Marvelous books from Editions Vial

I seem to have amassed a considerable library, the majority (by volume) of which are design and architectural books. A large number of the most amazing and useful décor books in my library come from the French publisher, Editions H. Vial.

These books are, with rare exception, inexplicably unavailable via the "usual" US outlets, but I have had the good fortune of acquiring a number of them in person, at the fabulous bookstore of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and at the recent Chicago gathering of the International Salon of Decorative Painters, where Vial premiered the new (bilingual) book of decorative painting techniques by master trompe l'oeil artist and revered Salon member Michel Nadaï.


Michel was good enough to inscribe a copy of his book for me.

I have purchased a number of well priced volumes via Chapitre in Paris (who ship quickly and without gouging you about handling) and you may buy the books directly through the Editions Vial website.

Michel Nadai's book is also available through several decorative painting schools in the US, like Pierre Finklestein's on-line shop.







some my current favorites are:

Identifying Marble
Decoration de Bois et Marbres
Chefs d'OEvre des Marqueteurs
Modeles de Peinture Polychrome sur Meubles
Art et techniques de la peinture décorative
Meubles et Décors Peints

In a few months, Vial will also release the much-anticipated book Imitations et décors à l'école Van der kelen from the prestigious Van der Kelen Institut supérieur de peinture.


I understand Editions Vial have a booth at the annual SALI exposition this week, and anyone near Charlotte, NC would do well to visit this exposition if only to buy books.
But also be on the lookout for decorative painting DVDs, wonderful stencils from Helen Morris and Sheri Hoeger, as well as all the latest goo being used in the "faux" business these days.

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Trompe l'oeil faux travertine casings

Trompe l'oeil to the rescue!
In our current project, the huge windows of the two-story living room have somewhat undersized casings.

So we enlarged them, with a faux travertine finish and some trompe l'oeil egg and dart mouldings.

<------ Samples of the faux finishes

The stone finish makes the casings feel more substantial, and the additional border helps balance the size of the large windows.





To create the travertine finish, a coat of glaze (raw umber + white) is painted over an off-white eggshell finish paint.
A piece of pleated tissue paper is laid on the wet glaze, then smoothed over with a tooth spalter, and quickly removed.
This is repeated with a lighter coloured glaze on top.
This technique gives a fairly convincing textured effect similar to a foro romano travertine limestone.



The egg-and-dart moulding is created using a stencil to block in the "shadow" areas. Additional details are painted in by hand. in this way we can make each one slightly different so they don't look too new or machine-made
Warm white highlights are added as well as some shadows on the wall around the new "casings."




Subtle trompe l'oeil "joints" in the casings help make them look more convincingly assembled from carved stone.










The finished windows have more support for their size
and lend some classic Italian atmosphere to the room.

click on any image to view larger

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting