Beate Brühl Design

Congregation Sherit Israel, San Francisco, CA

2011-04-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

Finished plaster repair and in-painting in entry lobby

Cracks and flaking paint have been repaired

Priming of raw plaster patch

Molding repaired by plaster contractor

mismatched colors, and flaking over-paint

cracks

During in-painting

Stanford Graduate School of Business Dining Hall, Palo Alto, CA

2011-04-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

Sample (left) for 150 of hand painted palm fronds, 3 colors

Pounce pattern

Close-up of pounce line

Pouncing 24 ft x 5 ft pattern

Finished three color painting

Finished painting

Historic Alameda Theater Curtain, Alameda, CA

2011-04-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

Bottom, right side of the historic Art Deco curtain had been water damaged, and repaired with a mismatched piece of velvet

Detail of 47 ft x 7 ft piece of velvet to repair

Bottom right velvet piece has been replaced, the pattern copied from the intact left side, and newly stenciled.

JimLuque, and his brother-in-law sewed the new piece of velvet on an industrial machine, and Beate, who did the stenceling backstage during night shift, since the Alameda is a working theater during the day.

Hand cut stencils, 5ft x 4 ft, running 3 colors at the same time

Backstage, new stenceling with hand matched colors, 2:00am

Hanging of newly repaired curtain

Wooden wall bracket

2010-07-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Wooden wall bracket from a church. Left, exposed original paint; right, recreated paint scheme with antiqued surface.

During paint removal, over-paint left side of angel

Exposed original paint

During stripping of over-paint

St. Joseph's, Lincoln, CA

2010-07-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

Mary and Child, repainted with original colors and patterns, installed at the church

Mary and Child unwrapped. The life size plaster statue has been ove-rpainted.

Mary and Child after being shipped from the East Coast to my studio

Plaster castings taken from the front of the crown, and attached to wire posts.

The back of Mary's crown after removal of bad plaster repair, and clipping of bent wires

Bad plaster repair on the back of Mary's crown

Holy Family Catholic Church, Citrus Haights, CA

2010-07-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

St. Jude has been cleaned, in-painted and varnished

St. Joseph after recreation of historic paint. The statue had been stripped, and primed.

St. Joseph after removal of varnish, detail

Close-up of over-painting with stripping test

St. Jude, after restoration, and St. Joseph after repainting


The original poly-chroming on the wooden St. Jude (left) statue had been damaged/removed by improper cleaning. St. Joseph, (right), had been stained and varnished, after removing the historic finish by a volunteer parishioner. The client asked me to recreate St. Joseph's finish (right), to match St. Jude's (left) restored polychroming.

Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Elk Grove, CA

2010-03-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

Raw interior space at the newly built church.

St. Joseph niche with gold leaf lettering and stars

Detail of lettering, 22 karat gold leaf on oil size

St. Mary niche, on the opposite side of the church.

Detail 22 karat gold leaf lettering, on oil gilding

St. Joseph on the far end wall. Finishing touches before the

opening of the church

St. Mary on the opposite

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

2010-03-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

The galvanized metal horse head came from the outside of the carriage house of the old Governor's mansion.

Josie, as I named him/her (after "The Outlaw Josie Wales", with Clint Eastwood, and my grandfather Joseph) was covered with several layers of failing paint.

The State Park wanted to preserve the paint layers, fill in the missing paint, and macht a color to a later period.

Josie received an isolation varnish, and primer.

damaged area, primed, before patching

Josie, primed patched, and ready for metal top coat

Josie, my favorite architectural animal so far, with final coat,

and installed again at his/her proper home, above the

stable doors of the Carriage House.

Probably a pure bred horse

Archdiocese of Sacramento, Priest Retirement Village, Sacramento, CA

2010-02-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T23:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T01:35:00.000-08:00

Exterior gold leafing of stone lettering.

Benicia Cemetary, Benicia, CA

2010-02-20T01:13:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

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.

St. Cornelius Catholic Church, Richmond CA

2009-12-07T01:47:00.000-08:00

Cleaning of the Sacred Heart statue. Even though the fire clean-up crew had washed/scrubbed the statues with soap and water, careful cleaning with a conservation cleaner revealed much brighter original colors.

Cleaning of St. Cornelius' Mitra

St. Cornelius, repaired hand

St. Cornelius broken hand and fingers, during repair

St. Cornelius missing his hand

St. Cornelius, Richmond CA

2009-12-07T01:03:00.000-08:00

Installation of restored statues at St. Cornelius Church
St. Jude, St. Anthony, St. Martin De Porres, St. Joseph

Installation of restored statues at St. Cornelius
St. Theresa, St.Francis of Assisi, Sacred Heart, Blessed Virgin Mary

St. Cornelius statuary, during restoration in Benicia studio.
Treated with a conservation cleaner, treated with isolation
varnish, and in-painted

Statues in storage after an arson fire, and the fire clean-up company
washed them with soap and water.

Leland Stanford Mansion, Sacramento CA

2009-12-05T23:30:00.000-08:00

Leland Stanford Mansion, Sacramento, CA Restoration, and re-gilding of mirror frame.

Repaired damage, detail

Plaster damage, detail

Completed mirror frame installed in Jane Stanford's bedroom. Oil gilding, Dutch Metal, shellac, patina, Rottenstone

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Sacramento, CA

2009-12-03T01:34:00.000-08:00

Restoration of St. Patrick plaster statue.
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament,
Sacramento, CA
Restored statue installed at the Cathedral (right)

The statue had been over-painted several times. Paint removal revealed original colors and patterns.

St. Patrick before paint removal

Original pattern on robe revealed.

Original pattern on Mitra revealed

St. Patrick's face after
completion

St. Patrick's
face before work

St. Helena Catholic Church, St. Helena, CA

2009-12-03T00:54:00.000-08:00

Restoration of "Pieta" plaster statue.
St. Helena Catholic Church, St. Helena, CA

The statue had been painted numerous times. Careful stripping revealed original paint schemes, gold leaf, and patterns.

The painted faces remained intact; they were sealed with a reversible varnish, and in-painted.

During
paint
removal.

Restored
statue installed at the church.

During
paint
removal

Exposure windows to test for original paint.

Immaculate Conception Church, Sparks NE

2009-12-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

Repair of "Baby of Prague" statue.
Immaculate Conception Church, Sparks NV

Removal and re-attachment of the statues head. A previous attempt at repair by a parish member failed, after the figure had been vandalized.

Figure with center post, ready to re-attach head.

Detaching the figure's head.

Before repair

St. Dominic, Benicia, CA

2009-11-29T23:11:00.000-08:00

Plaster repair
on the hand of
a Sacred Heart
statue.
St. Dominic,
Benicia, CA

St. Ann's Catholic Church, Lodi CA

2009-10-11T03:43:00.000-07:00

Restoration of St. Ann plaster statue, late 19th century, French Canadian.

The statue was cleaned with a conservation cleaner. After plaster repair and in-painting
she was varnished with a reversible fine art painting varnish.

before
cleaning