Lynne Rutter is widely recognized as an expert decorative painter and fine art muralist, whose work emphasizes ornament, color, and gilding. Lynne studied fine art, architecture and design at the University of California at Berkeley, and furthered her training by working as a scenic artist, and apprenticing with several notable decorative artists, managing a large commercial mural studio with national and international installations. In 1990, she founded her own boutique atelier, with a mission to create custom, fine-art murals, and “super-fussy ornament, the kind you have to do by hand, and that you want to look at up-close.” In recent years her work has included more color consulting and interior design, and she has been featured as a painter and as a designer in many Bay Area and San Francisco Decorator Showcase House events.
Lynne’s continuing interest in period design and traditional materials led her to work on a large number of historic buildings, and she has participated in the restoration of the painted ornament in churches and civic buildings, as well as Victorians and period-revival homes. In modern architecture Lynne applies her knowledge and skill to adorn previously barren spaces with original designs and interesting surfaces: the skills and techniques used are similar even as the definition of ‘contemporary’ changes from year to year.
You can see more of Lynne’s work at her website and on her blog “The Ornamentalist” where she writes about the finer points of ornamental painting.
Paris Hotel Casino Resort, Las Vegas. Groin vault ceiling, embellished with hand-painted ornament and trompe l’oeil cartouches. Acrylics on muslin and plaster, with 23 karat gold leaf. 900 square feet. Photo: Marcia Steurmer.
In an unusual period-revival home in Orinda, California, this skylit room’s soaring 22 foot height and hexagonal shape led to the creation of an ornamental ceiling mural inspired by early Italian Renaissance borders. Designed and custom painted by Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting, the mural panels were first painted on canvas in the studio, and then installed here by Peter Bridgman. Photo: David Papas.
The Pearl Earring, 10′ by 13′ acrylic on canvas. This mural was painted by Lynne Rutter and was created site-specific for master bathroom of a residence in San Francisco. The image, inspired by the 17th century Vermeer masterpiece, is used at a surreal scale, and asserts itself as part of the décor of each adjoining room from which it is visible. Photo: David Duncan Livingston.
“Les Monuments de Paris.” This mural is painted en grisaille by Lynne Rutter Murals and Decorative Painting using dozens of shades of warm gray, and is patterned after Les Monuments de Paris by Josef Dufour. It is painstakingly hand-painted in the style of an early 19th century block-printed scenic wallpaper, or papier peint panoramique. Photo: David Papas.
Chinoiserie Powder Room. Designed by Lynne Rutter for the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, this formal powder room features a chinoiserie room mural custom painted by Lynne in the manner of Chinoiserie wallpapers so popular in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Photo: David Papas.
El Gallo Negro. Mural diptych painted in oil on copper-gilt panels, created by Lynne Rutter for Gilberth’s Rotisserie and Grill, San Francisco. Photo: David Papas
Noe Valley Victorian – Lynne Rutter designed the color scheme for this classic San Francisco Stick style house, with 6 carefully placed colors and just enough gold leaf to make the architecture sing. Painting by San Francisco Local Color.
This Russian Hill Edwardian flat was redecorated as a comfortable urban pied-a-terre. Lynne Rutter created a palette of saturated and sophisticated colors to compliment the owner’s eclectic decor. Much of this interior was painted using casein paint, which will naturally age to create a rich, plaster effect on the walls. Painting by San Francisco Local Color. Photo: Lynne Rutter.
