DRAWING & PAINTING FAUX BRICKS (TROMPE L'OEIL) & TUTORIAL

     Back to the New Orleans style house where I've been working.

    The builder had one area that bothered him and couldn't decide what to do with it.

Finally, he had an idea and called me to ask if I could paint faux bricks for him in this area.

So, I did paint faux/trompe l'oeil bricks for him.  

Above are three walls with bricks.  

Can you tell which two walls are real and the one that I painted?

Ok, which one?

Alright, I'm sure you've guessed it.  The butler's pantry was very plain and the builder wanted me to paint the faux bricks to blend with the other two walls.  When you're standing in certain areas in the big living room you can see all three brick walls at the same time.  

It was important to make them look the same.

I'm very happy with the way they turned out.  

Everybody was saying, "oh, that looks good, you did it" and that made me feel good.  

The builder helped me with critiquing the grout lines and together, 

WE DID IT!!

TUTORIAL

First, I used dry spackling.  With a broad knife and my finger I lightly textured the area.

 I picked out colors to match the existing brick and mortar colors.

 I painted the grayish grout color over the whole area as my base coat.

When that dried, I used my brick stencil to get the structure going. 

 Next, I used a regular brush to stencil the orange brick.  

Then, I used a brush to paint on and a rag to rub out raw umber, off white and black.  It took a while to work on each brick and make them different from each other.  Last, I went back with a brush to paint the grout lines a little wider.  As the paint was wet, I wiped with a rag and smudged areas onto each brick to match the existing real brick walls.

At the very bottom and at the very top I had to make my own bricks because the stencil wouldn't fit in those spots.  The bricks are so uneven it's very simple to do.  In the corners I lightly brushed some raw umber so it shadowed, making it look more three dimensional.

I think anyone could do this.  

You could paint the wall behind your fireplace, the backsplash under your kitchen cabinets, a mud room, a bedroom wall or any place you wish you had bricks. 

 You can use any color for your bricks and mortar.

Have fun!!

Original Post:  6/20/13