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Home Makeover Includes Painted Murals and Furniture

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How to Paint Like a Master

Like Lisa, you can learn decorative painting techniques from professionals. In a 1,000-square-foot studio in Boston, the Institute of Surface Design offers classes in areas ranging from wood graining and marbleizing to creating traditional Venetian mosaics and designer plaster. To help you concentrate exclusively on developing your new skills, classes include full breakfast and lunch, all supplies, and instructors who have five to 20 years'experience in their specialties.

Six classes are being offered this month, including two taught by master artist Josh Winer. In addition to teaching mural techniques, he will also present a class in trompe l'oeil. Literally meaning "to fool the eye," trompe l'oeil relies on a painting technique called grisaille, which uses subtle gradations of color to transform a flat surface into a three-dimensional illusion.

For more information on classes and techniques, visit fauxlikeapro.com or call 888-765-4950 or 617-254-8898.

Who Was Rufus Porter?

Most people think of Rufus Porter as the itinerant muralist who traveled New England from the early 1820s to about 1845. His vivid landscapes are characterized by rural and coastal images and the open brushstrokes used to achieve his signature feathery trees. Porter's art is so closely identified with the region that he has achieved the iconic status of Norman Rockwell.

Few realize that Rufus Porter was much more than a folk artist. A chronology of his accomplishments depicts him as nomad, genius inventor (he held some 100 patents), adventurer (joined a trading voyage to Hawaii), soldier (joined the Maine Militia in the War of 1812), author (founded Scientific American), teacher, visionary (designed an airship 70 years before the Wright Brothers'first flight), and, of course, artist.

Porter spent his childhood years in the Bridgton, Maine, area, where a museum devoted to him has recently opened. The museum, located in a home containing murals that Porter painted circa 1828, plans to move an antique barn to the site to display 15 more murals, some of which were exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in a 1968 show. The museum hopes to continue Porter's tradition of teaching the arts by offering classes and workshops.

The Rufus Porter Museum and Cultural Heritage Center (207-647-2828; rufusportermuseum.org) is located at 67 North High Street in Bridgton, Maine. Open in winter by appointment.

Resources

Kitchen

Mugs: Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA. 800-733-1830, 508-347-3362. osv.org

Kitchen dining area

Chairs: Barn House Lighting, Alton, NH. 800-481-4602, 603-875-6331. barnhouselighting.com

Salt-glaze pottery: Salmon Falls Stoneware, Dover, NH. 800-621-2030, 603-749-1467. salmonfalls.com

Dining room

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Imperial Yellow.

Table and chairs: Little Barn Antiques, Ossipee, NH. 603-539-2643.