On the Job

After a number of apprenticeships and faux-finishing classes, James-Michael Evans, a Washington, D.C., native, moved to Naples 11 years ago and started his one-man Fee Fi Faux finishing business. Evans paints, sculpts and creates intricate faux marble, wood grain other natural effects on walls in upscale neighborhoods like Port Royal, Pelican Bay and Mediterra.

What can you faux finish? Anything. I once had a woman that had an old pair of shoes and she wanted me to paint them to match her walls. She was having a party and she wanted them to match.

What does it in involve? It's a technique of using certain types of glazes and paint products to mimic or recreate things that occur in nature. You do interesting things with glazes and paint: artistic walls, ceilings, cabinets.

You must be quite the artist. It's more than paintbrushes. [I use] rags, sponges, certain types of cloth, certain materials. I do color washes and tissue faux finishes-papier appliqué. I have a mobile art studio.

When do you do it? Usually when people are moved in their new house and are ready to start decorating. I wait for all the other trades to finish making their mess and then I go in and make it look beautiful.

It must be tedious. You have to really enjoy the kind of work that it is. I enjoy the creative process. The work itself is tedious and you have to be exacting, and you have to be a perfectionist to do it right. I enjoy the finished product when I stand back and marvel at my own creation.

-Rebecca Loveridge