Jeff Morrow joined up with Doug Eisele and Dawn Strait Wallace to preserve two historic wall murals at McClain High School in Greenfield OH this summer. It was a week-long project for the trio, high up on scaffolding, using specially prepared paints to match the 100-year-old originals.
Jeff recounts, “Between them, Doug and Dawn have almost 80 years of painting restoration experience. I was brought along to help expedite the process by helping Dawn and Doug with the inpainting and overpainting. There were whole patches where water damage had taken it’s toll and someone’s attempted restoration work was no longer stable and was flaking off. We first had to reverse the previous repairs and overpaint. Then stabilize the loose plaster, infill the losses and prepare the surface for inpainting. In those areas we had to match the look and style of the original artist’s work.”
“We had no historical references to work from. Colors were matched just like when I need to match color on one of my own paintings. Mix and mix again until an exact match is achieved. We used acrylic so we were able to test a color and let it dry to be sure of the match.”
“It took me a bit to get used to the scaffolding—being careful and holding. I did a lot of leaning back to look at my work since I am used to doing this from my easel to take in my progress. There’s no stepping back when on a scaffold!”
Doug started Old World Restorations 40 years ago and Dawn has been with him most of that time as the primary painting restorer.
<photo of jeff morrow on scaffolding> Karol, did Jeff make his last payment on his life insurance policy?
<Photo of Jeff morrow painting mural> Jeff joined Doug Eisele and Dawn Wallace to restore McClain murals.
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