Copyright, 2005, Dallas Morning News. All Rights Reserved.
| July 10, 1994
Special paintwork artfully ages new home Mariana Greene Artist Jer Giles prefers old houses himself. Old to him, however, is not years but centuries. `This house was built 300 to 400 years ago," says Mr. Giles, standing in John and Eileen Howie's recently completed residence. He is referring, of course, to the house in his imagination, the structure he saw in his mind's eye as he created special paint finishes for it. |
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On the exterior, the house could be described as French Eclectic, with a facade of limestone and decorative ironwork. It is similar to many large houses in Highland Park. In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Howie drove through the neighborhood photographing architectural styles as guidance for architect Larry Boerder and builder George Lewis. Not until they discovered that most of the snapshots featured French Eclectic houses did Mrs. Howie realize she had a preference. `In every house we've had, we've done something different," says Mrs. Howie. There was no indecision or vagueness, however, about the interiors. From the beginning, Mrs. Howie was adamant that, although the house would be brand new, it was to look old. `The newer homes in Highland Park look not quite finished. They lack warmth," explains Mrs. Howie. `We loved the idea of having a new home, but it had to look like it had been here for years." As it turns out, she wanted the house to look like it had been in place centuries before Dallas existed. That called for Jer Giles' own particular combination of trompe l'oeil and sleight of hand. Although he formulated a general plan for the house before he put paintbrush to wallboard, nothing was carved in stone. When he began, the first decorative motifs appeared to be chiseled limestone. That proved too strong an image, so he reworked that same architectural ornamentation _ artificially aging and blurring its lines _ to produce a look of faded frescoes. `It was overpowering," explains Mr. Giles, referring to his original image. `That was all you looked at." In its place are mere ghosts of brackets, pilasters, capitals and rosettes. You glimpse them, wraithlike, if the light strikes them just so. The motifs are rooted in the early Renaissance. (`Gothic would not be ornate enough. Rococo was out of the question," says the artist.) But he also took cues from the fabrics and furnishings _ carving on the piano leg or the scrolls on a leather screen. `It all needs to fit in, in my mind. The rooms and the furniture need to work together. I don't paint in a vacuum," says Mr. Giles, owner of Jer Giles Artworks. `I'm influenced by all the colors in the room. That's why I like to wait until all the furniture gets in place." Although the eye can discern the applied architectural ornamentation, what is not readily apparent is the former scenic painter's color sense. He mixes his own colors on the spot, taking in the textiles and accessories and the way the light changes in a room throughout the day. Some rooms took nine coats of paint just to achieve the background color. In others, walls are different colors, but they appear to be the same. `It's because of the way light bounces around the room," he explains. `That's something I learned in painting scenery for the theater." `There's a lot of applied color," adds his wife and business partner, Patricia Siegfreid-Giles, `but there's not a lot of perceived color. A lot of our work goes unnoticed." Instead of being an insult to the paint conjurer, however, that's the supreme compliment. Mrs. Howie filled her new house with French antiques and country French decorative touches. She worked with interior decorator Paige R. Baten weekly for two years to find and coordinate furniture and fabrics. Most of the antiques came from local antiques dealers. The Howies traveled to France, but only after the house was completed. `You could take this house and put it down over there," says Mrs. Howie, `and it would look like it belonged." Mariana Greene writes weekly on home and design. |
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Copyright, 2005, Dallas Morning News. All Rights Reserved. |