About Mark's
Decorative Arts Services
Decorative Arts Services
With over 50 years of experience, I’ve earned a reputation for excellence in every aspect of the decorative finishing process, from initial consultation to long-lasting exquisite finishes. After a 40-year career in New England doing business as Mark T. Newton & Co., I have now relocated and offer select services near my new home in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I enjoy the freedom of pursuing my personal interests in visual art and music.
History
My creative pursuits in art and music have interrelated throughout my life and professional careers. As a young musician in the early 70’s, I supplemented my income with house painting and paper hanging. Working directly with interior designers, I was invited into the most creative aspects of the decorative arts and began learning techniques from old masters, various workshops, and books of the trade. (See Educational Resources, below.)
Shortly after moving to the New Hampshire seacoast in ’79, I met my future wife and business partner, and became an independent contractor in 1983 under the name Mark T. Newton & Co. Over the following roughly 40 years, the company garnered a strong reputation among home owners, interior designers, and builders in New England, for high-quality painting, wallcovering, marbleizing, woodgraining, and other unique decorative finishes of my own invention.
In 2020, my wife and I relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where I continue to offer select decorative arts services.
Inquiries
If you are interested in my custom decorative arts services or just want to learn more, don't hesitate to contact me.
If you'd like to stay in touch, I also have a personal newsletter you can subscribe to. Every few months or so, I share a summary of my recent posts (including those about art and music)—my way of keeping in touch without social media.
Stories
Occasionally, I write about my work, inspirations, project histories and anything else related to my experience in Decorative Arts...
About "Decorative Finishes"
“Decorative finishes” are creative effects that go beyond conventional painting. For example: faux finishes, murals, stenciling, antiquing and glazing. (See Nomenclature, below, for definitions.)
A decorative finish is typically developed to accentuate, rather than detract from, important focal elements present in a room, such as window treatments, rugs or upholstery fabrics, natural stone (e.g., a hearth) or exotic woods (used in furniture or flooring). Sometimes a decorative finish is also used to disguise or distract from an undesirable architectural element.
Sample Boards:
Beginning the decorative finish process
Beginning the decorative finish process
When developing a custom decorative finish, I produce "sample boards" for client approval—a process that is similar to selecting wallpaper from a manufacturer’s sample book. These portable mockups serve as concept proofs, which can be viewed in context of a surrounding space under accurate lighting conditions.
Nomenclature
It may be useful to understand the following technical terms commonly used in the Decorative Finishing trade.
Decorative Finish
Creative effects that go beyond conventional painting. For example: faux finishes, murals, stenciling, antiquing and glazing.
Faux Finish
A French term for the imitation or simulation of a real substance. Faux Bois or woodgraining uses paint to simulate real wood. Faux Marbre or marbleizing uses paint to simulate real marble. Often today, we hear the term faux finish used as a blanket term for all decorative painting but this is technically inaccurate.
Ground
The solid color base coat over which a glaze is applied to create a decorative effect.
Glaze
A translucent-paint or pigmented varnish used to create broken-color or textured decorative finish, such as strié, rolled rag, or color wash. A glaze may be used on furniture or cabinetry to create a patina effect commonly used in antiquing. Glaze does not refer to the “sheen” of a finish; a glazed finish could be dead-flat or high-gloss.
Process
A single procedure used to create a decorative painted finish. A ragged-off glaze finish could be a single process—one glaze applied over a solid color ground. A double-process glaze uses two colored glazes applied and allowed to dry separately over a solid-color ground. Marbleizing or woodgraining requires several processes.
Positive Technique
A tool such as a brush, rag, or feather is used to apply a glaze or paint to a surface. For example: a feather is sometimes used in a positive application to imitate veins in faux marble.
Negative Technique
After a glaze has been applied over an entire surface, a tool such as a rag, graining comb, or brush is used to remove some of the glaze and create a decorative texture.
Sponging
Use of a sponge with either a positive or negative technique to create a broken color texture.
Ragging
Use of a crumpled rag to roll, dab, or wipe with either a positive or negative technique to create a broken color texture.
Stippling
The process of “bouncing” brush bristles off of a surface with either a positive or negative technique to create a broken color texture.
Spattering
Application of specks, dots, or spots of color to a surface by “flicking” paint or glaze from brushes or other tools.
Strié
The process of “dragging” a comb, brush, or other tool along a surface to create lines, stripes, or plaid effects.
Patina
The surface appearance of something grown “beautiful” with age or use. Rust (on iron) or verdigris (on copper) can be considered a patina.
Hue
A particular gradation or variety of a color as referenced within the visible spectrum. For example: red, yellow, and blue are colors, and there are many hues of each.
Value
The “lightness” or “darkness” of a color or hue. For example: adding white would “lighten” the value, while adding black would “darken” the value.
Chroma
The intensity of a color or hue, from dramatic to subtle—vibrant to dull.
Educational Resources
For those interested in exploring the resources that helped me get started with decorative finishing skills and techniques, here is a list of the very educational resources I used. Newer editions are surely available for some of these books.
