lush jungle, or countryside farm can entertain everyone and will scare no one if it’s done well. The older kids can imagine dinosaurs in the jungle while the toddlers can be mesmerized by pretty birds and those ‘hard to entertain 5 year olds’ can ‘search and find’ poison dart frogs and tiny bugs.

40% off Mural Trees

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:44:00 -0500

A single oak or maple type tree or a small clump of aspens or bamboo in your child’s room, office, powder room or any other room in your home for only $299.00.

Contact me before March 15th 2013 and get the special price of $299 for a mural that would normally cost over five hundred dollars. Your tree will be 100% unique and custom designed to fit your room. Limitations do apply.

Some examples of my muraled trees are pictured here (the $299 is for the tree only). There will be additional charges for added animals and backgrounds.

The wall must already be painted and be free from any significant damage. If I have to patch the wall prior to painting there will be an additional charge. The $299 only includes a tree or small clump of trees no larger than 8’ x 8’.

Don’t forget, you must contact Paint Decor Studio on or before March 15th 2013 to take advantage of this special price.

Michelle Frances

michelle@paintdecorstudio.com

(303) 478-6094

“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing” ~Pablo Picasso

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:58:15 -0500

I have been thinking quite a lot about what makes someone a ‘good’ artist of late. My son and his ‘girlfriend’ (both age 4) were drawing the other day. Both prefer colored pencils to crayons, both have artist moms, and both love to draw. There are mighty differences however. S (the girl) draws tiny, beautiful figures with appropriately sized arms, legs and heads. C (my son) scribbles… big, expressive, wild scribbles. He will occasionally draw a figure but it looks more like a jelly fish than a human - big heads with wavy arms and legs jutting out from their chins.

S declared the other day that she draws better. And, on many levels, she does. But C expresses himself beautifully and is not hindered by ‘accuracy’. As a child I was just like S and it took me until the age of 23 to learn to do what C does so naturally.

So, I’m going to go with Picasso on this one and let C express himself however he sees fit. I will embrace those scribbles as I sign that I should scribble more myself.

“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing” ~Pablo Picasso

Ugly Painter/ Designer Communication Story #1

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:07:52 -0500

Artists…. Don’t Let this Happen to You.

The first time I worked with an interior designer was ten years ago and I allowed a very experienced designer to manipulate and take total advantage of my ignorance. The work I did for her was my first real ‘decorative paint’ work. I was grossly undercharging and she did not let me know. The second home I worked on for her was a spec home. The builder was her client and I was asked to bid three jobs in the home. I hate to think of what I charged. I was hired to do all of them and I did them well. To the extent that two of the three were included in images of the home in a major Denver design magazine. I was not credited in the publication and would later understand why. It took a while for the home to sell. In all its magnificence it was pricey. When it did sell I was hoping that the owners would have me back to do more work. They interviewed designers and did not choose the woman who had done the original design. She was hurt. I had coffee with her one day soon after this and asked her about it. She told me, among other things, that the new owners had kids. It seemed natural to ask if she would mind if I contacted them. I almost fell off my chair when she said that she would mind and that she would not give me their name. I was told that I was something that “she brought to the table” and, if they didn’t want her then they couldn’t have me. Thus, no credit in the magazine. If people wanted to hire me they would have to go through her. I had nothing even resembling an exclusivity contract with this designer.

After mulling it over for weeks (maybe months) and having some major arguments with myself I finally put one of my brochures in the new homeowner’s mailbox. The most wonderful woman called me the same day saying that she had been trying to find out who I was for months. She has since become one of my most valued clients (and a friend). I hate to think that had I just signed my work and had any sort of on-line presence she would not have had any trouble finding me in the first place.

Lesson learned!

Good communication and mutual respect can make all the difference. (Self respect and a working knowledge of your field can go a long way too…. ) Much has been gained in the ten years I have been painting walls. I offer this story so that any of you new to the mural business will not find yourself in a similar predicament.

Rules for Mural Artists when Working with Designers

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 23:29:00 -0500

Because every situation is different it is hard to simplify but here is my attempt at a few rules of thumb for the muralist and decorative painter…

Michelle’s Rules for Mural Artists when Working with Designers:

• The client is always right… then the designer is always right. (I only get to be right if my vision matches theirs).

• Designers and clients are most right when they ask for the mural artist’s or decorative painter’s thoughts and ideas ;)

• Respect the client’s money (do not overcharge because they can afford it!). You should never do this but especially not when working with another professional. Designers will recognize what you are doing and may communicate it to the client.

• Respect the designer’s vision and reputation (after all, it is why you have the job)

• Do not undercharge just to get the job. Value yourself and your work.

• Communicate with the designer about billing before meeting with the client. What is their method and who should you invoice?

• Don’t give specific numbers in a first consultation. It takes time to process what a job will entail. Write up and send an estimate to the designer promptly (ideally within 24 hours of the consult)

• Do not lie to your clients. (If a client asks me directly what I am charging or whether or not I am sending a commission to the designer I will tell them).

• Take time to assess the situation. If anyone asks you to be dishonest about what you are charging proceed with extreme caution.

• Do not allow yourself to be ‘owned’ by a designer. Your talents are your own. Designers should get credit for finding you, recognizing your talent and bringing you into the process but they should not take credit for the actual work.

To elaborate….

I love working with designers. I love the collaborative process. I often create my best work when working with fellow artists. Designers generally have great ideas and they can often see ‘the whole picture’ better than I can (especially if I am looking at an unfinished space).

I have been both a designer (for theater, not homes) and a decorative painter. I have been commissioned by designers for fine art canvases, decorative ceilings, fauxs and plenty of stencil and mural work. I have had designers who took no commission and wanted no input and I have worked with designers who pretty much told me what to paint, in what colors and with what brushes. There does not seem to be a standard here. Sometimes I bill the client and send the designer a percentage, sometimes they bill the clients and send me a check. Sometimes designers expect a commission/ referral fee, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes designers want their painters to paint something they have envisioned; sometimes they only know that a specific wall(s) needs something ‘more’ and it is up to the decorative painter/ muralist to come up with some options.

As I said, there does not seem to be a standard as every designer is different and every client expects something different from those designers. The only consistent thing is that we, as mural artists and faux painters, need to be able to read the situation and respond to it correctly

Images of my old figure drawing sketches on newsprint. I figured...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:13:00 -0500

Images of my old figure drawing sketches on newsprint. I figured that I better document them in some form before they disintegrate. This was my first true figure drawing class and I was lucky to have a stupendous teacher. He never let us spend more than five minutes on a pose; often we had less than 30 seconds. His goal was to teach us to disconnect our brains from the drawing process; we were to let our hands and eyes communicate directly. Enjoy.