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Modern Masters

Black is beautiful in furniture and cabinetry finishing!

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Black Shimmer Cabinet Finish
Black Shimmer Cabinet Finish

I have been painting in the decorative finishing world for about 25 years now and one of my favorite surfaces is furniture and cabinetry. Furniture can take on a personality and it’s so much fun to start a piece and see where it goes. NO, I never have a complete plan when starting a project – if I waited for that to happen, I would never start anything!

My "chippy" finish
My “chippy” finish

I love working on my clients projects – shown above – this project included the round mirror, desk and chair. The only direction she provided was the color of red to match and she liked a distressed/chipped look. What fun for me – I love painting something prefect and then destroying it to make it look old and worn. Here is a picture of the finished set.

Project for Debbie
Project for Debbie

So this Blog is suppose to be about Black furniture and cabinetry – okay let’s get back on track!!! For the past five years or so – Black has been my main color for cabinetry – to me Black is the new neutral.
One of my favorite projects was a friends kitchen – the transformation was just amazing and even with a ton of cabinets – my Tuscan Nights finish looks Fabulous and didn’t make her kitchen look a bit smaller – actually the finished kitchen looked bigger! Here are before and after pictures.
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Before picture of Kitchen
Before picture of Kitchen
After picture Kitchen
After picture Kitchen

Working with another one of my clients – this house being very contemporary – most cabinetry was finished with Black or Metallic Silver.

Entertainment Center - Fireplace - Bar cabinetry
Entertainment Center – Fireplace – Bar cabinetry

Looing at this picture – I even did the floor in a multi-layered Black/Silver concrete finish.

Bar Cabinets - Metallic Silver/Black finish
Bar Cabinets – Metallic Silver/Black finish

I love the dramatic appearance of a Black finish and it has been one of the most popular finishes! I think Black can go anywhere – create a focal point or have a conversation piece.

Tuscan Nights Finish
Tuscan Nights Finish

Black cabinetry is a staple for me and most of my students have installed the Tuscan finish at least once – I continue to teach many different versions of the Tuscan Nights along with many wonderful finishes that sell – taking you from the basics of preparation to high-end furniture finishes.

Cabinetry/Furniture workshop samples
Cabinetry/Furniture workshop samples

Cabinetry/Furniture workshop
Cabinetry/Furniture workshop

Get out your paint brush or sprayer and paint something Black!!! Check out my current Cabinetry/Furniture Workshop @ https://shop.artisticpaintingstudio.com/collections/learn/

The “white goop” in my bucket!

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Proceed - Professional Decorative Painting System

I have been in the decorative painting industry for 25 years and I still love what I do – each and every day!!! But, I will have to say – that I have not been this excited in years about the “white goop” in the bucket – thanks to Proceed by Golden.  I made some changes in the products I use over this past year and found a couple of products lines that I just totally in love with.

Proceed® Cracking Textures

Proceed by Golden was created by artist for artist – and the possibilities are endless!  The more I play with the materials, the more possibilities I keep coming up with – I have at least 5 to 10 samples boards hanging up at all times making new creations with this stuff.  Every product they have can be mixed with another product to create something different and believe me, I’m creating!

bella florish3

class19Another point that totally impresses me is the amount of information that they have provided to the artist.  I really try to be available to my customers at all times – but for those that never sleep, you can go to www.proceedsystem.com at any hour of the day and find an enormous amount of information.  (Sorry but I usually don’t answer my phone between 10pm and 6am)  LOL

The Proceed web site has everything you could ever imagine and beyond – coverage calculator – recipe builder – product crossover chart – product information – finishes and much much more!  You can search each product and find out everything you could just about ever need to know.  The more time I spend on the web site the more I learn myself 🙂

I also love the fact that they have packaged all the materials in a sample size container – price range is from $8.79 to $14.98 to get 16 oz of material to play with.  Enough to create a sample board to show a client before buying a full gallon of something your not sure you will need.

proceedsample

My favorite product at this time is Smooth Transparent Glazing Gel (STGG) – I personally think I may need some intervention soon, I can’t get enough of this material.  Here is one of my creations – Crystal Ice:  I use the STGG mixed with Glitter (one or more colors) and create beautiful Stria’s using several different tools.

crystal ice

Just start to imagine the many possibilities that you can create with just STGG – It is a clear gel medium that is glossy – you can mix anything into this medium:  Mica Powders, Mica Flakes, Glitter, Paint, Colorant, glass beads, etc……Just to name a few.glitter2

I have every product in stock – 8 different Mica Flakes – 6 different Glitter colors – many Foils and much more – www.artisticpaintingstudio.com or call the studio @ 714-386-3243!