Creating Floorboards from paint

To create the look of floorboards I used illusionary painting skills that we had previously been shown. First I painted on my base coat of a mixed dark brown. Then leaving the masking tape in place I ran down either edge with a thin paint brush and some very dark watered down paint. THis gave me a darkened edge effect to work with during this process I was also leaving random marks of dark brown across the boards to create the effect of natural discolouration. With this done I painted onto the area patchy bits of a dark brown similar to the base colour but a bit darker, smudged the edges in and then ran the length of each board with a rubber wood grain tool. This all created a brilliant effect but I felt that something was still missing.

 I consulted Fellow group member Stuart Lennon whose opinion on 3d texturing I hold in high regard to see what he would come up with. His idea was to Gouge straight lines into the edging of the floorboards to create a 3d worn look. We tested this on a corner piece and the effect was incredibly satisfying so I performed the technique of using a sharpened nail and an offcut of straight MDF to gouge areas across the floor.

Satisfied with my results I gave the entire floor a final wash with a heavily diluted black paint just to darken the boards a bit and blend everything.