Faux Painting – 9 basic techniques

Faux Painting – 9 basic techniques

By Marc Potocsky- MJP Studios

Faux painting or faux finishing are terms used to describe a wide range of decorative painting techniques. The naming comes from the French word faux, meaning false, as these techniques started as a form of replicating materials such as marble and wood with paint, but has subsequently come to encompass many other decorative finishes for walls and furniture including simulating recognizable textures and surfaces. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Marbleizing or faux marbling is used to make walls and furniture look like real marble. This can be done using either plaster or glaze techniques.

 

 

 

• Fresco is a simple technique, uses mixtures of tint, plaster or joint compound to add mottled color and subtle texture to plain walls,

 

• Graining, wood graining, or faux bois (French for “fake wood”) is often used to imitate exotic or hard-to-find wood varieties.
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  Faux Wood graining mjp

   

  

  Faux painted cherry wood book match with trompe loeil molding and ornament ct mjp

   

• Trompe l’oeil, “trick the eye” in French, is a realistic painting technique often used in murals, and to create architectural details.
  

  Trompe loeil fruit bowl CT MJP

  

  faux finish ct trompe loeil bricks ct mjp studios

  

  Faux Painted clouds & trompe loeil architectural rosettes Greenwich CT mjp studios

   

• Venetian plaster is a smooth and often shiny plaster design that appears textured but is smooth to the touch. Venetian plaster is one of the most popular and traditional plaster decorations.
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  Venetian plaster Greenwich CT MJP Studios

   

  

  venetian plaster dining room nyc ct

• Color wash is a free-form finish that creates subtle variations of color using multiple hues of glaze blended together with a paint brush.
  

  Faux painting French Provencal Color Wash CT

   

• Strié, from the French for “stripe” or “streak”, is a glazing technique that creates soft thin streaks of color using a paint brush. It is a technique often used to simulate fabrics such as linen and denim.
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  Strie Faux Silk Walls CT mjp

  

  faux finish strie wainscot ct mjp studios

   

• Rag painting or ragging is a glazing technique using twisted or bunched up rags to create a textural pattern.
  

  Faux paint Ragging technique CT mjp studios

  

  Faux painted Pewter ct

   

• Sponging is a free-form finish achieved by applying glaze to the wall by dabbing a sea sponge, in various shapes to achieve either simple design (resembling the wall papers) and more sophisticated ones.
  

  Faux Sponged Aged-Patina-Decorative-boarder NY

   

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  Faux painted Sponge Stipple Stipple technique CT mjp

   

  

  Sponge stipple faux ct mjp

Faux Painting

These are just 9 of the basic techniques used  in faux painting. Most basic so called (faux finishes) glazing, that are very common today in decorative painting are isolated glazing techniques,  a positive or negative manipulation step in traditional faux painted wood graining, faux stone, faux marble, like sponging, ragging, rag rolling, stippling, strie or dragging, etc.

MJP Studios creates custom designer faux finish and faux painting techniques including wall glazing, gilding, patinas, textures, marble, wood, Venetian plasters, waxes and lacquers, decorating and transforming many living spaces in CT. N.Y. Ma. RI. And through out New England and the Northeast.

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