Blog - Page 2 of 14 - Leichsenring Studios

One Serving of Magic

by Sharon Leichsenring· July 01, 2022· in Artisan Finish, Furniture, Mica, Textured Finishes·

I’m not exactly sure when it happened. The day I officially believed, that perhaps, if I closed my eyes and wished as hard as I could, I could make paint magic. How arrogant and ridiculous! Years of honing my skills and working in the studio hours on end searching for the perfect, well, whatever, and I was willing to just give credit to “magic”. Like it just happened? The possibility may have crept in the day my talented designer friend Arianna Thill (actdesignct.com) posted this on Instagram. ”Fairy dust”. Indeed. If it’s on IG, it must be true. It tickled my fancy and so appealed to my ego. Have I mentioned, artists spend entirely too much time talking to themselves. Out loud sometimes. But there it was and soon enough comes my current client, she who owns this 100 plus year old buffet. It’s been in the family for generations and is in terrific shape. We’ll call her Miss C. She’s been receiving my newsletter (yes, the very same one you’re reading now) for several years and had been contemplating when she would have an opportunity to have me create something for her and her husband. Know that I am sending […]
Read More

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

by Sharon Leichsenring· May 31, 2022· in Artwork, Childrens, Clouds, Murals·

I’m struggling for a way to approach this with a little humility, but now that it’s done, I’ve got to say, it takes my breath away. So…let’s start at the beginning of the second mural in a child’s bedroom, that connects to the baseball locker I shared last month. My client was looking for a mural with a tremendous amount of action at home base. Having played the position of catcher, we agreed the scene would be of the catcher tagging the runner at home plate. We both liked the idea of a more dated, vintage look so you’ll see the umpire in his black suit, the looser, baggier uniforms on the players and the ball fields and bleachers from a gentler, more simple time. The first sketches placed the mural over the bed. The space above the beds simply didn’t give us the dynamic we were looking for so we crossed to the opposite wall, where the mural could then be seen from the bed. Here’s what that wall looked like. Same advice from my client. Just ignore that door (yes there’s one more) and paint like it’s not there. Boy, did the scale change. Here’s the next two […]
Read More

The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love

by Sharon Leichsenring· April 30, 2022· in Artwork, Childrens, Murals, Trompe L'oeil·

It’s been said, “All the other games are sports, but baseball is a love.” You either get it or you don’t. I love baseball, and so does my client. There are actually two murals in this young boy’s bedroom. Today I’d like to share the first project. There was a perfect space to paint a set of lockers, filled with baseball equipment. A perfect space? So says my client, pointing at the wall. All I can see is the paneled door, waiting with traps and crevices. He says, yeah, just paint over it. So that’s the plan. I start working on a sketch. You can see I included the door frame, and it’s obvious from the start I cannot plan to avoid any of the difficult areas, the corners of the raised panels. I will simply force my brush over them. Here’s my sketch. You’ll see a blurry area on the top of the two shirts, here and in further pictures. I’ve blurred the area that shows my clients son’s name, first and middle, to protect his privacy. The sketching goes fairly easily. I’m starting to believe if I squint enough the door will disappear. The blocking in process goes smoothly […]
Read More

Little ballerina putting on her toe shoes

A Tale of Ballerinas

by Sharon Leichsenring· April 01, 2022· in Artwork, Childrens, Murals, Trompe L'oeil·

I literally just finished the topcoat on this mural and it’s truly special. I am so happy to be sharing it with you. The request sounded relatively simple, something ballet themed. Ok, but notice we’re talking the real thing here. Check the picture. There’s a mirror in place, with a ballet barre. The carpet has a section in front of the mirror that can be removed revealing a wood floor was practice. Though the child whom this room belongs to is a little shy of five years old, the request for the design is for something that she will enjoy now and will continue to like as she gets older. Hmmm…not so simple. And a composition that would open the imagination to many stories of the ballet. It did take a little while to get to the final design. I really enjoy this part of the process. It gives me an opportunity to share my client’s dream for this mural. Here they are. And might I add, it got a little more complicated when my clients said include the area with the closet door on the right side of the mirror. Yep, just paint over it like it’s part of […]
Read More

My Own Camelot

by Sharon Leichsenring· March 01, 2022· in Artwork, Clouds, Murals, Trees, Video·

It started one night I couldn’t sleep. It was back in October. I was staring at a corner in my bedroom, an outside corner that puzzled me until I realized why. I’d painted murals around corners that turned inside a room, but this corner turned outward into a small entrance into the bedroom. How would a mural translate going from one side to another? And then there was no stopping the thinking process that had started. I’d have to paint something. Something (how selfish!) that would be just for me. Trusting my husband Hans would love whatever it might be as much as I would. Turns out, I am a very difficult client indeed. I wanted everything. I wasn’t sure. The possibilities were overwhelming until I got a request from someone who had seen a mural I’d done years ago, that was a border of acanthus leaves. (I do hate to leave loose ends of a story. That request is on hold until the potential client decides she will purchase the property she’d had in mind.) But the seed was in place and I had a direction. I love painting acanthus leaves but this time I’d go one step further. The […]
Read More

The Unmade Bed

by Sharon Leichsenring· February 01, 2022· in Artwork, Murals·

Once in a blue moon, or so, I get a request that leaves me fumbling for an easy answer. Most mural projects have a sense of direction. This recent one was quite the exception. My client had been to Metropolitan Museum in NYC to see a collection of 250 drawings done by Paul Cezanne. There was just something about the sketch entitled “The Unmade Bed”. It resonated with her and she wanted to use the image in her own home. I’m clicking while I’m talking to my client, and nothing is coming up on google search except for this image. And a definite and determined client that wants it on her wall. And a perfect wall in her loft bedroom, flooded with light. I’ve gone through all my artbooks and find no mention of the Unmade Bed. All I have is this notation from the Met Collection. “Paul Cezanne’s The Unmade Bed (c.1885) is a drawing made in the artist’s own room. At this time, Cezanne often drew small details of his everyday surroundings. This drawing demonstrates Cezanne’s philosophy: Drawing and painting are not different things. To the degree that one paints, one draws. The more the color becomes harmonious, […]
Read More

Sail With the Vikings

by Sharon Leichsenring· December 31, 2021· in Artwork, Bathrooms/Powder Room, Historic, Murals, Ocean, Trompe L'oeil, Video·

I can’t say it enough. The opportunity to create a mural in a powder room makes my heart smile. It’s a chance to create a contained world in a very small space. In this case, the powder room is a scant 61” square but my painting area was 85 square feet. My heart is more than smiling here, it’s doing jumping jacks! My client, a woman of extraordinary vision is requesting pure, undiluted magic. Bring a Viking village to life! Challenge on. Here are the first two proposals. Did I forget to mention the magnificent mirror driving this concept? A carved dragon wrapped around the mirror. More about this mirror later. Suffice it to say, the dragon carvings will appear on the ships, on the long houses and on the high seat in the mural. Also, it is paired with draw dropping dragon sconces. Here is the final approved drawing. I’ll show you photos of the entire mural, but let’s just set the mood with this video. Here are the four walls. I’ve included the wall with the mirror before the mirror was hung so you can see it without the sconces and mirror. The high seat was added at […]
Read More

My best friend’s kitchen the second time around

by Sharon Leichsenring· December 01, 2021· in Artwork, Kitchen·

It was the perfect solution, this backsplash I painted for my best friend almost ten years ago. Just perfect, well, until it wasn’t. As much as we love something, it works in the moment, it reflects our taste at the time until it all changes. Quick trip down memory lane, here’s a shot of the “ best backsplash in the world” It’s whimsical, loose, colorful and if you want to know more about it, check out the post at www.Leichsenringstudios.com/my-best-friends-kitchen/ But I digress. It was going to be a major change in the kitchen. The cabinetry was going to be repainted, a subtle off-white color. So before I fill you on my contribution, let me show what’s involved in what is arguably the best painted cabinet work I’ve seen. Huge shoutout to Brennen Zaborowski at www.classicrefinishers.com (203-731-0838). The prep work and taping was meticulous. These cabinets are forty years old, in excellent shape. The finish is layers and layers of rock hard lacquer. Here’s the kitchen taped and contained, ready to be sprayed. The frames were sprayed on site, the doors and drawer fronts on his shop. Now take a look at what the surfaces look like when finished. […]
Read More

My Home Away From Home In Texas

by Sharon Leichsenring· November 01, 2021· in Artisan Finish, Artwork, Bathrooms/Powder Room, Ceiling, Columns, Dogs, Floral, Gold Leaf/Silver Leaf, Lettering, Murals, Trompe L'oeil·

There are times as I think about the subject for my next newsletter, that I remember, I’ve been doing them every month for thirteen years. Blatantly directing you here, almost all of them are on my website, under the tab “Projects”. What’s not so apparent is my connection with Texas. The late nineties saw my goodbye to my career as Sharon the Sign painter. It was not quick, or painless. One doesn’t sell a sign painting business. It is a matter of walking away, or moving on. For me, it was to the world of decorative painting, mostly murals in my case, but also some really satisfying work with plaster and glaze. I spent a three year period in both worlds until the Studios’ demand for murals was in position to shut down the sign painting. In weeks that I typically worked at least 60 hours making that change, I also needed to go back and take classes to fine tune my skills. Trompe l’oeil classes for starters in New York with the legendary Pierre Finkelstein, and then on to San Antonio at the atelier of the esteemed Nicola Vigini. My quiet little plans were pretty much dashed to the gutter […]
Read More

What’s with the trees?

by Sharon Leichsenring· October 01, 2021· in Artisan Finish, Artwork, Ceiling, Childrens, Headboards, Historic, Staircase, Trees, Tropical·

I’m working on a mural design right now. It’s a tricky one, more of a puzzle at this stage. I’ve got to weave in my clients’ favorite Central Park NYC locations, and in a very natural way, add in the Eiffel Tower and a pair of European landmarks that have a great deal of importance. I’ll be sharing more about it when I start painting, but that won’t be happening til spring of next year. But. Right.Now. This is the most challenging part, to make the transitions from vista to vista feel effortless. Not contrived at all. My magic elixir, add trees. In this case it will be winter branches, heaped with snow. I know it will work, as I’ve used trees before for just this solution. Trees, actually, (besides clouds or maybe scrolls, but we’re not talking about that right now) might be my favorite thing to paint. Pictures say it better. So, this mural which is in a private residence in Branford, CT, portrays many historical vistas of the now bygone Branford Driving Park, first used for horse races, then automobile in the early 1900s. Check out just how elegantly the trees frame each vignette and bring your […]
Read More