America

This image has been on my mind lately.

detail from the frescoes in Sant'Ignazio Church, Rome
painted by Andrea Pozzo, circa 1698

photo by Lynne Rutter April, 2008

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

J.W. Bergl: a Bohemian Muralist in Vienna

Garden murals by J.W. Bergl, Hofburg royal apartments, Vienna. photo by Lynne Rutter, 2007

During a recent trip to Vienna, I visited the Imperial Apartments of the Hofburg palace, and I was thrilled to find there, two small rooms with murals by the Bohemian artist Johann Wenzel Bergl (1718-1789). They are painted on canvas, with a secco-fresco style, and a look that reminds me of papier peint panoramique applied to all the walls, including two or three jib doors, making these tiny rooms whole, charming worlds unto themselves.
As it turns out, photography is not permitted in the Hofburg, so shortly after taking the above picture, I was asked to leave.
I attempted to console myself with a Schnitzel and a Carafe of Grüner Veltliner in the nearby Burggarten Café. I mean, really, one would think I was shooting pictures of the Empress Sisi in her underwear.

The very next day I went to Schönbrunn Palace, hoping to get another Look at the wonderful rooms of Bergl murals I has seen there a few years earlier. To my dismay, the Goëss Apartments as well as the other Bergl rooms, were all closed. I was told they are open only on special occasions and by appointment, and was directed to an Office where Appointments are made.
I should point out that this would not irritate me quite so much if there was a decent book on this painter's work available anywhere.

I screwed up my nerve and asked the management if they would be so kind as to open the rooms for me. This request was met with the usual calm Viennese disdain, which conveys a measure of blank shock at having been asked about something that is not allowed. Why on earth would anyone ask about something that is not allowed? Oh no, they told me. Es ist nicht erlaubt. I don't speak German, so I refrained from asking why.
Another day, Erling and I spent over an hour trying to gain entry to the Melk Stiftkeller in Vienna, which is reputedly adjacent to a chapel full of Bergl's paintings. More Grüner Veltliner at a nearby Restaurant was required to recover from our Failure.
Did you think you were going to read all this and go away with no eye candy? Would I do that to you?
Fortunately, I have the photographs I took in December of 2002, when the apartments of the Crown Prince as well as the Goëss rooms of Schönbrunn were open for a display of international-themed Christmas Trees.
These murals were commissioned by the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, and were painted between 1768 and 1777 in an enfilade suite of rooms on the garden level of the Palace. The artist used drawings of original specimens of exotic fauna and flora brought back from Hapsburg-funded scientific expeditions. Schönbrunn has extensive gardens and at one time boasted the largest zoo in Europe.
Shortly after the death of the Empress in 1780, the murals were covered over with wall-hangings, and not rediscovered until 1891. They remain in exceptional condition.
photographs by Lynne Rutter, 2002 Click on the images to see larger version.



J.W. Bergl was born September 23, 1718, in Königinhof, Bavaria. He was a student of the prominent painter Paul Troger, the artist who decorated the ceilings in the enormous library in the Benedictine Abbey at Melk. Bergl worked his entire career in Austria, and is best known for his bright- colored baroque trompe l'oeil murals, most notably those in Melk, and Schönbrunn.






I'm not the only one with a camera! Here is where to see more of J.W. Bergl's work:

The Bergl frescoes in the Garden Pavillion at Melk, photographed by Harald Hartman.
Schlosses Ober St. Veit: more of J.W. Bergl's exotic landscape frescoes by Helmut Jaklitsch.
The Goëss Apartments and other pictures of Shönbrunn, a Picassa album by Chris.
Flickr album by Ilja van de Pavert, with wonderful photographs of Melk.
My Bergl Flickr set to which I hope to add more photographs in the near future.
Some decent but small photos in this souvenir book on Schönbrunn.
The October 2007 issue of the World of Interiors has a lovely spread about the Goëss rooms.

Jib Door is in the glossary!

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Art Deco Chinoiserie

What gorgeous, romantic bedroom, recalling silver screen Hollywood glamour, bias cut silk lingerie, martinis and cigarette holders....
Interior Designer Paula McChesney, designed this master bedroom for the 2003 Coyote Point Decorators Showcase in an historic Hillsborough mansion.
An expert colorist, Paula was understandably concerned about the astroturf green carpet, which we had to keep. The rest of the room- well, it had some problems:

Before: a long rectangular room with green carpet, white walls and a low ceiling beveled on two sides, dueling chandeliers, and not-quite symmetrically placed anything.

The solution: don't fight with the carpet- go green! The walls were painted with Benjamin Moore "Harrisburg Green" HC-132. The ceiling was painted a custom mixed green-grey and the rest of the palette was kept limited.

We paneled the room with three levels of silver moulding, including each corner, and a picture rail which settled the question 'where does the ceiling start?' The moulding was gilt with aluminum leaf in advance at my studio.

For the insets of the panels I painted Chinoiserie murals, using restrained doses of brilliant color. The panels focus attention into the center of each wall, creating the illusion of symmetry, and balancing the architecture. And it was also just darn pretty.

Paula furnished the room all in ivory, like a splendid Jen Harlow gown.

After the showcase ended, the paneling and the murals were installed in one of our client's homes.

I've been collaborating with Paula for over 12 years now. I think this was one of our most challenging and successful rooms.

room photo by David Duncan Livingston

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Good Photography for Decorative Painters

People say to me all the time "wow Lynne, your work looks amazing!"
Well amazing it may well be, but here is my beauty secret: much of the reason it looks so good is the quality of the photograph.

When you've just finished a great project, often all you have as a record of your fine work is the photograph. So it follows, the better that photograph, the better your work will look, and unless you are yourself a very skilled photographer, you really must consider getting professional help.

Learn what makes a Photograph work for you:

• When your work is part of an interior design scheme, showing a picture of the whole interior, rather than just a shot of one wall, is very important, to show how your painting works with the room. It helps sell the work to the next client who wants to visualize what you do as part of the design process, to show the scale of what you painted; how you got the color to match surrounding materials, etc. This is very difficult to accomplish, even with a good digital camera.
  
• Take some responsibility for what's in the shot. Ladders, tarps, construction paper, unfinished rooms with missing hardware or wires hanging down for lighting that has not yet been installed... is that a finished room or a construction site? is that blue tape part of the look? Do you want to give future clients the impression that you leave tape behind? non! Such pictures do not belong in your portfolio! Make it part of your contract, that you be allowed to return to the site to document your work in a finished setting.

Why you should hire a professional photographer

• If you need to shoot something large, or a whole room, a large format camera with a lens that won't distort the room, and proper lighting, make all the difference.
• You are far more likely to get your work published if you can provide a good high-resolution image to the editors.
  

To get the Lacemaker shot in this house in Corte Madera, CA, back in 1993, David Papas and his assistant had to haul their equipment up four flights of steep exterior fog-dampened stairway, rearrange furniture, spend two hours lighting the room to reduce glare and eliminate shadows on the mural, style the 10 foot wide Michael Taylor table using the homeowners own dishes, and the result is I got a 4"x5" positive transparency of a gorgeous room, which has really come in handy for the six times this mural has been published in magazines and books.

Establish a relationship with a good, professional photographer.

• Work with the same photographer over a period of time, and consider that person part of your team.
  

Over the last 15 years most of my better work has been shot by my friend David Papas, who has not only made my work look great, but he's taught me a lot about photography in general.

David is also expert at digital photography, taking large images, correcting problems on the computer, and turning that image over for publication as quickly as possible.

This image of my Vintage Laundry room for the 2007 San Francisco Showcase House was taken by David Papas in two shots, seamed together on the computer. He also "airbrushed" out undesirable clutter like the extension cords and extra lighting that were visible in the shot, and then de-saturated the image to give it the look of an old, tinted photograph.

Factor In the Cost of Photography

Photographers cost money to hire, and with good reason: some of those large format cameras cost as much a luxury automobile, and it takes years to learn how to deal with the various problems of capturing the desired image, and to know how to make the most of what's there.
So, for a large project, I factor in the cost of the photo shoot in advance of making my bid whenever possible.

However, I know well, that the going rate for decent photography may be well more than the profit on some of those smaller projects, and sometimes you just can't get back to that site. So, here are some alternative solutions...

Some low-cost ways to get some great shots into your portfolio:

• Often your project is going to be photographed anyway, so team up with the others involved! The contractor, interior designer, architect, drapery workroom, or carpet showroom, may already have plans to take photos of the finished job. Talk to them about sharing the cost of a photo shoot.
• When working with an interior designer, for a client, or showcase house, ask about the photography of the finished job before you quote a price or do any work. Ask for a detail shot of your work that you can use in your portfolio. Often the cost of one extra shot will be nominal and/or can be considered part of your fee.
  
• If your client plans to photograph the space when it's finished, ask to participate in that photo shoot. If you can't be there, talk to the photographer yourself to tell them what you need to emphasize.
  

My client, the David Allen Company in Raleigh, NC, had a photo shoot done of their headquarters and showroom, and the photographer , Jim Sink took an extra shot of the Nine Muses ceiling mural I painted there, and sent me a CD of this photograph:

which was extremely fortunate given the horrid "available light" shot I had taken myself - I simply did not know how to deal with a mix of halogen, fluorescent, incandescent, and natural light coming from the door.

• Offer to trade services with a photographer. Your decorating skills might be just what [s]he need to make a backdrop, finish a room, enhance the studio, etc.
  
• If your project might get published, ask the photographer from the newspaper or magazine, if you may use one or two of the shots [s]he took in exchange for a link on your website or some usage fee. Sometimes a photographer freelancing for a magazine or newspaper will even contact you.
  

This picture of an historic home in Diablo, CA, for which I painted the floor and faux bois woodwork, was taken by Bernardo Grijalva while shooting for an article in the East Bay Home and Design, which included some of my work, and he was kind enough to email me a larger format copy of the image to use on my website.

Credit where credit is due

• Remember, whether you paid for the photo shoot or not, always give the photographer credit when you use one of their photographs. While you own the copyright on your work, the photographer owns the copyright on the photographic image, and you must have permission to use it.

• Just like you, photographers like to have their good work seen and get their name out there to attract more business. Work with them, and they will help make you look good, too.

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Chinoiserie in Red

The Chinoiserie Powder Room I designed for the 2002 San Francisco Decorator Showcase House - David Papas Photography

Here's one of my favorite historic decorating trends: Chinoiserie.
For a number of years now I've been known for painting a certain style of flowering trees Chinoiserie mural using my own spin on the look that was all the rage in late 17th and 18th century French décor.
I adore the wallcoverings of deGournay and Gracie, which are still being produced today in much the same way as the hand-painted wallpapers found in the Royal Pavillion at Brighton, or Lustschloss Hellbrunn, Salzburg. These papers are lush, labor intensive, delicate, and worth every dime they cost.

For this room mural, rather than paint densely covered wallpaper-style panels, I used a light hand, and a more naturalistic approach, to keep this intimate-scaled space airy and uncluttered. Carnelian Red walls help make the room look larger as well as rich and fabulous. And we included California natives such as poppies and monarch butterflies, alongside the lilies, pomegranates, and peonies.

some mentions for this room:
Kafka blog
sfgate

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Cameras in Dark Churches

ceiling mural by Delacroix, Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris
photo using a Nikon p5000 set on the floor

During a recent visit to Saint-Sulpice, I watched dozens of tourists whip out their cameras and snap away, auto flashes going off like mortar fire over a dark trench.

Their pictures will likely look pretty bad: the flash cannot illuminate a ceiling 65 feet away, or it may leave a bright spot of glare in the middle of a mural. While it was believed at one time that thousands of flashes going off in a given day can damage an artwork, the reality is, it's distracting to others and just plain rude. Charging through a church flashing away is highly disrespectful to the space and to those who are there to worship.

At one point a girl asked me if I knew where the rose line is, to which I replied "it's not actually in this church", because it isn't. However, she and a gaggle of others found the famous gnomon without my help.

To these people I wish to say, please, put away your cameras and appreciate the place you are visiting for whatever reason. Buy a postcard, or look on the internet- someone else has more than likely done a much better job taking that picture before you.


For those of you who can show some respect and really care about that photo, here are some Dark Church photography tips:

• do not take pictures during a church service- come back later when you won't be bothering anyone.
• turn off the flash
• if possible set the ISO to 640 or below - anti-vibration settings and high shutter speeds will make for a grainy picture.
• set the camera timer (I use 3 seconds)
• check again that the flash is OFF - sometimes changing any setting on the camera will put the flash back into auto mode.
• place camera on the floor, pew, or other sturdy support (but not on an altar or anything important) and press the button, do not touch camera or move it until after the picture is taken.

Marin landscape mural finished

Here is the finished mural for Janet Moyer's showroom.

Drop by and see it at 1031 Valencia Street, San Francisco. It looks pretty cool at night as well---

Marin Landscape mural in progress

gouache maquette of mural: a valley view in Marin, with Mt. Tamalpais in the background...

Here's a work in progress at the Valencia St. showroom of Janet Moyer Landscaping.
It been a challenging project to deal with the space, the changing light from the various tinted windows, and the rough stucco texture on the wall, the heat of the afternoon sun--
but I got to work in a pleasant space surrounded by plants, with a burbling water feature full of friendly goldfish, wafts of coffee aroma drifting in all day, courtesy of the Ritual Coffee Roasters just across the street.

Before: the space was painted a blue/gray with some clouds up high:


I recommended the room be painted with a brighter, sky blue, (Benjamin Moore #1642 cape blue) and to paint the overhang to make it less obtrusive. In my maquette, I scaled the painting to add depth to the space and keep the majority of the painting closer to eye level, and let the rest of the room be the "sky". The mural will serve as a backdrop for the landscape design. Just the color change made a huge difference.



After drawing out the composition using sidewalk chalk I started painting. The surface is really rough, so taking a tip from my friend Jennifer Ewing, I wet the wall using a squirt bottle first. I also used a good deal of acrylic retarder in my paints, so I could blend some areas. In general I am using the texture to my advantage, to do a lot of dry-brushing using large scenic fitches, and keep a soft, atmospheric look.



This mural will be completed tomorrow...

Diego's big close-up

While visiting the Urban Farmer this afternoon, I noticed a giant parrot on the cover of the 96 Hours weekend insert of the San Francisco Chronicle.

A nice review of the New Spot, for whom I painted this mural, is featured, along with some other good pictures.

Dramaticaly Inclined

The Pearl Earring featured in this month's House Beautiful....

This mural is 10 x 13 feet and painted on canvas. It covers a wall which once had a view-less window and makes a focal point of what would otherwise be visual dead end.
I painted this mural for Ellen Broadhurst's master bathroom a few years ago, and though it uses the image from Vermeer's famous masterpiece, it is painted at a surreal scale- 600% of the original size using a completely different painting techniques- lot of layers of acrylic paint, and highlights applied by dry brushing.
She finally got some press from House Beautiful.
Beautiful Baths special issue, August 2006, pages 84-91

"Grand Illusions"

February, 2006
I am featured in Silicon Valley Home magazine in the article
"Grand Illusions: Custom-Painted Murals" by Tiffany Carboni

Nursery Room Mural in SF Chronicle

July 31, 2005
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine
This wonderful children's room mural, commissioned by Sharmin and Brian Bock, is featured in the article "Room to Grow: Decorating, kid style" by Jane Meredith Adams.
The mural transformed a tiny, dark space into a cheery, open meadow, and features a portrait of Sharmin's horse painted onto the closet door as part of a trompe l'oeil "stable."
More than 8 years after it was painted, this room is still used as a playroom for the family's two children.

Period Homes double feature!

By some coincidence, we are highlighted in two articles in the same March, 2005 issue of Period Homes Magazine.

"Home is Where the Art Is: Residential Murals" by Nicole V. Gagne featuring a trompe l'oeil bas-relief Egyptian passageway mural painted for a client in Novato, CA.

"The Fifth Wall: Options for Decorating a Ceiling" by Martha McDonald - all about ornamenting the ceilings of your home.

Paris Ceiling featured in Traditional Building Magazine

The detailed process of ornamenting a 900 square foot ceiling in the new Paris Casino Resort Hotel in Las Vegas, is outlined in the article "Vegas Hotel Gambles on Classical Design..." by Nicole V. Gagne
including photos of the work in progress.click on each image to view large enough to read.

Published in Traditional Building Magazine , June 2004

Lynne Profiled in Artist's Magazine

February, 2004
Click on the image to see the article large enough to read
Here is a very kind profile of me in The Artist's Magazine
"Scaling The Wall" by Jennifer Ball.

Murals featured in Decorative Artist's Workbook

Another thrilling exposé of me and my work:
click on the image to view the article large enough to read.

"Walls of Wonder" by Lorraine Crouch, published in the Decorative Artist's Workbook, January 2004.

Bay Area Muralists profiled in San Francisco Chronicle

September 6, 2003San Francisco Chronicle
"Walls with a View...Muralists put painted faces on blank indoor spaces" by Kristine Carber.

As Seen on TV

KPIX Evening Magazine catches Lynne on a good hair day, in this rare TV appearance.
Featured in the video are "Vera has a Martini" and "Maxi-Max" in progress, during the time I was using my living room as a studio.

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

Pearl Earring in the Nob Hill Gazette

"Modern and Minimal"
The March, 2001 issue of the Nob Hill Gazette has a large photo spread by R. Bengston on the home of Ellen Broadhurst and featuring the giant mural I painted for her of Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Ellen also commissioned the Lacemaker from me for another house. She almost as big a fan of Vermeer as I am!

above photo by David Duncan Livingston

Lynne Rutter Murals & Decorative Painting

"Mural Mural on the Wall..."

The Lacemaker is included in a nice feature in SV / Savvy Magazine article by Kris Spangler. January 2001

Hot Stuff

December 2000
San Francisco Chronicle "Hot Stuff" column
"Artist Creates Dramatic Interior Scenes" by Beth Bourland featured a chinoiserie room mural we painted for a client in Pacific Heights.

photo by David Duncan Livingston