Date: Fri 28-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Dawne-Fritz-painting-artist

Full Text:

A Live-In Legacy: The Artistry Of Painter Dawne Fritz

(with cuts)

BY SHANNON HICKS

Vines are growing along the walls of a home in Newtown. With each passing day,

the vines have been inching their way along the wall, with leaves appearing

and small grapes showing up.

What is fun about these vines is that they are "growing" inside the dining

room of a Horseshoe Road residence. Jeff and Brenda Wurtz, the homeowners,

have hired artist Dawne Fritz to paint a beautiful border of vines and grapes

along the ceiling of their dining room. The walls of the large room have been

painted a soft yellow, and Dawne has used the technique called rag rolling --

using a wrinkled rag cleaned in water -- to give the walls a textured effect.

When she is finished with this job, the room will look like it deserves to be

photographed for a magazine.

It already has been, sort of. When Brenda and Jeff Wurtz were deciding what to

do with their dining room earlier this year, Brenda came across a photograph

in a magazine and decided the vine pattern and textured walls was what she

wanted for her own home.

The Wurtzes had already owned a chair hand painted by Dawne. When it came time

to have someone decorate their dining room, they went right to the same source

that created the artwork on the chair.

Dawne, a Plantsville resident, has a few partnerships set up in different

towns, where someone will refinish wooden furniture and Dawne will paint it,

or she will paint newly-built furniture. She has just such an arrangement set

up with Jim Pappas, a Bridgeport resident and refinisher. Jim picks up

furniture from The Wood Market in Monroe to work on, and then Dawne adds the

finishing touches with her paintbrush. She has a similar arrangement through

Cheshire Furniture & Refinishing.

Dawne was involved in the craft show circuit for a few years, but enjoyed the

process of creating more than she did trying to sell individual pieces of

furniture.

In other homes across the state, Dawne has created beach scenes in bathrooms,

white birch trees that run the height of walls in hallways, even trees with

birds surrounding them for one woman who collects decorative birdhouses. She

did a large-scale Parisian street scene on canvas for a kitchen in Westport,

and cherubs playing harps or blowing horns on a ceiling in New Milford.

When it comes to doing the work on ceilings, or on the molding at the junction

of walls and ceilings, Dawne has a scaffolding set up so that she isn't

standing on a chair or stepladder, trying to reach into corners. At the Wurtz

home last week, the rag rolling on the walls was completed and she was

concentrating on the ceiling.

The scaffolding was set to leave about 18 inches of space between the platform

and the ceiling. Dawne would climb to the top of the scaffolding, then lie on

her back to paint on the ceiling. Her palette was at her side, and there were

blankets on the platform to make the surface a little more comfortable.

Working hours at a time, she needs to have the blanket support in order to

avoid back pains.

She also wears a brace on her wrist when painting, to avoid future problems

with carpal tunnel syndrome. Dawne has discovered that when she is painting

detail onto walls and ceilings, her wrist tends to be in the same position for

long stretches at a time. Poor positioning of the wrist could lead to the same

problems long-term users of typewriters and keyboards run into -- the problem

of painfully swollen veins in the lower arm area.

Painting comes very naturally for someone who says she has always had an

interest in the art form, in one way or another. "When my Mom painted the

house inside or out [while growing up]," she said, "I always wanted to be in

on the action." In 1989 Dawne's husband gave her a band saw for her birthday.

It was perfect, because it meant she was able to draw anything she wished, cut

it out for herself, and paint it.

Dawne was a hairdresser by trade for ten years. After her son Eddie was born

13 years ago, she gave up the hairdressing to spend time at home with her son.

She did wooden crafts and decorating at home, along with some housework for

other families, to help with family finances.

Having gone out on her own in 1991, her career in painting woodwork had been

gradually growing since last August. Since this past April, Dawne says,

"business has shot up."

"I was a bit discouraged [by last summer]," she admitted. "I was beginning to

wonder if I should keep this going. I do my own taxes, so I could see some

growth, but I didn't know if it would be worth it to continue."

Fortunately, the income is very steady today. The Wurtz job in Newtown would

take about three and a half weeks to complete, Dawne estimated. She was not

working in Newtown every day however, because she had a number of furniture

pieces at home also waiting to be completed.

Her clientele list is expanding. The Wurtzes' neighbors are already impressed

enough in what Dawne is creating for the Wurtzes' dining room, they have hired

her to do work in their own home.

Her biggest advertisement is word of mouth. "Right now [new clients] are

falling out of the sky," she laughed. "I can't even tell you where they're all

coming from."

"I've worked very hard to get where I am today," she said. She looked around

the pale yellow room, she was in the middle of working on. Even midway through

the project, the dining room was a beautiful work of art. The finished project

will be a compilation piece, with the painting by Dawne and some additional

molding trim done by her husband, Joe.

Photographs of past jobs give a good idea of the talent Dawne wields in her

brushes, but they don't give a full picture of her amazing work. Each is a

piece of art, a distinctive piece of work. Fittingly, with each job she

completes Dawne says she is feeling more confident with her work.

"The feeling is indescribable," she said. "People welcome me into their homes.

I feel such a sense of accomplishment," she continued, flipping pages in a

small photo album she carries with her. The book is filled with images of

walls, rooms and pieces of furniture she has painted. Each room has not only

been decorated by Dawne, but given a very personal touch, like the grapes and

vines she is creating at the Wurtz home in Newtown.

Her work is very lovely, and extremely unique in that even if she were to

re-create the same pattern in another home, there will be nuances and minute

touches that will be original to each job.

"You can't put a price on that feeling. I'll never take that for granted."