Paul Lewing Custom Tile

This is how a custom tile mural starts and how it comes out. The client gives me the measurements of the space, and any images or descriptions they can round up to tell me what they want it to look like. I then make them a scale drawing so we can see how it fits into the space. In this case, I needed to work around an outlet. This lady came from a family of Northwest fishermen, so there’s lots of seafood in it, and she wanted it fun and whimsical. She gave me some pictures and I used my very extensive library of images on all kinds of subjects. Then I fire it onto the tile we select, and she’s happy.

Working on the third and, I hope, final firing. This firing is mostly adding black outlines, but I also do some more intensifying colors, like I’ve done on the yellow-brown coral that has the outlines on it. I’ll do that on the other one too. Most china painters don’t do this outlining, but I work much larger than traditional china painters, and these images need to carry across a room, so they need to be punchy. Also, doing several coats and pouncing the colors to remove brush marks, the edges of things get fuzzy. This gets them crisp again. I keep the black in the mortar and pestle and grind it periodically to keep it in suspension. I just let it dry out in between jobs. When it's done and installed, it will eventually be on www.paullewingtile.com.

Here’s what the Mantas bespoke tile mural looks like after the second firing. You can see that the background is now filled in, the colors have been deepened and texture has been added. There will be at least one more firing. The next one will be black outlines, and deepening colors even more. I’m liking it so far. I particularly like the way the sunlight beams through the water and plays on the sand. It will probably still be months before the installed picture turns up on www.paullewingtile.com, but you cn see lots more there now.

Working my way through the second firing. This is when the real painting happens. First thing to do is paint in the background water and sand. You can see on the big manta ray how I just paint right over the imagery and wipe it off later. I like a closed medium for this. I want it to dry but take a while and not dry too hard. You can see on the other photo where I’ve deepens the colors on the rays and their shadows and the fish, but I haven’r started on the coral yet. I’m wiping out the patterns of the light on the sand with the same rubber tool I used before.

This is what the Mantas custom tile mural looks like after the first firing to cone 018. I like to establish where all the images are going to be first and paint the backgrounds in later firings. There will be at least two more firings on this kitchen backsplash tile mural. I do a lot of things in completely different ways than traditional china painters, notably using only water based mediums. If you’d like to learn how I do things, you can sign up for my online china painting course from TeachinArt, at https://www.teachinart.com/china-painting.html. And you can see lots of my finished handprinted artisan tile work at www.paullewingtile.com.

This is how I start on a custom tile mural. I’ve got my proposal drawing to go by, my source material laid out, the tiles have been numbered on the backs. I usually start in the upper left and work my way to the bottom right. There will be a water background, but I like to get the images established and do the backgrounds later. Under the table you can see the racks the tiles will be fired in.

In the second picture you see the lower right corner almost done. I just have the two fish and one coral to do yet and it will be ready to go into the kiln. The white strokes that look like grasses just to the left of the blank area were wiped out with that rubber tool you see laying next to the tile.

I’m getting ready to start a new custom tile mural. This one is going to Florida and depicts manta rays. It will go over a countertop in a kitchen. These are 6” tiles, so the mural will be 6’ 6” wide and 3’ 6” high. This is the drawing for it. Some of the images were supplied by the clients and some were from my extensive collection of books and clippings.

Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t. In 40 years or so of making custom tile murals, I have found very few brands of tile that I couldn’t work on. But some will just not stand up to refiring. They’re almost always, like these samples for a bathroom vanity tile mural, made by hand either by an individual or in a small factory. They were made from wet clay on a slab roller, not dust pressed like commercial tile. This puts different stresses on the fired tile. They’re perfectly fine and durable as is, but they won’t survive the china paint firing. So now we’re looking for a different tile for this job. To see a lot of jobs handprinted tile that actually did work well, go to www.paullewingtile.com.

Just finished this acrylic painting. It's called "Mossy Firs" and it's 24" x 36". I've been fascinated lately by the patterns that different kinds of tree trunks make.

Thanks to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday yesterday. My wife and two dogs went hiking, so it was a good day. I turned 78 so I hear that, statistically, this will be one of those years when my health rapidly declines. Can't wait.