Johnstones Young painter of the Year (pictured above - the six finalists in the 2005 final
Kalon, manufacturers of Leyland and Johnstone Paints are a new entrant to the competition scene
and this competition has certainly got people talking.
THE COMPETITION TEST PIECE:
The test was carried out on two walls set at right angles.
Wall “A” was a plain wall and Wall “B” had a half six panel door a moulded skirting and a dado
rail.
Wall “A”:
Competitors had to set out a false skirting at the same height as the moulded
skirting on Wall “B”. The remainder of the wall was prepared and roller coated in vinyl matt
emulsion. It was then broken by multi-curved diagonal lines into three areas which were brush
finished in vinyl matt emulsion; top SO0505-Y10R, mid SO510-Y10R, bottom S1020-Y10R.
A circle was then constructed within the central band. The circle was divided into two halves
by a multi-curved line, one half was finished in vinyl matt S1070-R and the other vinyl matt
S5030-R90B. The skirting was undercoated and glossed using Aqua white.
Wall”B”
A frieze was set at top door facing height and painted using acrylic
eggshell SO520-B10G. A band, measuring 112 mm wide was drawn horizontally in the centre of the
frieze and painted in acrylic eggshell S2030-B10G. A lattice pattern stencil template was cut
and the pattern applied to the frieze band.
The upper wall area was painted using Soft sheen with the exception of the central panel
which was finished with a gold water borne glaze and rag roller. Forty five degree lines
radiated from the central panel to the corners of the area and the resultant surrounding bands
were painted to create the visual effect of the panel being recessed. The colours used were
S1020-Y10R, S0510-Y10R and S0505-Y10R.
The dado was painted using acrylic eggshell and had a 210mm mounted square displaying
Johnstone’s AQUA. Diagonal lines were drawn from the corners of the square to the edges of
the dado and the resultant bands painted to create the visual effect that the panel protruded
from the wall. Colours used were SO520-B10G. SO1020-B10G AND SO2020-B10G.The skirting, dado rail
and door facings were coated in Aqua undercoat and gloss white and the door was undercoated in
Aqua undercoat light grey and finished in Aqua gloss SO202-B10G.
The competitors had ten and a half hours to complete the test piece. They had five and a half
hours on day one and five hours on day two. Organisation and planning were therefore paramount,
especially since certain areas were specified to have three coats to complete the design.
Even allowing for the fact that all materials used were water based with shorter drying times
than solvent based equivalents sequencing of operations was important. Workshop space was
limited
and tight but the six competitors coped extremely well and accommodated and assisted
each other throughout the two days of competition. They also gelled well and interacted well
outwith the competition area.
Certain of the materials specified were new to the competitors but Kalon’s Technical
Applications
Consultant, Ken Hopkins was on hand to give explanations and demonstrations to the
competitors prior
to the application of these materials. Ken, himself a past lecturer in painting and
decorating,
had prepared the workshop and was on hand throughout the two days of competition and his services
were invaluable.
It was five minutes before the end of the ten and a half hours before the first of the
competitors
completed the test piece and two others also completed before the time ran out. One other
had only
the skirting to gloss another the door facing and skirting to gloss and the remaining competitor
had one or two areas uncompleted. In all the competitors applied six different water based
coatings and were tested on a wide range of their painting skills. The standard was extremely
high and marking had to be carefully measured and checked to arrive at a result. Everyone who
viewed the completed test pieces was impressed by the standards achieved, especially taking
into account the fact that the competitors had just completed the second year of their training.
The competitors could only have benefited from such an experience, they are a credit to firstly
themselves but also to their families, employers and colleges. Those of us within the trade
should be encouraged to realise that we can still attract and train
young people to perform at this level. We are also fortunate that we have
people within our organisations who are prepared to give of their time to maintain
and extend the competition scene but most
importantly we are lucky to have organisations who are prepared to sponsor such competitions
to the
level that gives them National status.
Lawrence Doyle, Kalon’s Technical Advisory Manager, is already talking about
next year’s Competition, and for that and the unfailing support that he has given to this
years Competition he deserves our thanks and support
Result of the competition was as follows:-
- (Mark Nevin) Edinburgh's Telford College
- (Craig Ward) Lincoln College
- (Mike Tappin) Somerset College of Art and Technology
John Macdonald – Competition compiler and judge