MASTERING FAUX MARBLE with Patricia Swanson

MASTERING FAUX MARBLE

 October 18 - 21 2023

The timeless elegance and sophistication of Marble…

Welcome to Mastering Faux Marble – This is a hands-on class designed to teach you how to structure and paint realistic faux marble finishes. You’ll master 23 different processes that are found in the most popular marble and stone finishes; and once you have these skills under your belt, you’ll be able to mix and match techniques to create 80% of the marbles you encounter.

So if you’re a decorative finisher, or you paint furniture (walls, ceilings, floors, columns or even small decorative pieces) this class will move your skills to a new level.

Imagine visiting a client’s home and being asked to match their real marble floor and paint the nearby columns and fireplace… With a little creativity, you’ll now have an arsenal of 23 techniques that you can use to decipher and create almost any marble or stone finish.

Grande Antique Marble

Portor Marble

Malachite 

Yellow Sienna

White Cararra

Travertine

Serpentine 

Fantasy Breche

 

The class will cover:

 

 

Bio Patricia Swanson:

 

Patricia's painting career began in the theatre in 1977, first studying scene painting while a student at The College of William and Mary; where she graduated with a B.A. degree in Theatre and Speech in 1981.  She continued her theatre training as a student on full scholarship at The British American Acting Academy in London, England.  Then in 1986, she translated her creative skills into decorative painting while living and working as an actor in NYC.  Patricia's acting career ended after twelve successful seasons appearing in theatres in New England (working with such luminaries as Christopher Walken, Sigourney Weaver, Nathan Lane, Allison Janney and many others).

 During her career in decorative artistry, Patricia has studied at many American studios: The Day Studio, The Faux Institute, Faux Effects Studio, Faux Works, Dundean Studio, The Finishing Source; and a professional artisan's class at Atelier Nadai in France.  Over the years she has had the pleasure of studying with such Master Artists as Patrick LeHayne, Michel Nadai, Carolina D'Ayala Valva, and Pierre LeFumat. 

 She worked as a Decorative Artist in NYC for 12 years, then in 1998 moved to Tucson, Arizona - where her solid training and experience gave rise to the creation of Finishes First. Patricia also enjoyed teaching classes for five years at Pima College and other locations (her popular "Faux for Walls" and "Faux Marble" class have garnered unanimous "excellent" student ratings.)  In 2005, Patricia was accepted as a member of the prestigious International Decorative Artist's Salon, a yearly gathering of 100 of the finest decorative artists from 30 countries around the world. 

During the spring of 2006, a panel of Patricia's work was exhibited at the Escher Museum of the Queen's Palace at The Hague in the Netherlands.  In 2009, Patricia created a 1/6 scale room heavily decorated in grottesca, and finely detailed to replicate a circa-1860 Venetian boudoir. This charming piece was exhibited in the Salon at Museo Storico in Bergamo, Italy.  Then in April 2010, Patricia completed a faux pietre dure panel (which was exhibited at the Versailles Town Hall (in France.) Her work has also been viewed at Salon exhibitions in Tokyo, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Petersburg Russia, and other venues. Her gouache painting "Circle of Fifths" is on permanent exhibit at the Tucson Music Museum. Patricia's residential decorative painting work has been featured in numerous magazines including: Tucson Home, Tucson Lifestyle and Tucson Home and Garden magazine, as well as Faux Effect's World (a national magazine for the trade.)  Patricia serves as Education Chair on the Board of Directors of IDAL; and was named Decorative Artist of the Year 2020 by Build Magazine.