Painting and Decorating Forum

I wrote this article in the Aussie painters contractor magazine recently, I hope you enjoy it.

http://issuu.com/paintersinfo/docs/june/41#share

Go through your article just now and I found it very interesting and encouraging. This can be a good career.

Decorative Finishes - Creative Paint Works

Though I often do decorative finishes I’d have to say my specialty is creative paintworks. Next time you watch a movie look at the credits. You will often see a list of people employed as painters. What is it like to work as a painter in this industry?

Being a painter has lead me into the exciting world of film and television. ‘Set Finisher’ was my earliest title in the film Industry, advancing over the years to 'Scenic Artist'. As a painter from the ‘real world’ moving into the film industry; what I call ‘Wally World’, the noticeable difference was the speed in which the painting needed to be performed, and there were no excuses!

I would be asked to count the colors of a rock and reproduce it with acrylic paint and molded fiberglass, making it look like the rock. I could recreate granite, marble, stone and wood; skies, dawn or dusk; make caves or styrene tombstones!

How do you make a cauldron full of bubbling gold? Get a huge tub, pop an air-line at the bottom side, fill it with water, then put 5 litres of oil on top of the water; oil and water don’t mix. Now call for the painter, the pressure’s on, toss in gold powder, no medium, mix. Release the air into the cauldron, a gentle flow. There you have it, a pot of simmering gold!

I remember in the bush at the back lot of Warner Brothers Studios, it’s 5 am. Painting with my crew, the episode? A crashed burnt out aeroplane. ‘Tis us the painters, that make a plywood plane look like it just went through an apocalyptic event, a burnt out wreck!

So if you can use an airless gun, hopper spray-gun, brushes, brooms and anything else to get the job done, are creative, have an eye for detail, know when to hurry up, when to wait quietly, and don’t mind being constantly challenged to know thy self, then perhaps the film industry could be for you! If so come to one of my courses on the Gold Coast.

June Trenwyth-Morgan

June is a fully qualified painter and trainer for the National Institute of Painting and Decorating. For more information on advanced decorative finishes, courses, and for an exciting career as a painter in the movie industry, see http://www.painters.edu.au/Training-Cou ... nishes.htm

Hi June

Only just seen this post now. i have been a bit slack with the forum lately.

Note to everyone: June is one of the board members of the National Institute of Painting & decorating. She is a great contributor and is one of many board members that give up their time and energy for this arrangement.