I am disappointed to write that the SDFS 2007-2008 school year has been pushed entirely into the 2008 calendar year, despite the certainty of my last set of posts.

I confess to having underestimated how much time I would have open for SDFS after
Logan’s arrival in September coupled with an unexpected surge in service demand the last two months, all while preparing for my presentation with Heather at next month’s American Arts Festival at the San Diego Convention Center. Its the first time we’ve shown together even though we just celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary last week.

Of course I’ve been also doing my usual October events in Little Italy and here in Sherman Heights at next weekend’s Dia de los Muertos.

My apologies to everyone waiting for more info and who thought they had a set schedule for workshops. I need more time to organize my materials and finish up details on both the SDFS site and the various videos of this year’s projects, not to mention update my portfolio site as well.

Please stay tuned to these posts for developments as they happen and a special offer from Heather for your upcoming holiday shopping.

As always, thanks for your support!

I finally decided to cut back a couple of the initial workshop offerings due to an unexpected increase in contract work between now and the end of the year, but at least its set now and to those who have been waiting patiently for me to get this together, my deepest thanks for waiting if you are still reading this now.

First workshop is now October 27, check out the complete list of SDFS 2007-2008 workshops in faux finishing and painting.

The final application/registration form should be live sometime today and ready for Saturday morning registration.

I will be in Little Italy for the Gesso Italiano street painting festival all day Saturday and part of Sunday–everyone is invited down to check it out, corner of India & Beech. I will post pix of the weekend for everyone who can’t make it downtown for the Festa this weekend, its one of the best events in my favorite neighborhood at my favorite time of year in San Diego.

Finally.

The San Diego Finishing School registration for 20078-2008 program begins this Saturday morning, October 13, 2007, online at the registrar’s office.

All the information posted about classes and workshops right now is solid, though I may be making one more schedule change before Saturday due to my continuing popularity as a contractor. Whatever is posted on Saturday AM is final, except in case of emergency.

If you’d like to chat I’ll be around all weekend in Little Italy working on a chalk painting for this year’s Little Italy festa on Sunday October 14, I’ll be chalking all day Saturday and part of Sunday. My featured piece from last year will be displayed as well prior to installation.
I hope to see you there!

If you would like to find out more about chalk painting, please check out my contracting blog: Hand Painted Murals Faux Finish Walls.

Its already October and I’m still finalizing parts of this site and the materials for the beginning of the school year. My apologies to everyone waiting.

Full descriptions of this year’s online painting and faux finish classes have just been posted, along with a full of the description of the online method of instruction itself. Check it out at Online Classes and be sure to read carefully for the link to the “method” page.

September was a busy month highlighted by the arrival of my daughter Logan on the 18th. My wife Heather had a simple, beautiful delivery by candle light at home assisted by our awesome midwives Jamin and LaShel.

Logan was born at 7.58 pm PDT after two hours of labor, was 21″ long and weighed 7 lbs 12 oz. She and Heather are doing great.

Workshop descriptions and active registration page coming very soon, as is priority registration announcement to newsletter subscribers. Check your email this week for confirmation from new list manager and link to priority registration.

I also continue to be busy with projects, which accounts for some of the delay. I contributed some design and production work to the new restaurant Currant this summer and I am preparing for the Chalk Street Painting event in Little Italy the weekend of October 13,14 2007. This will be my 6th year there and I’ll be delivering my permanent chalk piece as last year’s featured artist for display during the Festa on Sunday. Pictures of all this stuff with more of the story at my online portfolio blog hand painted murals faux finish walls.

My apologies to anyone waiting for the rest of the faux finish class info and registration materials promised on September 12 to mailing list subscribers. Its Saturday the 15th and I’m finalizing several texts for upload to the SDFS site. The first faux finish workshop is still October 17.

I will announce the beginning of registration for first year online faux finish program (as well as all painting workshops at SDFS in San Diego) as promised to subscribers first, general public a week later. If you are on the list, look for an email from me next week.

One of the reasons for the delays has been my usual overloaded schedule plus the fact that I have been documenting many of my recent cool projects with pictures and video for promotional use as well as examples for online educational materials.

Check out my first post to YouTube below, and check my portfolio blog at
handpaintedmuralsfauxfinishwalls.blogspot.com
for the most recent posts.

I’ve been preparing for the new San Diego Finishing School year, and have just posted updated course descriptions and workshop dates on the site. This Labor Day weekend I will finish up the site architecture and begin rounding out text and details.

One of the reasons I’ve been taking so long to get this already is continued demand for my contracting services. Soon I will post new video and images from my work on Currant, the new restaurant by Jonathan Pflueger at the Sofia Hotel in downtown San Diego.

I just posted my first video on YouTube and my custom contracting blog, Custom Murals and Faux Finish Walls, so I figured I should post it here as well. This is about a project I did back in July, my first exploration of the video medium as a method for lecture and demonstration of faux finishing/painting goals & techniques: Faux Finish Fireplace video.

Here’s another early piece of writing that sets out the SDFS mission in clear and noble terms:

Just so its really clear, the main concept of the school is adapted from the main concept of my business painting custom murals and other customized artwork: instead of “creating the art you want” (the tagline for my online portfolio) the mission of the Finishing School could be “creating the art education you want”.

Having studied art in several places & formats in my career, I’ve been often disappointed when it seems like the the teacher is teaching to the middle of the class, or to a general level of proficiency rather than to excellence and those who want to excel. I have always wanted to attend a school tailored specifically to my goals, and take classes that build on my existing knowledge without the inevitable redundancy of a general lesson plan prepared on a topic rather than prepared for me.

In the last couple years I have had a number of requests to teach a seminar on what I do or allow someone to apprentice on one of my jobs. So instead of finding that ideal school to attend, I’ve established the San Diego Finishing School to share what I’ve learned, and how I’ve learned it, in a way each student can best learn it, regardless of past experience and skill level.

My professional goals as contractor and teacher are ultimately one: to facilitate an intensely satisfying and rewarding artistic experience for my clients, and bring them large personal returns on the investments they make in themselves.

Several people have asked me to re-post this section of the original SDFS website.

On re-reading a year later, I think it covers the essentials thoroughly, though I am now reorganizing and redefining the delivery systems for these various components of the faux finish/ mural artist/ decorative painting business.

Classes at the San Diego Finishing School
These class descriptions identify the essential components of a complete education in creating professional caliber murals and faux finishes. They are meant to be assembled “a la carte” style to create the customized art education that gets you where you want to go as expediently as possible. Any class can be contracted or expanded as necessary, depending on your goals and experience level.
Beginning Classes:
Basic Glazing Techniques
Fundamentals of paint properties, mixing & applying glazes, basic color theory.
Basic Drawing for Muralists
Fundamentals of placing objects in space, perspective drawing, and the rendering of light, shade & shadow to “fool the eye” (trompe l’oeil).
Painting Fundamentals
Planning, surface prep, masking techniques and the like for individuals without professional painting experience.
Very Begining Drawing
For anyone who has wanted to learn to draw (anything) but never tried or had any success trying to draw. If you are inspired by what you see, I can teach you todraw.

Intermediate Classes:

Creating Glazed Finishes
Using glazes to create actual finishes for actual environments, depending
on overall design goals, furniture/accesory elements, lighting conditions,
desired impact on mood, atmosphere, etc.
Textured Finishes
Using dimensional textures to create one-of-a-kind finishes.
Ventian Plasters
Using the various proprietary products on the market to create what are
widely known as “architectural” finishes.
Mural Drawing
Large scale drawing, layout techniques, and sequential planning in getting your mural onto its final surface.
Mural Painting 1
Planning the paint process for your mural. Mixing a harmonious color palette, lay in techniques, and sequential planning in bringing your mural to life.

Advanced Classes:
Advanced Finish Design
Combining techniques & materials to create innovative finishes all your own. Study of numerous projects other than my own, experimentation and process design. Emphasis on reflectance, wax and polish techniques, and other little used final techniques to help distinguish your work from all the rest, including how to repair your own work.
Mural Painting 2
Working up the final layers of your mural project to maximize, sparkle, depth, volume and overall liveliness of your mural. Discussion of sealers, UV protection for exterior murals, and other finishing details, including how to repair your own work.
Mural Design
Mural composition, scale drawing, using your digital camera and computer to create convincing renderings, creating and using samples effectively in both sales and production process.
Estimating & Bidding Mural and Faux Finish Projects
If your are a painting professional (or want to be), this is the key to your business: learning to accurately estimate your time, effectively utilize your materials and schedule, and manage your committments, both to the quality of your work and to your clients themselves. Because its not just about the profit margin on a particular job, its about the development of your professional identity and reputation.
Production Insurance Services:
In starting the Finishing School, I am committed to your success. If you get into a jam on a project, work yourself into a corner, or need professional backup to successfully complete your project, I can make myself available to you either in consultation or on location as an “insurance” component of your course at the Finishing School.

Here are some clips from the very first organization of ideas that became the San Diego Finishing School.

I often hear about artists that don’t follow through, don’t understand business basics, don’t show up on time, don’t show up at all, and generally don’t meet expectations.

Usually this is because of some mismatch between an artist’s ability to realize his or her ideas and the artist’s ability to organize a job, and subsequently, a business. I wasn’t as clear on this impportant distinction then as I am today.

In the same context, I also wrote:

One of my goals is to build your confidence with thorough fundamentals and relevant hands-on practice in a low pressure environment. Your confidence in your own eye and your own skills is an essential component of your success in creating anything beautiful with paint.

Today I include a new goal in the mission of SDFS, which is to build confidence in the business side of a faux painting business.

I realized that an obstacle for some of my students and for myself has often been stress about the business side of a job, sometimes to the point of spoiling the fun/creative/artistic/satisfying side of the job.

So I have dedicated myself to making artist business development a more fundamental and more specific component of this year’s program at SDFS. A schedule for the coming school year will become available starting August 27, check the latest edition of the News or register for this feed by clicking on the large icon at the bottom of this page.

Since I stopped taking students back in April, I’ve given a lot of thought to all of the phenomenal experiences and insights achieved by both my students and myself in the School’s first year.

I’ve also thought a lot about how many more people expressed interest in what I was doing in my studio– and what exactly it is I am offering to artists and arts professionals– than were able to actually take a faux painting or mural class with me here in San Diego.

The changes I’m making to the SDFS “game plan” are driven by the challenges– whether financial, scheduling, location– and the goal of finding solutions to them– so that more people interested in murals, faux finishing, decorative painting, and trompe l’oeil and the business of being a professional artist in these trades can access the training available at the San Diego Finishing School.

Because this project is evolving so rapidly, I want to make sure I don’t lose track of where we started, so these first few posts will collect some early drafts of the SDFS material from first websites, working towards the concept of this particular blog being a running record of the School from its very beginning up to the present.