Archdiocese of Sacramento, Priest Retirement Village, Sacramento, CA

Restoration of Sacred Heart Statue, continued.
After cleaning, during repair.

Damage to hand.

 

Group portrait

 

Sacred Heart statue, installed in the chapel of the priest's 

retirement home in Sacramento.

Archdiocese of Sacramento, Priest Retirement Village, Sacramento, CA

Restoration of Daprato "Sacred Heart" plaster statue (right with red robe)

Damage to be repaired.

During repair, after removal of failed paint.   

Paint  failure on the base of the statue. Paint scraped, paint cleaned, varnished, in-painted
 

Michigan State Capitol, Lansing, MI

Architectural drawings from 1987, PRE COMPUTER, prepared for the Michigan State Capitol. During the restoration of the state capitol, walls and ceilings not original to the historic structure, were demolished. During this process, painted decoration was found.               

I spent 5 years, off and on, stripping away many layers of paint, and recording patterns, and colors.          

 

   The drawings were made with pen or ink on architects vellum for

   blueprinting. The decorative painting company recreating the

   patterns on the restored walls and ceillings, used these drawings

   to produce their stencils.

   I am only showing a few drawings, rather than the reams in my 

   storage. They cover 5 years of research, and documentation

   of most public rooms of the Michigan State Capitol building.

  

San Francisco City Hall

On a recent visit to San Francisco's City Hall, I found myself (unbeknownst) in a permanent display of the restoration of the of City Hall, 1997. So I photographed the display.
I worked on a crew of four women hired by an East Coast company to gold leaf restored, treated copper ornaments.

We worked on 200-300ft scaffolding. Fog, wind, sun, 7am sunrises,   a 4.1 earthquake.
What looks like extra weight, is actually extra clothing for cold mornings; ski masks for the sunny side of the dome, in the afternoon.

 

Three tiers down, from the top needle of the dome, is the location of the previous gilding photo.

The lion heads here are located on large flat bands running down the dome (next to the stone)
Detail

Old Governor's Mansion State Historic Park, Sacramento, CA

Uncovering of original wall and ceiling painting in the billiard room of the 3rd floor. Detail of billiard balls and cubes. The painted ceiling and wall decorative was found under approx. 10 layers paint. The discoveries were documented with tracings and photos, and the historic colors were matched with the Munsell color system. At the moment the project is archived. 

The Mansion was built in 1877, and many governor's wifes, the most prominent Nancy Reagan, have remodeled the building during their stay.

                                                 

  Uncovered entry hall tromp 'loeil

Carefully removing 10 layers of  paint

Detail of entry hall tromp 'loeil
Uncovered ballroom ceiling
Ballroom ceiling detail

St. Vincent Ferrer, Vallejo, CA

Exterior gold leafing of stone lettering.

 

Benicia Cemetary, Benicia, CA

Cement statue after cleaning, and stripping, with primer test.
Before resurfacing of the front of the figure.

Repair and filling of cracks.

Finished statue, painted with specialty cement paint. After consolidating the friable cement, the front of the figure has been resurfaced, and the pitted areas have been filled.

The figure has been painted white to clients specifications.

Base of statue, repaired, and painted.

Benicia Cemetary, Benicia, CA

Broken piece at the base of of cement "Mary with Child" statue.

Statue after cleaning, removal of moss, and mold.

Reattached piece

Reattached piece, detail

Finished with special cement paint; according to client's request.

Benicia Cemetary, Benicia, CA

400 pound, cement Mary and Child statue before cleaning, and stripping of old paint, mold and moss. The surface of the front is pitted, and friable due to exposure to the elements.

Moss and mold at the base of the statue.