The Faux Finish Artist: Professional Decorative Painting Secrets for Aspiring Painters and Artists

By Jimmy Eldridge Hager

Written for beginners and professionals alike, The Faux Finish Artist is a training manual for people who want to earn at least $500 a day as a working Decorative Artist. Whether you are a canvas painter, contractor, subcontractor, interior designer, or maybe youve never picked up a paint brush and simply want to earn extra income, Jimmy Eldridge Hager draws on his 35 years of experience as a working Decorative Artist to show you, step by step, how its done. From your first sample board, to your first client presentation, to building a successful business, The Faux Finish Artist will cut years off your learning curve. If youve ever considered a career as a working Decorative Artist, this book was written for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 1, 2008
• ISBN: 9781462832736

Jimmy Eldridge Hager

From 1970 through 2005 Jimmy Eldridge Hager worked, as a Decorative Artist, on thousands of private homes and businesses in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, New York, Florida and California. After graduating from the College of Charleston with a BA in English, Jimmy started writing short stories and novels while supporting himself and his family as a painter. He studied decorative painting in New York, Miami, London, Florence, Venice and Paris. He was the one of the first painters to combine artists acrylics with industrial application techniques on large scale residential and commercial decorative painting projects. Jimmys work can be seen in many homes and business throughout the South. Now retired, he lives in Columbia, SC with wife Joanne and their English Cocker Spaniel, Berkeley.

Book preview

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Welcome to the wonderful world of Faux Finishes and Decorative Painting. My name is Jimmy and for over thirty-five years I was a professional painter. During those years I worked in almost every conceivable construction environment. Whether working alone or running a crew of 45 men, the experience taught me so much I decided to write a book. Granted I never worked inside the hull of a ship or painted under water, but I have glazed a ceiling forty feet off the floor and marbleized columns thirty feet tall. From refinishing antique fireplaces and tiny picture frames to sandblasting steel beams and applying cold tar epoxy in 100° + heat, I may not have seen it all, but I’ve seen most of it.

My painting business put me through college and provided a comfortable living for my family, but the hassle of trying to maintain a crew while keeping customers happy was about to give me an ulcer. Because clients will always judge you personally by your employees I quickly found myself suffering from a paradox. Every time I found a good man and trained him, he would go into business for himself. I was merely creating my own competition. There had to be a way to make a living that did not require a big crew and still give me a sense of personal satisfaction.

On a blistering July day my crew and I were repainting a huge house for a retired executive. During our 10 o’clock break I was admiring his garden. He grew these beautiful big tomatoes. He had been watching us closely, going from window to window frequently to check on our progress. Even though my company had a good reputation, most high end customers have to see for themselves that the crew is not going to trample the shrubbery or get spray paint on the Mercedes. After a couple days he was comfortable enough with us to come out with cold ice tea and cookies. He admired how hard we worked. After work on the fourth day he gave each member of the crew a couple of his tomatoes. After the crew packed up and left he started talking about how much he enjoyed working from home.

Long story short, I learned this man made more money in one day dabbling in the stock market than I made painting all week. It was nothing for him to buy GM in the morning, sell it in the afternoon and make $500 or more. At that time his biggest profits were made on Diet Doctor Pepper and soft contact lenses. I remember him saying Free money and big tomatoes, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Over the course of the next week, he not only showed me his system, he let me listen in on his calls to the four different brokers he used. The hook was set and I made up my mind to set a goal of making $500 a day. I knew I would never achieve that lofty goal painting houses. So, in 1990 I made up my mind to get out of the painting business and do whatever it took to become a stockbroker. Quite a leap I know, but not an impossible one. Since I had worked for over a dozen brokers over the years, it wasn’t hard to get an interview. Within weeks my application to join Interstate Securities was accepted. I was counting the days until I could wear clean clothes while working without employees.

By now you might be wondering what all this talk about the stock market has to do with Decorative Painting. Well, it’s all about seeing opportunities in the most unlikely places. The retired executive’s house was located on Kiawah Island; a beautiful, highly exclusive resort on the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina. The lady who lived next door had just moved to the area from North Carolina. She came over and asked if I would give her a price to base coat her walls. She had hired a faux finisher from New York to glaze the walls. He was flying in the following week.

I, of course, had never heard of wall glazing or faux finishing. Even after hearing her description, I wasn’t sure I understood what she was talking about. All I gathered from the conversation was the entire process was accomplished using paint. I thought I knew everything there was to know about paint. Man, was I in for a shock.

I also thought I was being asked to perform some complicated work. As it turned out, the base coat was simply a cream colored eggshell sheen latex wall and trim paint applied to the walls. The lady told me the decorative artist, who would actually glaze the walls, was a very nice man who loved to share his expertise on the subject. He actually teaches classes, she said, and invited me to watch the process and feel free to ask him any questions that came to mind. I agreed to do the work, she supplied the paint and I charged her $250 to paint the walls in two bedrooms and two small bathrooms. The whole job took about six hours. It was not bad money for a quick side job in those days.

The decorative artist showed up the following Monday morning looking like a roadie for The Allman Brothers, gig bag and all. The lady introduced us and we made all the pleasant conversation necessary to establish what I thought was a good relationship. She had told me what a nice guy he was and how much he loved to share his knowledge. While the client and I watched, the artist mixed up semi-transparent, reddish brown, paint like concoction and using a regular 3 china bristle paint brush he applied a thin coat over the cream colored walls. Then he simply blotted this wet film with a wadded up piece of torn bed sheet. The finished product looked something like leather. He called it a ragged finish. A little voice inside my head said, you can do this," and I knew instantly this was the wave of the future in home decorating.

The lady who owned the home was right, the guy was very nice and he talked freely to both of us; while the client was in the house. But the moment she drove her Jaguar out of the driveway to go shopping this artist turned to me and snapped, Listen Man, I know what you are doing. You’re trying to steal my trade secrets and that’s not going to happen! My chin hit the floor I am sure. You could have knocked me over with a feather. He went on, I paid a man $200 a day for the privilege of being his helper so I could learn to do this work and I’m not about give my secrets away for nothing.

I was so stunned by his abruptness that I left the room with the intentions of never coming back into the house. Fortunately, common sense prevailed and during lunch I thought about it and decided he was right. I had no reason to expect him to give away his hard earned trade secrets. This was my first big lesson. So, after lunch I went back to the house, took a hundred dollar bill out of my wallet and asked him if he would give me half a day’s worth of his knowledge. To my surprise he looked up at me and grinned. Then he pocketed the bill and we shook hands.

Professional Secret: YOU WILL PAY GOOD MONEY TO LEARN HOW TO DO THIS KIND OF WORK AT A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GIVE THE INFORMATION AWAY, CHARGE FOR IT. OTHERWISE YOU ARE SIMPLY CREATING YOUR OWN COMPETION. I figure by the time this book sees print nine out of ten Americans, who work in any aspect of construction or own a home will have some knowledge of Decorative Painting and Faux Finishing. And while they may not know exactly how to do it, they will recognize it when they see it. I figure we have about five years before even the more elaborate and complicated finishes I discuss in this book are common knowledge to every industry professional. This means more people doing the work, at much lower prices.

Well, I soon discovered this artist was not only making $800 to glaze each bedroom and $500 for each tiny bathroom, his airline tickets and rental car were also included. In addition, he was given the use of the home owner’s condo on the beach for the whole week and he had a $400 per week food allowance. He knocked out the entire job in two days and spent the rest of the week laying around the pool and going to the beach. And here is the real kicker; when he was finished the owner was so happy with his work she flew his girlfriend in to spend the rest of his vacation with him. She went on and on about how lucky she was to get the artist to even consider doing the work at all.

Needless to say, I immediately dropped the idea of becoming a broker, and literally threw myself into learning everything I could about these different decorative painting techniques. I later learned a beginning stockbroker is really nothing more than a glorified salesman who spends his days on the phone cold calling.

It took me from August of 1984 until June of 1987 before I made it to my first workshop in New York City. By that time I was telling everyone I met about faux finishes and wallglazing. Back then nobody understood what I was talking about. More than ten years passed before the word faux made it into the average home owner’s vocabulary. Now every Lowes, Home Depot and paint store has a display section devoted exclusively to Faux Finishes. Every person you meet who knows anything about interior design thinks she is an expert on sponge painting.

Beyond the obvious copy cat artists there are those of us who make up or create our finishes as we go. I seldom if ever allow anyone to watch me work. So it comes as no surprise when I finish with a job, everyone wants to know how I did it. I smile and tell them, That’s a trade secret, and leave it at that. Now I’m in my 60’s, I have everything I ever wanted and I paint only when I want to. These trade secrets have served me well over the last twenty years. And because I hate to waste anything, I wrote this book to share my trade secrets with other painters, artists and designers. This brings me to the money making aspect of decorative painting.

Each instructor, whether in a school, book or video promotes his or her own way of executing these finishes. For your purposes they are all just means to an end. Oddly enough, as you will learn, it can be no other way. They are all similar but different because each person brings his or her own understanding of the various processes. In other words, you can look at any faux finish or wallglazing job I have ever done and if you know my work, you can tell I did it. Each artist’s work is as unique as the artist himself. Just like a Picasso or Rothko are both painted on canvas and yet are completely different, so your work will be similar but different from the work of your instructors or fellow students. This art form like all others is wide open for free expression. As you grow into a professional decorative artist your work will be as distinctive and different from other painters as a Picasso is from a Rothko. Walk into any art gallery and look at any collection by a particular artist and you will see each piece was obviously painted by the same person. All are similar and yet each piece stands alone. The knowledge in this book will make your decorative painting work just as distinct. I promise.

While I was learning the trade I asked each instructor how their program compared with their competition. Responses ranged from never heard of them to they are ok but my way is better because of … you can fill in the blank. I did find some classes were more cutting edge while others were more traditional. No two schools of thought on this subject were exactly the same. You will pick up something new from every teacher and every class. All the information is grist for the mill of your imagination. All the instructors I studied with were excited about the business, eager to teach and very friendly. But they only teach you what they say they are going to teach you. Nobody teaches you trade secrets they are still using to make money. You have to figure out your own trade secrets the hard way. This book will show you how to do just that.

I studied six different schools of thought on these finishes before I realized the basics are pretty much the same. In other words, you paint a wall or a piece of furniture, then you smear on a glaze, you hit it with a tool of some kind and the tool leaves an impression in the paint. The real secrets of high end decorative painting are as buried in the application recipes and production process of the individual artist as cooking talent is in a secret recipe prepared by the chef who came up with the recipe. No teacher I met told me everything. Each one held something back. But, once you understand the basics, what works and what doesn’t work for you as an individual artist, you will see how to expand those basics into a style all your own.

When I was working in Charleston, South Carolina, I was at the top of my game. I made it a point to stay on top of my competition. If a new decorative artist came to town, or someone got a job I should have had, I knew within a few days. I found out everything I could about how they worked, how they got hired, what city they came from, anything and everything. I would go out of my way to meet them, to make friends with them, talk shop with them and make them feel welcome. We exchanged business cards and if possible I would even take them to lunch. That is why it is hard for me to believe all these different schools don’t stay on top their competition as well. So, unless they are too busy with their own students or their own decorative paint jobs to watch the other guy, they would have to take time out at some point to see what the other artists are doing. With the green revolution and changing technology bringing new products to market every day, there is no need to feel threatened by another artist working in your turf. There’s no point in feeling one school of thought is superior or inferior to another. When you are good at something you know it. Being at the top of your profession gives you a sense of personal style and most of all the freedom to pick and chose who you want to work for. Knowing you can create artwork anytime, anywhere, like no one else, because, as you will learn, nobody can do what you do, exactly the way you do it, is what makes you and your work special.

Any time you get a chance to attend one of the workshops sponsored by a paint store or Lowes or Home Depot, you should. You never know when a small piece of information or some obscure new product will trigger your imagination. If you can get to a class in one of the bigger schools, even a one or two day class will give you more information than you can process in a month. However, if you study the material in your hands, carefully, before you buy another video or book or attend one of the workshops, you will be months and possibly years ahead on the learning curve. And while my basic techniques are variations based on common themes found in most other schools and books, the more advanced methods I use were learned over 20 years of trial and error. Adjusting formulas and application techniques to compensate for high humidity, or extreme cold or a large area of surface, not to mention working hand over hand with a partner, can’t be taught in a weekend with a book or video. Most of my secrets were learned the hard way under the pressure of a production dead line, a budget and hard to please clients. I discovered many of my more unique and elaborate finishes while I was actually attempting to repair some other artist’s work.

Professional Secret: YOU CAN’T MAKE A MISTAKE THAT WON’T TEACH YOU SOMETHING. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT WHAT YOU DO WRONG IN ONE SITUATION WILL WORK PERFECTLY IN A NEW AND DIFFERENT SITUATION.

For instance, while spray painting a chair I accidently over-sprayed a sample board smeared with GoJo hand cleaner. I didn’t see the board until I after I was finished with the chair. After the paint dried I wiped off the board. The hand cleaner kept the paint from sticking to the smudged surface of the board, but the pattern it left was unlike any I had seen in my other processes. As it turned out, this accident started a chain reaction in my mind using unrelated products, in this case hand cleaner and oil based paint, to create some very unusual effects. I’ll tell you more about using safe chemical reactions to get dazzling special effects later on.

For now, let me just say I wrote this book to solve some basic problems everyone faces when they start out in this business. I wanted to explain not only how the fundamental processes work, but most of all I wanted to demonstrate how anyone, whether they have little or no experience can take these fundamentals and create their own uniquely, personal art form. Rather than sitting around with a beautiful coffee table book trying to figure out how to duplicate some high gloss picture, the information here is presented in a step by step sequence leading from absolute beginning artist to advanced color designer. It is important to know why these techniques work. Knowing why something works gives birth to this creative question if the technique works like this, what will happen if I change just one little thing? So, I will explain how each product and process works before I explain the colors. If you understand it in black and white and shades of gray first, then color will make much more sense and you will save yourself a multitude of trial and error and disappointment.

Most people starting out don’t even know what kind of paint to use or where to get the proper materials. They grab a quart of this and a quart of that, a goose feather and a sponge, fail miserably and give up. I believe if enough would-be faux artists will sit down and read this book from cover to cover, the industry would see a new burst of creativity.

Investing the small amount of time it takes to carefully read this book from cover to cover, will answer most if not all your questions before you even pick up a brush. Since all the advanced information in the book builds on previous and more basic information, it would be wise for you to read the material all the way through before attempting any of the more advanced finishes. The whole concept is laddered, one step leads to another. Take the information one step at a time and you’ll do just fine. Try to jump ahead and you sill slip up, waste time and material, possibly hurt yourself and most surely have to