Ceilings a canvas for lost art of decorative painting

While Arthur Butler takes on everyday painting contracts, he specializes in painting plaster mouldings in the style of Georgian architect Robert Adam. He runs his one-man company under the name of Arthur P. Butler Artistic Painting of Decorative Plaster Moulding.

“The first thing I think is that it has so much potential.”

A white plaster ceiling can be made special through an artful layered painting job, says Butler, a Hamilton-based painting contractor.

While Butler takes on everyday painting contracts, he specializes in painting plaster mouldings in the style of Georgian architect Robert Adam. Adam chose paint colours to match the furnishings and floor coverings of those 18th century interiors.

Rarely did that result in a ceiling plaster crown moulding or rosette painted white.

“The idea was to show off the plasterwork. It was a shame to have it and not enhance it,” says the painter who runs his one-man company under the name of Arthur P. Butler Artistic Painting of Decorative Plaster Moulding.

In Canada today, however, often little attention is paid to decorative ceilings which have been described as “the fifth wall,” he says.

“The ceiling should reflect what else is in the room.”

His work is in old and new homes as well as commercial interiors — “anywhere there is ceiling plasterwork.” The job can be complex.

“Depending on how ornate the moulding, I might layer the paint coats five or six times and then do cut-ins.”

Prior to painting, new plaster is vacuumed and then primed with an undercoat made by Farrow & Ball. Final coats are clay-based paints also offered by Farrow & Ball.

Using artists brushes, he says a job can take a few days to a week or longer. In one case a large ceiling featuring two ovals took five weeks to paint.

Flat finishes are preferred over glossy particularly where plaster has numerous contours or details because flat paint best highlights details in a well-lighted room, he says.

In the business 23 years, Butler started and apprenticed with his father’s company in Ireland for five years. Old-style marbleizing and faux wood graining were among the skills he would eventually learn but his initiation was as “a gopher” and graduated to cleaning and prepping surfaces, both important stages in any good paint job, he says.

Back then preparation included details that might be overlooked by some painters today. For instance, applying shellac to seal wood knots to prevent bleed-through.

It was an era when oil paints were commonplace and skilled painters like his father often had to mix their own colors.

Under his father’s tutelage, over time his responsibilities increased to where he was regularly applying two primer coats to walls and ceilings.

“I could only dream about putting on the finishing coat. That was a while away.”

The profession was taken “very seriously” in Ireland then.

“There was a right way of doing this job and you were a painter only when the boss said you were qualified enough to do it.”