The Doors of Perception
Doors and rooms are considered Illusionism which do not fool the viewer but require complicity on the part of the viewer to enjoy the artistic fiction.
A view through an open door of a stairway shows the interior of a home with various wood surfaces including wainscot climbing the stairs, a grandfather clock and a chest. The light from outside shines in creating a pattern of the door and upper window onto the floor and stairway.
Often a wall painting will have a functional aspect besides the aesthetic and decorative function. This painting of a marble-floored room was painted on a panel and fitted exactly into a closed-off doorway. In reconfiguring a Georgetown apartment into condos, this doorway was simply closed off and the doorframe was left. The client commissioned me to paint a ballroom viewed through this doorway. The floor is of a two-point perspective B&W tiles.
Biographical details of the client include the grisaille sculpture of musical putti as she loves music. Full bookshelves indicate a well-read patron and the bust of Jefferson means she is a UVA alum. Biographical details are completed with her running shoes at the threshold of the door.
The door itself is a match to the doors of the apartment. The door frame is real and leads the viewer into this fantastic illusion.
The stairway with the bird in the window also contains biographical interest. A window was painted on this wall as dictated by Feng Shui. The magpie landing at the window holds a wedding ring in it’s mouth. The clients held a wedding in the house with the daughter starting on the landing at the top of the stairs.
Technically, the upper walls were faux finished with a tone-on-tone texture. I installed a chair railing, marbling it and the panels and baseboard below.
The perspective was designed to be viewed from the bottom of the stairs. The outside of the window should show a wider crescent showing the thickness of the wall. But because this will be viewed at many locations, the crescent was made thinner. so it would not be disturbing from other vantage points.
The Green Door was painted over a large, white utility room door. The project was to make a distressed area at the front door and to paint over the utility door with the form of an antique door. I worked on Trompe L’[oeil elements of the door and surround. The green door is entirely flat, I painted dimensional moldings, protruding shapes and peeling pant. Over the green door is painted an architrave. Although totally flat, it is shadowed to look dimensional.
A Kalorama couple who collects Trompe L’oeil commissioned a painting of a kitchen shelf painted onsite. The wood color and texture were taken from an antique piece which sits underneath the painted shelf. The shelves were painted lower, near the actual horizon. If they were too high, they would appear distorted and tilted. On the upper part are pegs that hold dried garlic and other vegetables.
Again, on the shelves were the favorite things of the client including wine, canned tomatoes, coffee, cheese and bread. The ceramics were from their Italian travels. One of the pieces, a plate is painted broken, another was a plate painted which they could not find. Next to the chicken ceramic is painted a broken egg. The background is a Faux Finish as it would be stark and empty on a white wall.
Two distressed Trompe L’oeil windows have hanging objects in front, one a bundle of lavender and the other a trout.
The final image is a shelf painted in a very contemporary kitchen with super varnished wood. The shelf is painted over a gray metal fusebox to make it disappear. Kitchen items are included as well as photos of the client’s dogs and a small statue of Secretariat. To the left and right is painted wood copied from the rest of the kitchen.
