Painted hand carvings

These panels were taken from the French Art Nouveau designer M.P. Verneuil's portfolio "Etude de la plante" published in the early 20th century.

They were originally designed for paper, textiles, ceramics and stained glass. I have loved his designs for many years and adapted them for carved wood to use in contemporary settings as architectural moldings, fire surrounds, bed head boards etc. Here are some details of the projects we have done. The carving is low relief - only about 5mm. Painted and gilded carving is not in vogue so much anymore, as our clients tend to want to show the wood and the skill of the carver, but particularly in the 18th century this was exactly the opposite - wood should be covered by gold, white paint or colour. Maybe our work is influenced a little by both styles - coloured and rubbed back - a little.

The sunflower design (above) was recently hand carved and painted for a client's bed head board for their holiday home in France.

This design has also been used in the past for a client's hand carved fireplace.

For more information on Verneuil's work go to Dover Publications (no we don't have any kick backs or reciprocal links to them) and dial in his name.

 http://doverpublications.ecomm-search.com/search?keywords=verneuil

Ian