Introduction to Decorative Painting & Faux Finishing

Decorative Painting has been around for centuries – ancient civilizations were already decorating their interiors and exteriors beautifully and durably. The term ‘decorative painting’ essentially means employing a paint technique to change a plain surface into one with color, depth, and movement, and it’s a skill set that continues to this day. You can learn the foundation techniques required to begin and expand upon your decorative artisan career. There are a few factors to consider for learning about decorative painting and faux finishing. You may be wondering:

• How do I even begin knowing what a decorative painter does?
• What products and tools do I need?
• What are the basic finishes I can easily learn?
• How do I mix colors and glazes to make finishes?
• And most of all….how can I learn these skills easily and affordably?

The ability to use paints, acrylics, and glazes is a great tool to help build your creative portfolio. They can be used on their own, however, more often than not, these foundation finishes are used as the building blocks to create layered finishes, faux organic materials, murals, and more. Knowing the basics allows a decorative artisan to work confidently with private clients, interior designers, and commercial clients.

Lori Le Mare shares the foundations with you from her 35 years of experience in the fields of decorative painting, faux finishing, and the restoration of heritage painted finishes. Lori has earned a solid reputation as a master artisan, and is now teaching her foundation series and easy to learn finishes, step by step, right from her studio in Ontario, Canada. Her goal is to make you a decorative artisan.

Here’s what we’ll cover.

By the end of this Foundation Series course, students will know the basics of being a decorative painter. You’ll learn about the tools, mediums, colors, and methods involved in creating decorative and faux painted finishes, as well as how to manipulate these to get beautiful results. You’ll learn how to make a coloured glaze and how to layer the glazes to create depth and variation in colour. You’ll learn how to create movement in these glazes by utilizing transparency and opacity. You’ll be able to understand the language and know the processes so that you can think for yourself and problem solve by not being beholden to formulas and recipes. You can use this knowledge as a springboard for your imagination, enabling you to create your own finishes by expanding on these basic techniques.