One Horse Studio
Creates Beautiful Spaces
by Karla Erovick
orie Wolff, founder of One Horse Studio, is a
modern-day Renaissance woman. Her ability
to transform a room, an object, or a space
through her craft of Decorative Painting is
astonishing. She has created custom murals
throughout wine country adorning local wine
country restaurants and businesses that tell a
story and create a connection to the place
without words. The ability to tell a story through art isn’t
something new, but when done well, it blends into the
space so seamlessly that it appears to have always been
there. That is the genius that Lorie brings to her commis-
sions.
Murals can have the ability to evoke a memory of a place
or time. While murals are the most visible and easily relat-
ed manifestation of her work, she is most excited about is
the ability to create illusions in a room, with a piece of
furniture, a wall, floor or counter to make it look like some-
thing else, to create a sense of place. These finishes are
achieved using specialty paints and plaster in primarily
water based products that are commonly custom-colored
and custom-fixed to the medium required for the project.
Painting a surface to look like marble, wood, gold or
copper is an age-old craft practiced by artisans for centu-
ries.
Think of the beautiful frescoes that adorn churches, muse-
ums, and buildings throughout Europe. Lorie has used her
skills to alter the look of a space through changing the
surface or materials ranging from light fixtures to ceiling
beams. The illusion comes from transforming the wall,
object, or material into something utterly different, such as
a wood door made to look like rusted metal, metal paint-
ed to resemble wood, or finishes adding patina or aging
to make an object look ancient. Lorie collaborates with
interior designers, architects and home owners to achieve
these results for her clients.
The art of simulating wood with paint is referred to as
wood graining or the French term, “faux bois.” Lorie’s
study of natural wood, the tree's unique grain structure,
knots and other naturally occurring imperfections along
with the nuances of color, give her the ability to duplicate
wood using specialty painting techniques. This process is
also true for imitating stone such as marble and limestone.
One of her favorite projects was taking large white paint-
ed ceiling beams and making them look like beautiful rich