Unexpected Del Mar

Faux Finishing and Luster Stone

Painting has been my passion in life and I have had the privilege of sharing and teaching others in this great field. I am a certified professional artist with over nineteen years of experience in the field. I am offering lessons to beginners with no previous experience and people who have some knowledge of painting and want to take it to the next level.

Specializing in landscapes, seascapes, and abstract paintings. For beginners I offer a wet on wet technique, just like the one you may have seen Bob Ross demonstrate on TV. This is the fastest, easiest, and funniest way to get started. The session typically runs two hours, and I supply you with everything you will need. This includes paints, brushes, pallet and easel. You supply the canvas of your choosing. I can guide you through the canvas buying process. You will have a completed painting at the end of each session. for those who would like to learn abstract painting, the process is very similar to what is described above with a few small exceptions.

The lessons take place at your home, business, or space of your choosing. I come to you. You are welcome to invite a spouse or friends to come and join you. This can be a lot of fun when you have two or more people. Each session runs $75 per person and group rates are available for five or more people.
http://www.sashafineart.com

I am also the owner of Modern Masters a decorative arts studio specializing in murals and faux finishing, A trusted name in San Diego for over eight years. We generally work on high end residential and commercial properties.

See our website @ http://www.mod-masters.com

Class of 2010 Pays to Honor MMHS

By: Steve Nicoles

Mira Mesa High School students can look up and see the class of 2010 towering dozens of feet above them. Last year’s graduating class donated more then $11,000 for a mural overlooking the lunch quad area. Alex/Sasha Toporovsky owner of Modern Masters Studio in San Diego, and his staff spent two months painting the 30-feet high wall. “I think it’s great for all of them. I hope it’s here for 30 to 40 years to come so a lot of generations will see it,” said Toporovsky.

According to MMHS Principal Scott Giusti, Most outgoing classes have extra money, and that cash is generally willed to another class. Last summer, after graduation, a group of the former students met with Giusti to tell him they wanted to do something different and leave their mark on the campus. Together, they looked at several possible projects, including sculptures, before deciding on the mural. It showcases a marauder man and women, each 18 feet tall. In the center of the mural is an enormous Mira Mesa High School logo with the phrase “Life is blue and gold”.

Dr. Stephie from Family Focused Health International will be speaking at the incredible “Here & Now” event put on by Jon Block Creations. The event features awesome music, exciting booths and inspiring seminars (most are 15 minutes). It could be described as “Streetscene” (a famous and well-loved festival in San Diego) meeting transformational thought. Jon’s goal is to bring new thought to the main stream and he’s put together an marvelous event with celebrities from different facets, health/beauty, finance/career, lifestyle/ relationships and more ….!

Check out the powerful 90-second video about the event!:

Here’s what we at Family Focused Health Intl’s got up our sleeve

• Dr. Stephie will share secrets for how to make her motto happen “FUN Health! Save Money!”
• A silent auction for a coveted piece of limited edition art called “Morning Light” from amazing fine artist Sasha T. he kindly donated to us.
• A contest – you have to come to learn the details
• Partners in our mission will join us in our booth – you will want to learn about them!
• The opportunity to learn about a trade that helps everyone – you and FFHI’s mission! (a hint: you can get an awesome outdoor water feature worth $5,000 through a trade!)
• And much more!

"Morning Light" by Sasha T.

The event is on Sunday, June 26, noon – 5pm. Tickets are only $15. Kids 12 years and under are free. The event takes place poolside of the La Fayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92104

If you like to purchase a ticket from Family Focused Health International we appreciate your support of our cause. As a thank-you we will enter you into a drawing for a children’s book “Curious George goes camping” and for some “good food recipes”.

See you there! LOL,

Dr. Stephie

Mural of clouds and Stars for Sharp Hospital

Cloud and Sky Mural by Sasha T

I painted this mural of clouds and star constellations for Scripps Hospital. They were adding a new wing to their hospital, and asked me to come in and paint clouds and stars on their ceiling for their patience to enjoy will they went through their procedure.

They were very specific about the look they wanted and the constellation of clouds they were looking for. The Orion constellation was to be the focal point of the whole mural, and I was charged with creating this constellation as it appeared in the night sky…down to the size and distance of each star.

I only had two weeks to complete this mural and charting the constellation on a ceiling is no easy task. I figured out that I could use the floor which at this point was just a concrete slab to chart the constellation. I then used a light pen which I placed on each plotted star on the floor. With the pen being in the upright position and shining the laser onto the ceiling, I then was able to place each star in its place on the ceiling.

Using white and glow in the dark paint I was able to create the illusion of the stars shining when the lights were turned down. Along with the whimsical clouds and the moon shining down, I was able to create a very visually stunning mural. KUSI new in San Diego came out to do a piece on the new wing of the hospital and the watch me paint a portion of the mural.

My crew and I just finished painting this 30 foot by 120 foot mural for Mira Mesa High School in San Diego CA. The project took us two months to complete due to the unusual amount of rain for the month of may here in San Diego. The funds for the mural were donated by the class of 2010. The original designs were created by the the graphic design class at the high school. We then took these designs and modified them to work better for a wall of this size.

The Class of 2010 contributed the funds to leave the school with a legacy that thousands of students will get to enjoy for years to come. In the process, we turned an ugly old wall on the side of their gymnasium into a work of art that the school – and the entire town of Mira Mesa – is proud of. The mural project was such a great public relations success for the school and the community that KUSI covered its unveiling!

The most rewarding thing about a project like this is that it got the kids and the faculty involved and working together. The art department at MMHS came up with the preliminary designs for the mural, and many school faculty members were involved in making this project happen. The school pride and interest it created was immense. Since the wall is right in front of the lunch area, the kids got to see how a mural of this size is created day-by-day.  Many kids and teachers came up to us not only to complement and thank us, but to ask questions about artistry and the mechanics of it.

Murals of this caliber can be of any size; we worked closely with Mira Mesa High School to come up with a plan that fit their budget. We also made sure that this mural would last the high school for many years to come by using the finest paints and sealing the mural with an anti-graffiti coating, which will ensure the longevity of the artwork.

Scott Giusti, the principal of MMHS had this to say about our work:

“Alex and the crew from Modern Masters Studio did an outstanding job for Mira Mesa High School from start to finish. They helped with the preliminary design, scaled spec sheets, paint selection, protective overlays, and saw everything through with professionalism to the end. The mural on the gymnasium wall was an enormous feat, but Alex and crew were on time, communicated throughout the progress, and stayed within budget. I highly recommend Alex and Modern Masters Studio to any school or district seeking to beautify a campus and increase school pride.” – Scott Giusti, Principal

Click here to watch news footage:

News footage of Mural for Mira Mesa High School

Mural for Mira Mesa High School

Part 2 of Del Mar House

I returned the next week with samples and bid in hand. I had put a lot of work in to creating the finishes, and it showed. Barbra and the designer were thrilled, and they asked me to extend some of the finishes to more areas of the house. The following week Barbra and her husband signed a contract with me and gave me a deposit to start the work. I was thrilled! The job had grown from just a couple of niches to fauxing and plastering just over 4,000 square feet! There was only one problem – and again, what happened next was quite unexpected.

As I stood in the ‘great room’ wondering where I should start this colossal project, I happened to look up at the very high ceiling. I noticed that most of the ceiling was made up of wooden beams; the owners had an old bridge in Canada taken down and the wood was milled and reclaimed. It still had mineral staining form the metal rods, pins, and tension wires that had held it together, giving the wood a lot of character. But because the wood was not stained or sealed, we could not start finishing the walls until this was addressed.

I asked Patrick, the house’s builder, what he had planned for the ceiling. He told me that it would need to be stained and sealed, but he had not yet found a contractor to do it. Here’s the unexpected part: He immediately asked me if my crew and I would be interested in doing this, and to give him a bid on the job.

I thought about it for a minute and figured that even though it wasn’t the type of work we typically do, it would be a great learning experience. I also knew that the ceiling was standing in the way of getting started on the walls, and that we could start on the walls much sooner if we finished the ceiling ourselves rather than waiting for another contractor to come and do it. Within days I had a bid for Patrick, and we got started the on the ceilings the following week.

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This job had grown from niches to wall finishes, and now included ceilings. I didn’t know at the time, but this incredible house in Del Mar would turn out to be one of the biggest jobs I have done to date.

Within three weeks we completed the ceiling, and I looked forward to starting some of the wall finishes. However, as this was a house under construction, things didn’t always go according to plan.

Other contractors had work to do, and this meant pushing back our finishing until they were able to complete their work. During this time Patrick came to me and told me that the parts of the house that weren’t getting wall treatments would need to have regular painting done. There were also endless amounts of wooden base boards and over seventy wooden doors that would need to be stained and sealed. So, once again we were asked if we would be interested in bidding on these other jobs.

Within a week we were off and running, staining and painting the rest of the house. Here’s an idea of what we were in for:

The house consists of six bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, a dining room, and a formal dining room. Then there is the foyer and the ‘great room’; there is also a beautiful gallery/hallway which has sweeping arches that connect the adjoining rooms. Let’s not forget about the kitchen and the office. And that’s just the upstairs!

There is also a basement which has a theater, game room, exercise room, and a wine room with adjoining tasting room. There are also more minor rooms, walk-in closets, and garages that make up the remainder of the house.

As you can see, we had our work cut out for us and we hadn’t even started any of the faux finishing or decorative plaster work we were hired to do in the first place!

Halfway through the regular painting and the staining we got the go ahead to start the faux finishing. By this time the other contractors were primarily done with construction work, leaving the house open for us to move our scaffoldings about the house freely. At this time I brought in another crew to tackle the wall painting. I was now running two crews and working ten to twelve hour days. But we got everything done on time and on budget. All that was left was the faux finishing and the Luster Stone plastering, which turned out to be a unique challenge.

great room ceiling

A winding road overlooking the valley led me to the house’s gates. As I followed the designer’s through the gates and up to the drive way I could not yet tell that there was just as much house underground as there was above, for there are few homes that are built with basements here in Southern California. Before long, Barbara, the homeowner, greeted us warmly and led us to the areas that she and the designer wanted me to work on.

The entire house was bustling with workers of every trade imaginable. We walked past stacks of walnut flooring ready to be installed in the “great room” – aptly named, as it had thirty foot ceilings and a pair of sliding glass doors that looked out over the hills and out towards the Pacific.

Barbra took us past the formal dining room and I could see that there were three large niches built into the walls. The designer explained that they would like to have these niches painted. They wanted an Old World look with a smoky aged blue background and freehand gilded gold vines moving throughout the niches. During our conversation I pulled out samples of finishes that I had done in the past to show some of the other possibilities for these areas.

Barbara instantly fell in love with my samples of ‘Luster Stone’, a metallic decorative plaster that shimmers depending on how the lighting hits it. ‘Luster Stone’ comes in many different colors. Barbra especially loved the copper and the champagne samples that I had, and I was already planning how I would start this part of the project.

What happened next was quite unexpected. Barbara told me that she and her husband were looking into doing some faux finishing and possibly a Venetian plaster in parts of the house; she asked if I would be willing to go around the house and talk about the possibilities of what could be done. How could I say no? As we walked around her beautiful home, I offered up numerous ideas. We finally settled on four finishes we felt would be appropriate. I was asked to come back in one week’s time with samples and a bid.

Part 2 of this story to follow soon.

Master Bedroom befor Faux Finishing

View from master Bedroom

Great room ceiling before stain

Barrel ceilings before Luster Stone Plaster

faux finishing - before picture

Great room before faux finishing

A Celebration With Pato Banton and the Now Generation

Location: Pala Mesa Resort

Time: 5:00PM Friday, February 11th

A Celebration With Pato Banton and the Now Generation

Kissing The Sky

The Russian-born artist combines impressionism with realism, utilizing vibrant colors and bold images.  He has developed a unique style, focusing his talents on painting richly romantic “dream scape” paintings that captivate the imagination and satisfy the soul.   His works are among 150 works by a variety of artists on display during the 11th El Cajon Invitational Art Exhibit at the St. Clair Gallery in El Cajon.  READ MORE…