Arts and Crafts Dining Room Frieze

polychrome frieze and  gilt eucalyptus leaves

A San Francisco dining room designed in the Arts and Crafts style by Debey Zito Fine Furniture and Design,  became a wonderful opportunity for collaboration between several members of my local artisans guild, Artistic License.  This very special group is comprised of local artisans who specialize in period design.  Debey directed a team of local talent to create this room.

detail in cast plaster

A frieze panel of California poppies was hand-carved by Debey's partner, Terry Schmitt. To carve the frieze for the entire room was cost-prohibitive, so ornamental plasterer Lorna Kollmeyer cast them in plaster.
The casting is incredibly sensitive and you can see every pore from the original piece wood as well as every mark in the lovely carving.

I painted the new plaster frieze with a faux bois finish, to match the furniture-quality paneling that Debey and Terry installed the room, and polychromed the poppies with mica powders and pigment.

Terry also sculpted the plaster Eucalyptus leaves which I then gilt with 23k gold leaf. 

plaster painted with faux bois finish

Beautiful Arts and Crafts dining room by Debey Zito Fine Furniture and Design

The room is capped by custom  dragonfly ceiling paper, hand-made in San Francisco by David Bonk.


You can read more about this artisan collaboration which has just been published in the Spring 2011 issue of Arts and Crafts Homes magazine.

Lynne Rutter Studio

Islamic Inlaid Ornament

Turkish Gamesboard, center ornament

During an all too brief visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I was completely rapt by some wood and ivory inlaid pieces.  

Backgammon board detail

A 16th century Ottoman gamesboard, spectacularly decorated with inlaid patterns in ebony, ivory, micromosaic and silver.

I love how the side elements have the look of an architectural arcade.
 click on images to view details

Anglo-Indian fall-front cabinet, side view

Indian Fall-Front Cabinet, circa 1650-1670, rosewood inlaid with ivory.  

detail of inlaid ivory ornament

Details in the ornament are created by incising lines in the ivory, then rubbing black lacquer into the grooves. 

You can learn more about these two pieces (with more pictures) at the LACMA website, in the Islamic Art section.


photos in this post by Lynne Rutter, February, 2011
click on any image to view larger

Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

Ornamental Borders Workshop

Announcing the latest in our series of specialized workshops for decorative artists working to enhance and refine their skills

 The bones of this ceiling design- borders!  Ceiling by Lynne Rutter in the Paris Resort Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas.

Ornamental Borders: Two Day Intensive Workshop
 in  San Francisco
instructor: Lynne Rutter

Borders are the most versatile of ornamental embellishments! Even the simplest design can create a wonderful impact on a space. In this class we'll explore multiple techniques used to create some Renaissance-style ornamental borders, with an emphasis on design and transfer methods, as well as painting techniques including stenciling, pouncing, trompe l'oeil, lining, and gilding.

detail of ceiling border by Lynne Rutter

Learn each simple method and how to put them together to create more complicated designs. We'll explore how to adapt ornament for a variety of different applications in today's interiors, while you create your own set of full-sized samples in hands-on practice. 

ornamental ceiling by Lynne Rutter

 This class will be offered again soon.  Email me to be put on the mailing list for announcements.

Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

Palais Ferstel, Vienna

restored ceiling boss and stenciling, Palais Ferstel, Vienna

While visiting Vienna in 1993 I spontaneously stumbled into a maze of arcades with beautiful groin vaults, 19th century ironwork skylights and some memorable stenciling. When I found my way out I jotted down the name of the building, Palais Harrach.

shopping arcade in the former Palais Ferstel

This was not entirely accurate. On a more recent visit I sought out the newly restored Cafe Central and found myself wandering around a 19th century villa that had been beautifully decorated and converted to a commercial space, and found that this romantic revival gem was indeed the Palais Ferstel. The palace was designed in the 1860s by architect Heinrich von Ferstel, inspired by his many travels in Italy. It became a bank and stock exchange, and like many buildings in Vienna, was badly damaged in WWII. In the 1980s it was completely renovated and now houses elegant shops and galleries, and features a fabulous ballroom for events. It's sort of rafted together with the lower level of the baroque Palais Harrach, and  these passages makes a nice little detour through the Freyung area.  

detail from the Palais Ferstel vaulted ceilings

This ornament is very interesting to me because though it follows all the rules and placement of Gothic ornament, it seems to me neither Gothic nor Italian in style or color, which I suppose is often the case in revival styles. Nevertheless the repetition of the ivy leaf motif in so many of the painted  borders and the cohesive scheme of olive, plum, and ochre makes for a nice atmosphere.

You can find more photos of this lovely place by searching on flickr.

all photos in this post by Lynne Rutter, Vienna, 2008
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Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

Looking up

ceiling detail in the Vatican Palace  photo by Lynne Rutter

Beautifully painted detail of a massive trompe l'oeil ceiling with gilt backgrounds,  painted by Ludwig Seitz in 1883-7  for Pope Leo XIII, Galleria dei Candelabri, one of the upper galleries of the Vatican Museum.  


Agoraphobe's tip:  queues to visit the Vatican Museums can be epic, but this is one of the few places that does not close for lunch.  Arrive right at noon and you can walk right in and enjoy a calm stroll through a beautifully empty palace.
 

click on image to view larger

more about this room at Idle Speculations

Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting