Decorative painting or Faux (pronounced foe, meaning 'false') Finishing as it's know also has been around for thousands of years, yet it is an art form relatively few people come in contact with in day to day decorating circles.

BY BRENDAN IGOE

From a painting industry standpoint, the people who do it, and do it well, all appear to have one thing in common... they really enjoy what they do and they make a very nice living doing it.

In this feature, we highlight a few of the better known names in the business, one an Italian, Nicola Vigini, and the other, one of our own -Irishman Nathaniel (Nat) Clements.

● Italian - Nicola Vigini

Born and raised in Rome, Italy, in 1959, Nicola Vigini has become a very well known decorative artist all across the U.S.A. where he now lives and works.

He said "From about the age of five I was always drawing and painting things and I was good at it.  My father was an architect and he encouraged me at every opportunity."  "I went to a secondary school which placed a strong emphasis on art, covering subjects like architecture, sketching, model making, and so on.  When I was eighteen, I went on to study art history, and while there I met a French girl who told me about an institute in Paris that specialised in the art I was interested in.  I enrolled at the institute; call IPEDEC for a one year programme which covered many things I really enjoyed.  The programme intensively dealt with subjects such as marbling, graining, gilding, patinas, Trompe-L'oeil (pronounced trompe loy) and so on.  The hour were long but it was most enjoyable."

When asked what in general attracted him to this end of the business, he replied "I love fine art, but I did not wish to become a hungry artist, working day and night for my next meal, and I saw the possibilities as a painting contractor to make more money, and as an artist to make additional profit using the skills I already had."

After finishing IPEDEC, Nicola took up a few jobs with decorative painters and broadened his skills.

"In 1987 I went to Seattle, on the north west coast of America, and started to work for a local painter who hired me to do decorative work.  After a short time, people started regularly asking me if I would work for them and by 1988 I was working for myself."

Asked about the demand for his kind of work over there he said "There is a very big demand and people have plenty of money to pay for whatever they wanted" "My Italian knowledge of murals, Trompe-L'oeil, helped me enormously. People want that old-world look more that the "just painted" look."

"One of my first major jobs was in a 35,000 square ft home which kept me going for about a year and a half.  That job got me on my feet and it entailed a lot of wood graining and matching of old pine obtained from and old warehouse.  This job allowed me to create on of my icons I call The Cellar, a Trompe-L'oeil piece done on a wall of an actual cellar which gave the illusion of another cellar leading away from the one you were actually standing in"

He gained a reputation for excellent work, which took in churches, exclusive homes, planes, yachts, large commercial spaces and museums.

Nicola stayed in the Seattle area until late 1998 when he moved to San Antonio, Texas.  "I liked the warmer weather and it reminded me a bit of back home" "One of the reasons we moved to Texas was an opportunity arose for a Faux Finishing school when I was approached by Faux Effects to take on their range of specialist products for that market."

"My wife Leslie and I now run this school and hundreds of artisans and teachers come from all around the world for instruction.  The school now takes up a fair chunk of my time, but I still like to go out and do actual jobs myself.

One of the highlights of my career so far was to have hosted Salon 2002 at my studios.  Salon is an annual convention of decorative artists from all around the world.  This year, (2002) 150 artists from 14 countries came to San Antonio where they held workshops and painted for the public also."

Asked what were the biggest obstacles to date he replied "the actual running of a business, it went through a lot of trial and error, and I had a lot to learn.

They didn't teach me anything about that in France" he mused.  "Overall, I must say it is a fantastic career for someone like me who is very fond of the art.  If someone has artistic talent and want a financially rewarding career, this line of business is something he or she should really think about"

When we asked what particular advice he would offer to aspiring young decorative painters in Ireland he commented "I would recommend most importantly they get trained properly where ever they can.  You must know what you are doing, and be very good at it.  The man, who had a great influence on me, Yannick Guegan, a decorative painter and lacquerer, has been faux finishing for more than thirty-five years.  He is founder of the Institut Guegan at Mesquer Quimian in Brittany, where he teaches the techniques of decorative painting to international students.  Yannick was awarded the title Meileur Ouvier de France, decorative painting/Trompe-L'oeil, the highest French distinction in the trade.  he is also the co-author of "The Handbook of Painted Decoration."

He now runs the Institute Guegan in France, he was the man who taught me a lot in IPEDEC where he taught at that time.  There are also schools in Holland, Belgium, UK that I know of"

Tel 001 210 212 6177 and fax is 001 210 212 6183.

The Italian trip is not cheap, but we highly recommend it for anybody 'arty' who would like to grasp a serious, new business opportunity.  Worth checking out maybe.

● Irishman - Nathaniel Clements

Nat, as he is mostly called, is well known in this end of the business having done many varied and interesting jobs all around this country and abroad.  After attending the Roger Newton School of Decorative Paint Finishes in 1983 he returned to Ireland where he took up a job in the fine art auction business and gradually received commissions to do various kinds of decorative painting.

"This business was almost a forgotten art at that time" he commented.  "Wallpaper was taking over everywhere."

"Initially a lot of my work involved working on furniture, and in 1985 I had to do the ceiling in part the Kartner Bar in Trinity college.

Asked where he progressed from there he replied" A combination of commercial and private work followed with a lot of good paying pub work thrown in"

Nat later formed a partnership with Christopher Moore (Clements & Moore)  Work expanded taking on many prestigious jobs in places like Humewood House, Castle Lesie, Newman House - St. Stephens Green, Headfort Preperatory school - Kells, and Newmand house Limerick.

"By 1999 Christopher and I decided we would go our separate ways again, but we still work jointly on various projects."  Asked what if any other specific training he received, he said "I attended the Guegaun Institute - France in 1999 for a month's intensive course and this helped me a lot, especially on murals, Trompe L'Oeil etc."

Did it pay off? we asked.  "Yes, I've been doing more and more of this type of work and get a lot of referrals"

What advice would you be willing to offer our readers we asked.  Nat replied "Always keep a camera on hand, buy relevant books and study them and gather up as much reference materials as possible" "Also, draw or sketch to sharpen up that end of things"

Did you ever think of teaching the art here? we enquired.

"I've done it before and am planning to do it again.  I would need about six people in each group to justify doing it, we hope to do classes around next autumn"  What would this cost?  Aprox Є450 for a short but intensive course."

Interested parties may reach Nat Clements at N C Studio, 39 Avenue Road, Portebello, Dublin 8.  Tel (01) 454 7359 Fax (01) 473 6278