Surprise Ceiling

I have been painting a glow-in-the-dark star ceiling in Middlesex today.

The project was a birthday surprise for my clients sister who was barred from her flat, had her front door key confiscated and was unceremoniously dumped in Starbucks for the day with her laptop and a dodgy Wi-Fi connection.

Her bedroom was then cleared so I could then proceed to cover the walls & floor, block out the windows and paint the stars, nebulae and a passing comet on the ceiling. There was also a picture rail in the room so I decided to continue the effect down the walls to meet this.

Once the bedroom was completed, all the furniture & nick-nacks were returned using photographs taken of the room that very morning to ensure that everything went back in exactly the same place.

I hope the surprise was well received and that the day spent in Starbucks was worth it : )

The only downside to the day was that heavy rain and roadworks on the M25 meant that a 50 mile journey home took me nearly 3 hours !

DIY SOS 'Kids in Crisis'

Just to let you know that the transmission date for the extreme edition of 'DIY SOS' has been moved back to Thursday, December 10th at 8pm.

Make a note in your diaries as you are set to be impressed : )

Cosmic Ceiling

I have spent the last couple of days creating a cosmic ceiling for a child's bedroom in Essex.


The effects you can see in the photos were built up with layer upon layer of paint -applied by flicking a toothbrush & nailbrush. Half the paint made it up on the ceiling - the other half ended up on me : )

I do not normally paint this way and was pleasantly surprised at the different effects that can be achieved. It was my original intention to use an airbrush for this ceiling but opted to tackle it this way instead.


To add another dimension to the mural I have also used some glow-in-the-dark paint so when the lights are turned off - the stars carry on shining.

DIY SOS 'kids in crisis'

Just got back last night after a 300 mile journey from Anglesey in north Wales. I was up there with my associate, Gordon Collett, where we were both painting some murals and trompe l'oeil for another DIY SOS makeover. We actually painted two murals although one of them doesn't look all that great in daylight ; )

Unfortunately I cannot reveal any details about what we painted as you will need to watch the show to find out - I will post up some photos of the murals and the gang once the show has gone out.

This episode was a special one and will be broadcast the night before 'Children in Need' on Thursday 19th November (to be confirmed). The scale of the project was phenomenal and involved an army of helpers from the local community - it should be a fantastic show.

Julia Kendell has been busy Twittering about the project at twitter.com/JKDIYQUEEN

I also found out that the show that I was involved in up in Norfolk will now be shown in the new year.(never mind)

Anamorphic Playground Art

I have been up at my children's school today trying my hand out on a large scale anamorphic chalk picture. I went with the Rubic cube design to keep things simple - this is still new territory for me and I have a long way to go before I can produce anything remotely close to the quality of work by Mr Julian Beaver.



I spent the morning planning it all out with miles of string and in the afternoon I had about 25 children (5 at a time) to help me colour it in. Most of the chalk ended up on them and I'm sure their parents cursed me when they saw the state of their school uniforms : )

It didn't take the children long to figure out what the artwork was about - they appreciated that it only worked from one fixed view point and with one eye closed.

I may have some more news soon on the television front. The new series of DIY SOS will hopefully be starting in a few weeks time in which I filmed an episode up in Norfolk. There is also something else in the pipeline but I will say no more just in case.

Studio

Work has now started to convert our integral garage into a studio so hopefully it won't be too much longer until I can start doing my trompe l'oeil workshops again. It will be fantastic to get my own working area back again
It will also have a lot more space compared to my old home studio and will be at ground level rather than up two flights of stairs.





Work is also still going on around the rest of the house - every room has been affected and the dust looks as if it will continue settling for the next few months. I am still putting my daughter's room back together which is taking longer than I intended. I may also be plastering this weekend if I can fit it around my daughter's cinema party.

Masterpiece (sort of)

OK - the photo doesn't look like much, in fact it looks exactly like some newly plastered walls which is precisely what it is.



As you know our home is in the middle of a renovation at the moment. In anticipation of this I put myself on a plastering course a few weeks ago as I knew it would be a useful skill to have on board. The two walls in the photo are of our utility room and they needed plastering urgently so that our plumber could install a new boiler and hot water system.

I spent all of my Sunday morning on those two small walls - a long time I know but this was the first time I had plastered since the course and I didn't have my tutor to point out where I may be going wrong. Luckily the plaster has stayed on the wall - well it's lasted over 24 hours so far - as you can appreciate this is a big deal for someone who, up to a few weeks ago, had never picked up a hawk & trowel.

I did the course with a company called Capital Goldtrowel Ltd - they also do courses in tiling, bricklaying, rendering and Venetian plastering. They are based in Stapleford Abbotts, Essex and I thoroughly recommend them.