Decorative Panels and Screens

12/03/2022

I have a small chinoiserie box table with a crackled look and faded gold brush strokes. Chinoiserie was prevalent in the 18^th century when furniture, frames, and architectural elements were painted with images evoking Asian motifs.  Mine is a 20^th century reproduction and one of my favorite pieces of furniture.

We made each panel of 6’ by 11” high grade pine. I developed a modified version of papier mache (details later in this post) and painted the surface black. Using the chinoiserie box table as a reference point I decided to create a repeated pattern of images over the length of each of the three panels of the two screens. Using a long-haired watercolor brush and a bottle of Deco Art metallic acrylic paint in Glorious Gold, I propped the wooden panels up against the interior brick walls and painted standing up. Each image is somewhat enlarged and painted loosely to impart a more modern effect. We fastened the panels together with double swing hinges.

We liked the long continuous space so much we included the concept in the home we built in the Texas Hill Country. I packed the folding screens carefully, each panel encased in bubble wrap, the screens folded closed and held in place with the cling wrap on a roll you can purchase online when you are packing and moving. The folding screens made the move safely and are now segmenting the continuous space of our new home.

This is my “mood board” of magazine clippings. I gathered them as I was thinking about a design for a large wooden wall art panel.

I also looked at my photographs from trips to Rome and Florence and noticed from the many, many photographs of doors and wall panels that I had a definite interest in painted wooden art panels.

I was also inspired when I visited the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. where they have installed Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room by James McNeil Whistler and Thomas Jeckyll. The walls are oil paint and gold leaf on wood, leather, and canvas.

Here is a photo of a folding screen I saw at the 8^th Street Market in Comfort, Texas. It’s a wonderful place in a fascinating town in the Hill Country, not far from home; I’ll write about it in another post!

Our staircase is inside what looks like a tower with two windows up high. I love the way the light comes in from above. We have simply styled black iron railings ending in lamb’s tongues and walnut wood stairs. On the middle landing we hung several of my husband’s photogravures framed in black. On the third floor landing we created a small reading area with a French wing back chair and an “antiqued” bookcase with a pediment. We left the first floor landing empty as we thought about what to do. This space is almost like a secret space in the house; only visible if you plan to go upstairs. The ceiling on the first landing has a small overhang that is 12 feet high and then, opens up to a 26 foot ceiling in the stairwell as you move up the stairs.  

After much deliberation and journaling we decided to make a wooden wall art panel one third the width of the landing (about 20”) and the height of the nearest door frame (8’). This is a quick sketch my husband made as I called out potential sizes for the panel.

Papier mache is usually done with irregularly torn newsprint glued down with a wallpaper paste, flour and water, or glue and water. I like to use torn art paper as it has more body and is not as delicate as newsprint. I tear the pieces first and then dip them in a mix Elmer’s glue in warm water and press them to the surface I am covering.

I try to smooth each piece as I go and stop periodically to use a paper towel to take out any wrinkles in the area and wipe away excess glue.

I made three small papier mache sample boards so I could try out some of my ideas for painting the finished wall art panel.

I painted the boards two different colors and then experimented with Glorious Gold, Venetian Gold, and Silver metallic paints, even using a walnut gel stain on one part of a sample to see if it would age the appearance of the panel.

I settled on a design based on some of the leather saddles I had seen and photographed at the Briscoe Western Art Museum in San Antonio.

I decided to paint the base a custom mix color of olive brown.

Several days went by and I continued to think about the designs on the sample pieces I had created. I liked them, but I felt they might be too ornate and busy for the staircase. I needed something more abstract and subtle.

I decided to use my bamboo brush and the gold paint and to make marks across the board in a somewhat regular pattern.

The finished product is reminiscent of falling leaves, birds in flight, a field of flowers; I leave it up to the interpretation of the person viewing the panel. What I can say is I look forward to seeing it every time I climb the stairs or simply stand before it and look at the patterns of the golden brush strokes in the light from the windows above.