You may recognize this door. We first re-finished it about seven years ago.

Solid mahogany with hand-carved center panels. This 100 plus year-old door, originally from a church, was purchased and installed in our client’s home in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. When we first met this door, it had been abused and it’s original finish had been allowed to weather to the point of turning grey.

Our client was willing to accept whatever amount of color we could put back in to the wood. So we sanded, and stripped, and sanded some more… very carefully around the hand-carved details… and then we sanded it again. When we were convinced we had gotten beneath the oxidization and were looking at raw, unfinished mahogany, we stained, in a “natural” tone, with Sherman Williams BAC Wiping Stain. We let it dry. Then we stained it again. When the stain had dried, we came back and brushed on two thin coats of Minwax Spar Eurethane in a satin sheen.

Seven years later (just the other day), we noticed the door was showing some wear and was ready for a fresh coat of varnish. Just a light scuff sand and one coat of spar later and the door once again looks brand new!

Close-Up of the hand-carved details and the beautiful grain in this old mahogany church door.

Another successful project for us means a happy and satisfied customer!

I recently completed a job wherein the client wanted his cabinets to look more “antique.” The cabinets had just recently been painted, in oil, and the client wanted my antiquing to be done in oil as well.

Working in oil-based products always presents special concerns, and oil-based products almost always cost quite a bit more. The largest pitfal to working in oil is, of course, the smell. The second largest problem is disposal.

Above is a view of the entire area. The dark cabinets were antiqued with a glaze based on the white cabinet color, and the white cabinets were antiqued with a glaze based on the dark cabinet color.

Close-Up view of the white cabinets.

Close-Up View of dark Cabinets.

The entire project was finished with two coats of oil-based fast dry varnish in a satin sheen.

I was beginning to think 2012 would pass without any new art coming from my hand. I had painted “Stress Tree” in February… and then… nothing. No inspiration, no desire to create… and then… it came to me:

Painted as a house-warming gift for my Nephew and his lovely bride. The two of them always have represented to me a good example of strong faith. That is how I think of them. And that is what I thought of while painting this piece… a strong tree, standing at the precipice, deeply rooted and holding firm… able to withstand the almost constant, gale-force of frenzy that life blows at them.

Happy house-warming you two

Love,

Dan

“All in a Day” – 20 cm x 152 cm – Acrylic on Canvas – painted June, 2011

Needed some time for a little R & R, so… here we are on our boat, enjoying the sunset while we fish on one of our favorite lakes (at a secret, undisclosed location, of course)!

Painted Jake’s House in a single Day! Not bad for an old-fart!

Stained a deck this past week and I must say it turned-out marvelous!

First I washed the deck, with medium pressure water, after all, the deck is less than a year old. Then, after letting it dry-out for a day, I masked-off the house so as to protect the areas next to where I would be working. I then loaded a Hudson-type garden sprayer with stain and proceeded to ‘spray’ a nice, even, solid coat of oil-based stain. I kept a ‘throw-away’ brush handy, and, after spraying a four foot square section, I would use the brush to ‘work-it-in’ and spread-it-out and push the stain into the end-grains. First, I brought all the columns down to a height just above the rail. Next, I sprayed all the spindles, on three sides, from the out-side spraying ‘in’… this puts almost all of my over-spray on to deck floor… where I will need it anyway. Stop every four feet feet or so to work it in with a brush. Next spray all the lattice work under the deck… working it in with a brush as you go. Next, it was up on to the deck to spray the insides of all the spindles, get the top of the rails good, and finally, the floor… again, making sure to work it in, this time with a ‘mop’ instead of a brush.

Let it sit for 24 hours… NO TRAFFIC, NO EXCEPTIONS!! Then I took down the masking and Viola!… a beautiful result! I used an entire gallon of product on just the floor alone… a true ‘flood-coat’ that will protect this surface for a long time!

So… what is a long time ? In Wisconsin, I would say this homeowner will need to re-do his deck every 3 to 4 years, or so… depending on how harsh the weather is.

The product I used was three gallons of Sherwin Williams Deck Scapes in the natural “toner”… oil based deck stain. And the garden sprayer I used was actually specifically a ‘deck’ sprayer, with parts meant to stand-up to the harsh chemicals found in stains. The sprayer was only about ten bucks at Menards, and the stain was about thirty bucks a gallon.

Several paint companies have come out with a new product: self-priming paint. Is it any good? Does it really perform as well as primer and paint applied separately? I would have to say, probably not. Why probably and not definitely ? Because I am such a traditionalist, I will likely never even try the product… and so I will never be able to speak from experience on the subject. Why wouldn’t I try it? Because it doesn’t even make sense to me.

Paint is not primer, and primer is not paint, and mixing the two together does not make sense. The two products are formulated to do two different things. Paint is formulated to grab on to and sit on top of a surface that has a good “tooth.” Primer, on the other hand, is formulated to soak in to a surface and grab on to that surface while providing a good tooth for the paint to grab on to.

What is tooth? Tooth is way to refer to a materials ability to allow another material to grab it. Some think of it as an amount of coarseness. Paint will stick to a coarse or rough surface better than a smooth or glossy surface. So, flat or matte sheen paints have better tooth than semi-gloss or satin paints. Sort of like the way Velcro works. This is why we need to scuff sand any smooth or glossy surface before we paint it… to add tooth to the surface.

This is also why one is supposed to lightly scuff-sand in-between coats of paint. And it does not matter here whether we are talking paint or primer, one should always sand in-between coats of any product… if one wants to enjoy the benefits of proper adhesion. And remember that different primers have different levels of tooth, as well. Most primers have a flat finish, and excellent tooth, and I might not find it necessary to sand the primer before painting over it. However, if you are using a stain-blocking primer, that primer might dry to a satin or even eggshell sheen, and certainly needs to be sanded before paint will properly adhere to it. And if the stain is not blocked with one coat of primer, you should paint a second coat of primer, and sand the wall in-between coats.

Sanding in-between coats of material not only promotes adhesion, it gives the skilled mechanic an opportunity to correct any accidental drips, runs or sags. Do I ever drip paint? Of course not… I’m Dan Fulwiler! Yeah, ha ha… I once had a customer brag to me about how her last painter didn’t use drop cloths… that he was so good, he never dripped, and did not need them. And all I could think to myself was, “Well… I’m human, and sometimes I drip, and so I will use drop cloths.” To this day I still think about how unprofessional it would be to claim to be so good, one did not need to use drop cloths… or masking of any type. I have always hated trying to remove paint from a surface it was not meant to hit, and so I am a big fan of drop cloths, and masking, and doing the work with the most traditional, time-tested methods and materials. And that includes using the correct primer, before doing the painting.

There are so many different primers, formulated to do so many different things… there is PVA Drywall Primer, Red Oxide Iron Primer, There is Rust-Inhibiting Primer, Masonry Conditioner, Block-Filler, Wood Primer, the list goes on and on and on. How on Earth can it make any sense to say we have a self-priming paint? I’ll never know, because I’ll likely never use it. I’m too much of a traditionalist.

Dan say’s, “Stop trying to do it faster, and concentrate on doing it Right!”

This is:

Misty Bottoms III – painted in 2009 to replace the original Misty Bottoms I, which I gave as a wedding gift to Jake & Theresa back in 2006.

When I asked Jake what he would like for a wedding gift, he replied, “We want a painting.” So, I told him to come over and pick any piece he likes. Jake chose the original Misty Bottoms, which measures a whopping 48 x 48 inches. I do not have a photo of that first Misty Bottoms, but, suffice it to say it really is just a wider version of this one

What happened to Misty Bottoms II , you ask? I did not like the way it turned out and so I gesso’d over it and painted something else. Many, many of my paintings contain two or three or even four other paintings underneath! Every time I notice an improvement in my abilities, I start painting over my older, crappier pieces so I only have ‘decent’ ones in my collection! How vain is that !?!

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to revisit an older piece.

This is “Stress Tree”

36 x 36 inches – Acrylic on Canvas

Originally painted to represent the effects of the boss who gave me a stroke… no kidding! The painting came home with me when I found I no longer needed to go back to that Hell-Hole-of-a-Job. My attorneys have told me to say nothing further until after the trial.

Anyway… my best friend, Andy saw the painting, and said he liked it… so I said, “Take it. Hang it in your sexy downtown apartment.” And that’s just what he did!

Painted in only two colors: a kind of dirty, golden ocher, and a deep, dusty forest green. Of course, I mix in white for tint, and black for shade… so you could say it is painted in four colors. In any event, the painting was very well received, which makes me happy!

I am really enjoying the ‘tree series’… I think I’ll paint another one, Today!