Faux Painting: Farrar Woltz

Specialty field: Decorative painting including faux wood, faux wood, faux marble, and historic styles of ornamental painting.

Business Name: Acanthe Design
Phone: (804) 648-1616 (Old House Authority)
Website: www.acanthedesign.com
Email: farrar@acanthedesign.com

For centuries decorative painting has been used to enhance house interiors. Plain doors can be faux grained to resemble more expensive woods. Ordinary surfaces can be transformed into something more elegant. Mantelpieces, wainscoting, baseboards, walls, and columns can acquire the look and feel of more luxurious materials.

Unlike many in her field, Farrar Woltz’s approach to faux finishes is colored by a passion for architectural history and the decorative arts. After graduating from the University of Virginia, she continued to study art history at the University of Delaware and in London where she studied a broad range of decorative arts applications and focused particularly on neoclassicist Robert Adam. She then worked in the antiques business in New York City before setting off for Paris, where she refined her painting skills and her appreciation for historic buildings.

Are there particular styles of houses associated with faux painting where it might be more appropriate to introduce a faux finished surface?

Decorative painting can be found in all kinds of historic architecture. You can find it in even the most modest house. Near my home I discovered an abandoned tiny house with the most beautiful painted oak grained doors. While you might expect fancy painted finishes in grander, more "ambitious" architecture, they were not uncommon in quite ordinary homes.

Faux painting has gone through phases of popularity. But what you do is not trendy. Explain what sets you apart from other artists in this field.

I come from an architectural history and art historical perspective. My work frequently reflects historical periods, styles, and methods. I’m not a conservator, however, and I am open to improvising stylistically and to going beyond solely historic materials.

When in the renovation/restoration process is your input most important?

I can come in at any point. Often, I come in when most of the major renovation/restoration is finished, but I do think it’s important for homeowners to have a comprehensive view of where they’re headed from the very beginning.

What advice do you have for old house owners preparing to paint walls or wood work?

Most old houses have oil-based or milk-based paint. They may have lead paint. You should find a good paint contractor to remove lead paint if it is a concern, and dealing with old paint should really be done on a case by case basis. You do not want to inhale the dust especially if you do sand into lead paint, so wear gloves and a serious respirator mask, not a loose little surgical mask. Once you have a smooth, clean and dust free surface, priming is the most important step moving forward. If you don’t prime, your new paint may not bond to the old. I use water or oil based "Kilz"- a stain killer and primer that can be tinted. The oil based Kilz sometimes needs to be thinned but unlike the water based version it sands well - useful on rough surfaces.

What methods do you use in wood graining?

I use traditional beer or vinegar glazes tinted with earth pigments: raw and burnt umber, raw and burnt sienna for most woods. Others, like oak, are done with the same earth pigments, but suspended in an oil glaze. These glazes are manipulated with special brushes, tools, and even the fingers to produce specific grain patterns.

When you come across a door or a panel that was originally faux painted is there a way to remove outer layers of later painting and preserve the original design?

It’s possible. It depends on the top surface layer and how easy that is to remove. My grandfather loved to refinish furniture and once while he was working on a chair he realized he was sanding right through the painted rosewood woodgrain. He stopped sanding and used denatured alcohol to dissolve the dark and dirty shellac top layer to get back to the original grain pattern, still perfect except where he had sanded it off. He applied new shellac. Any homeowner in that position should call a furniture restorer or use delicate cleaning methods.

What’s changed in the field since you started doing what you do?

Decorative painting has become a staple of interior design. A lot more people are doing it. Most are generalists doing wall finishes.

Job you’re proudest of:

I painted a pale blue neoclassical style French bed with designs adapted from a ca. 1785 French panel painting. It is really detailed and elegant with very realistic floral motifs. It is the best ornanmental work I have done.

Why does what you do matter?

Beautiful things matter.

Range of services you offer:

I offer a wide range of finishes, from wall glazes, antiquing glazes and plaster finishes to specific marbles and woods. Mahogany is the most versatile and frequently asked for, but I also do traditional wood finishes like bird’s eye maple, Brazilian rosewood, tulip wood, satinwood, burlwood. Then, there is the ornamental painting, which includes adapting historic forms or designing new ones to enhance architecture, furniture or to stand on their own as works of art on panels.