Gilding in New Orleans

a wee cherub awaiting restoration at St Alphonsus Church, New Orleans

This week I am in New Orleans for the Society of Gilders conference, where a crowd of gold enthusiasts and gilding professionals  have gathered to take classes, share resources, and help restore the gilding of a beautiful old old church.

I spent an afternoon at the lovely old St Alphonsus Church,  cleaning and prepping parts of an altar, and hope to get back there later in the week to help finish those areas.  In the meantime,  I have been taking a thrilling class on verre eglomisé taught by the glittering Miriam Ellner.  If you don't know Miriam's work, please check out her website and prepare to be stunned. And I should also say that photos simply do not do this work justice.   Other workshops include manuscript illumination, paintmaking, frame restoration, as well as water gilding and other special techniques of the gilding arts.  

Do you like shiny objects?  Interested in learning more about how to make them even shinier? Join the Society of Gilders - a non-profit educational organization devoted to the art and craft of gilding.

Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting

Indescribable Colors

Diamond St.  Victorian, color design by Lynne Rutter

 

The commisison to design a color scheme for this Victorian cottage in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood,  started with a request for something that looked elegant, and "not so cute."   I am hearing this request with some frequency  these days. 

 

before: a faded dusty-rose dollhouse

The Victorian Cottage is kind of like the Polly Anna of architecture. So upright and optimistic, so many opportunities for color - can they help but look a bit like doll houses?  Especially when they are painted dusty rose?  The previous paint job wasn't a bad color scheme at all, but it no longer suited the owners' feeling about their home.

My clients also directed me to a house they like in the area, that had recently been painted charcoal.   And they requested a red door.  I love red for front doors!  You know right away where the door is.  

I started by looking for the perfect charcoal for this location. In full afternoon sun, I wanted it to look like charcoal grey flannel, and not  shift too blue or brown in the bright light.  How apropos that the C2 color I found to use as our base is called "Savile Row."

Wedgwood Jasperware color trials, 1774

 

 

 

I was working on this color scheme about the same time as I was studying up on Wedgwood Jasperware, which had provided an inspiring solution to another facade I was designing.   

I also found this set of  Jasperware glaze trials fascinating. Wedgwood had also struggled with achieving just the right tan, just the right mauve...

Somehow I find myself wanting to use those indescribable colors more and more,   like mauve,   puce, asphaltum, taupe, feldgrau, basalt.

Will these color be getting popular again, or is it just me?

Expert painting by San Francisco Local Color.

All of the paints used on this house are by C2 Color.   

 

Color Consulting by Lynne Rutter 415.282.8820

Lynne Rutter Studio

A House Inspired by a Jasperware Teapot

Portland Blue and Cane  Jasperware Tea Set, by Wedgwood

Recently I had a request to do the colors for a Queen Anne townhouse in San Francisco where my good friends the Von Petrins had just bought the upper flat. Having worked with them on the interior I already knew they prefer a more minimal/contemporary/unusual treatment, and they had even suggested the house be painted entirely black, a growing trend in San Francisco.

The partner owners loved the Victorian style, but also wanted a deep color and directed me to houses painted dark blue with white trim. 

Raised in the 1920s to add a garage, the house is rather high off the sidewalk making the garage door a bit more obvious than the entry. So we discussed using a bright color on the doors to make them more visible.   The upper flat has white vinyl window units and I decided to just ignore them since they may be replaced soon.   The house had previously been painted pale gray and white,  in a way that de-emphasized the  ornament and flatted out the facade.    In fact it is patchwork quilt of different applied ornament, some original, some not.   I admit it, this one was a brain-teaser for me.    

How to make a daring, contemporary splash and still celebrate the Victorian ornament and have it all look cohesive?  The answer came to me while admiring a deep blue and ivory Wedgwood Jasperware teapot:  a lovely object that had 6 distinct  ornaments that look wonderful together, on a highly contrasting surface. Seemed to me a perfect solution! Rather than call out the details in different colors, ALL of the ornament can be the same color. 

So--- here is the result:

The Jasper house

Naturally we added a bit of gold leaf here and there, and we have a few details still  to do. But I am completely thrilled with it.  It's a traffic-stopping house and reflects well the personalities of its owners.

Paint by Sherwin-Williams

Are you a fan of Wedgwood too?  Read on----

•  - Wedgwood celebrating their 250th year!
•  - Wedgwood Prestige Arabesque Tea Set limited edition available here
•  - Tea with Claudia:  Claudia Juestal interviews Lord Wedgwood  
•  - At Home with Wedgwood: The Art of the Table Tricia Foley's new book celebrates Wedgwood design

You may call Lynne Rutter for color consulting:  415.282.8820

Lynne Rutter Studio

 

Fauxology

Fauxology, the marvelous blog written by  the effervescent Regina Garay,  is today featuring an exposé of yours truly,  with big, color pictures.

And while you are there have a good look around her blog, it's full of great useful information and inspiration from Regina's work, her library, and the other artists she has gathered there.

Thanks Regina, for this flattering entrée into the world of Fauxology!

image:  self-portrait in the Unteres Belvedere: Goldenes Zimmer   Vienna, Austria

Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting

Setting the Stage

Everyone should have a leviathan at their wedding.

For our recent nuptial celebration, Maestro and I let the Slovenian Hall, only a few blocks from our home, with a small stage just begging for some decorating. Such a splendid event after all, required the proper setting.

The Slovenian Hall stage, lots of polysester drapes and potential

Friends far and near contributed ideas and inspiration.  Carla Eagleton lent me some fantastic vintage Fortuny drapes  from her wonderful textile collection, delightfully shredded and faded in all the right places, and I painted a valance to match their colors, with a metallic shell motif in its center. Something old, borrowed, and blue, and something new to go with it!

Shell valence in progress

I am also lucky to have as a friend, the sage and talented  Ziska Childs, who sent me the enormous gift of a suitably  fantastic designer elevation, with a baroque grotto, complete with a leviathan or two, of course.

grotto backdrop in progress in the studio

.... this would have been far easier to produce if  my studio were a bit bigger.  The backdrop had to be projected in  twelve parts.  The ground row had to be cut into  six pieces just so we could get it out the door (something we thought of at about 11 pm after nearly finishing the assembly of it. oops.)  Thanks to my volunteers Erling and Erika, and my assistant Sierra, it all gone done in plenty of time, and once installed was quite fabulous.

 

In addition to our ceremony, in which Erling pledged to be my  liege-man against all manner of folks, the grotto played host to many great performances throughout the evening. 

Woody Woodman and Igor Finger reading "The Devil in the Drain"  in their own inimitable style 

(photo by Marty Takagawa)

Griffin Runnels (my nephew) performing  "The Rainbow Connection"

which little monster is cuter, now I ask you.

More about the performances and happenings  are mentioned at Erling's blog
Endless thanks  are due to all our creative  friends and family who contributed their time and skill, painting and singing and playing and  tying ribbons and dancing and remixing things to make beautiful noise and clear the room just when I needed the space to dance, and all conspiring to make this all such an extraordinary evening.

Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting