Artist in Residence: Tosa Painter Has Talent for Deceiving the Eye

Wauwatosa resident Betsy Benes Peckenpaugh has made a living fooling the eye. Trained as a fine art artist, Benes Peckenpaugh has found that there is a high demand for trompe l’eoil – the illusion of three dimensions on a flat surface.

She started her business, uncommon walls – the name is officially lowercase – 15 years ago when she was working at Calico Corners in Brookfield designing and painting vignettes within the store. Her wall finishes were so popular that customers would commission her to come and work her magic in their homes.

“Back then faux finishes were very popular,” she said. “Whole-house faux walls are not a trend anymore.” 

With good business sense, Benes Peckenpaugh adapted. She’s expanded into painting cabinetry, ceilings and furniture. “I make old furniture look modern and new furniture look old,” she said. 

She also does a variety of murals and grisaille. “Grisaille is a painting plaster technique that gives a three-dimensional relief – like for ceiling medallions,” she said. 

Tricking the eye is exactly what Benes Peckenpaugh did in the bath house at Tosa Pool at Hoyt Park, which has been renovated and reopened after nearly a decade of vacancy. Two days of paint and patience put a faux aged-brass finish on two pairs of metal fire doors and a metal service counter.

“I did a metallic accent and application on the doors and counter,” she said. She also did a faux bois finish on metal door frames in the bath house's Great Hall, giving the cold-looking structure a lush maple-wood look. 

Benes Peckenpaugh also participated in the design of this year’s Breast Cancer Show House on Milwaukee’s east side.

“I’ve done a show house every year for the past 15,” she said of fundraisers for various organizations. “At the Breast Cancer Show House, the foyer and ballroom were my space. I did bare trees of sycamores.”

And if walls could talk, and in Benes Peckenpaugh’s case they kind of do, “all my business is by word-of-mouth,” she said. “I’m booked out until the end of August.”

She’s done all sorts of interior design. “I love fabrics, so I do window treatments,  furniture, lamps, tiling and room arrangements, too,” she said – but her love is fine art. 

Benes Peckenpaugh is constantly making the choice between making money and making fine art, but hopes to make some time to put brush to canvas. Her medium is egg tempera and oil on canvas. This weekend she will be exhibiting her art at the 54th Annual Beloit & Vicinity Exhibition at Wright Museum of Art at Beloit College.

Benes Peckenpaugh is a graduate of the Milwaukee School of the Arts (now Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design) and is married to artist Bill Peckenpaugh. They have two daughters who are also artists.