Viewpoint of a specialist decorator

by John Nevin - Mackay Decorators

For a number of years now I have been painting many of Scotland’s finest buildings, some are decorated to the customer’s wishes and others, due to grant funding, are a committee decision reached with architects, government bodies and consultants. I still deal with the latter, because if a private client wishes to adopt a certain scheme, as a matter of commercial survival we will agree to carry out his wishes.

However, in grant founded work, where we are trying to achieve a certain amount of authenticity as far as the colours or materials are concerned, I fell a great deal is still left to well-intentioned amateurs. These may be people who are brilliant in their own fields but who are out of their depth in what can be a very complicated and specialist area.

Concerning this, and due to the shortage of space for this column, I will address just one of many points.

Materials

I have in the past had to purchase specified materials made by so-called makers of traditional coatings. Without exception every single project has been an absolute disaster. Way overpriced, and of such poor quality that it is hard to describe. When you enquire into makers’ background you will often find they are academics, historians or ex-art students who are jumping on the bandwagon. Other specialist decorators who I talk to are in complete agreement on this.

To make approximately five litres of distemper, the raw materials will normally cost under £7.00, however, when you buy the manufactured product the price suddenly jumps to £40.00. The story goes on and on, and I feel sorry for the inexperienced painter on site who is handed one of these traditional coatings, and takes all the flack whilst all the time it is the material. Most of the products required to manufacture historic paints are still available, with the exception of certain pigments, but any colour can be achieved using modern day equivalents. Granted, white lead, oils etc, are processed differently, but at the end of the day are there really any great differences?

We recently undertook a contract in a historical building in North London, and one of these manufacturers delivered a product of their own that had been specified. On opening the first tin one could immediately smell that white spirit had been used instead of genuine turpentine. The second batch of white that was delivered was almost a cream colour due to the impurities in the linseed oil. Luckily previous experience had led me to bring down my own white lead, and we ended up making our own paints on site in order to complete the job.

We must not forget that painters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries made their own materials. They may not have been able to read and write, and certainly had no degree in physics or chemistry, but they could make paint to last. Is there really a need for specialised paint makers, when really it is quite simple to make your ones own with a good knowledge of the materials and a bit of common sense?