A marble fragment is the “meat” of marble composition. They are the chunks of marble that have remained intact as the surrounding sediment (either veins or breccias) defines its borders. As seen on the picture of real marble above, the fragments are encased by an orange breccia. On a veined marble, the fragments are exactly […]
Scagliola Imitation Marble Mantel – Part 2
December 11, 2014 by 1 Comment
This is the second and final part of my scagliola inspired, Yellow Sienna marble mantel (part 1). As we left off, the background was being laid down with aggressive movement with a palette of colors. The areas were then softened. The background layer was achieved using slow-dry glaze and colorants. Therefore, the glaze was tacky […]
Scagliola imitation marble mantel – Part 1
December 5, 2014 by 1 Comment
A new client came my way who wanted a scagliola inspired, imitation marble on his mantel. He was very interested in a theatrical rendering with aggressive breche and color — right up my alley! This was the inspiration for the yellow sienna marble. Scagliola is a process of imitating real marble by using “dough” from […]
Versailles Palace from a decorative painter’s eye: Real marble
April 23, 2013 by 7 Comments
The Palace of Versailles is a rare find when it comes to examples of real marble. The halls, rooms, and exterior are packed with fine European and French marbles. What is particularly exciting is the care that was taken to place certain species next to one another. Also, the type of “cut” of marble was […]
Breche marble
November 16, 2012 by 3 Comments
Breche (breccia) marble is a type of marble in which angular fragments of various sizes and colors are embedded. The greatly random gaps between the fragments are the breche. Marble breching is the action of painting the ‘filled gaps’ surrounding the fragments. When painting breche marble, you always paint the breche and the fragments fall […]
Faux marble in L.A. with Jean Sable
July 13, 2012 by 3 Comments
One of our NYC designers commissioned my company, Grand Illusion Decorative Painting, Inc., to paint faux marble on all molding in a newly renovated living space. The Spanish, mission-style house is nestled in the hills of northern LA in a well-known part of town. The designer was going for an Italian-French 18th century interior, right […]
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