For many years I worked as a “Decorative Artist”, and made a name for myself painting murals, trompe l’oeil, faux marbling and “painted furniture”.

People have always decorated their furniture, often with very naive designs, and folk art motives as a way of expressing themselves and adding a personal touch to their often very simple possessions.  As well as old pieces I often would be commissioned to paint coffee tables to co-ordinate with other colours or fabrics in an interior.

I had tremendous fun scouring second hand & antique shops for interesting pre-loved items, that had the potential to have new life breathed into them, with paint. Restoring these pieces with different techniques using liming, shellac and lovely soft muted colours to enhance the old dated piece giving them a more contemporary look. Often I would paint a decorative image, or a coloured border, sometimes “distressing” the paintwork with fine sandpaper or steel wool.

What I really loved painting were murals in homes, restaurants and especially gardens. A garden could be enhanced or extended by painting a trompe L’oeil on a wall, that “tricks the eye” that gives an illusion of distance, or a year around vista of flowering climbing rose rambling over lattice or wrought iron that I would design and paint onto the wall.