You've Got To Be Kitten Me

This past weekend I was inspired to pick up a paintbrush and a spare canvas and paint a goofy little idea that's been bouncing around my brain for a while. I love lucky cats... I love sugar skulls... so, why not a lucky cat decorated like a sugar skull?! 

I found inspiration via Google images and just did my own take. I first drew everything out, then began with the emerald background. I originally wanted to do a black background but I thought the cherry blossoms with the emerald would be an unexpected combination and would still fit nicely with the Japanese-themed style. 

I love the way the cherry blossoms came out. I put a glob of pink paint right next to white paint and dabbed the brush in so each color was on half of the brush and just had fun with it. It gives the flowers a little more dimension when you use the white barely mixed with color. 

I am really pleased with the end result, my little lucky cat is adorable! I originally wanted to paint him in a similar color that Ian is but with all the ornamentation already covering him I thought it would be too much. 

He found the perfect home among the rest of our quirky game room art. It's probably my favorite art display in the house because it can be goofy, unexpected and just fun. 

Speaking of cats... I haven't mentioned the kitties lately, have I?

Well, they've been really busy lately so...

How lazy, right?

Ingrained

I originally planned to make some artwork for over the toilet in the upstairs bathroom. My canvas that I already had on hand was the perfect size for the space. 

I toyed around with a few ideas before thinking about how cool it would be to have some abstract looking woodgrain art on the wall. The shower curtain has leaves and branches on it and there's another piece of art that has leaves and I thought woodgrain would go without being matchy-matchy.

I just did a general search for woodgrain art or abstract woodgrain and came across this stock photo that became my inspiration image.

My next step was to just loosely draw the picture so I had some general guidelines to follow but I didn't want it to be perfectly spaced at all.

Then I just used brown, green, and red paint to trace the lines and fill in spaces with color where I felt like it. It was a very easy project. A little time consuming but I love the way it turned out. 

So I placed it above the toilet in the bathroom before nailing into the wall and well... I didn't like it. The shades of color were all wrong and with the shower curtain being a busier pattern, it just didn't mesh well. 

I relocated it to an empty spot in the hallway across from Brayt's room and I absolutely love it there. It goes well with the Esher pictures across the hall without being too similar and competing. 

I really love the way this came out and I don't think you really have to have any artistic skill to pull this off. Just draw some lines and a few wood knots occasionally. Simple. 

I did paint the edges of the canvas to give it a finished look like a dark frame around it. I think it takes it from looking like an art project to something a little more professional.

Frame The Date

If you've been around since October, maybe you'll remember that I thought that grouping some Escher calendar art together in a frame grouping would be completely awesome and inexpensive. Well, the New Year calendar clearance sales convinced me to make my idea a reality.

The hallway was lacking some serious style. Unfortunately, it's pretty dark in there when the light isn't on (plus, the Pacific Northwest cloudy-moodiness of winter isn't helping either).

Happily, this project only cost me $8 after the 50% off sale (I specifically waited until after Christmas for the calendars to be marked down). 

I found some frames that looked good together and replaced them with the pictures that I loved.

Ian decided it would be a fun time to get in the frame... He thinks he's more important than my project.

I would have liked to have put them horizontally but the space didn't permit it. I think it gave the hallway a little bit of character that it was lacking. 

Calendars are a great, cheap way to get some prints... especially during the after-Christmas sales. :)

Streaking Is Legal

Well, this kind of streaking is legal. As in, my project for today.

I've been loving my black and white abstract art that's been hanging in my hallway for a while...

Doesn't it remind you of a moody-looking tree line?

So, I wondered if I could replicate that with a few more colors for an even more interesting look. I had a little spare canvas lying around (when don't I? I should be called The Canvas Queen from the looks of my closet...).

I took one color at a time and dipped the brush in water quickly and then into the paint. Then I just streaked it wherever I felt I wanted the color.

If you don't want a blended paint look, I suggest waiting until each color is dry before adding another one with the same technique: dip brush in water, then paint, then quickly streak.

I wanted the colors to just peek through so I added some white on top of the color and I think it turned out really lovely!

Here is its temporary home next to its Big Daddy. 

Loving it! I plan to repurpose this in our new bedroom once we move since it involves all the colors I plan to use! (Gray again, surprised?)

Easy Dramatic DIY Painting

Hello!  Yeah, it's been a week since I've been on here... I know. :( There's just some things going on right now and I've been working on finding out stuff about the upcoming move and such (which is a huge job!). 

But I was cleaning out my front closet, which had gotten crazy-messy ever since I introduced our beach equipment to it, and I found a canvas that I had worked on and forgot about. Annnd, I was kinda over the picture I was making for it. I originally wanted to make an urban-type painting with buildings and fire escapes after a picture I saw on the wall at McDonald's (haha, don't laugh, it was a cool picture for a burger joint). 

I stumbled upon this project from the Young House Love Pinterest Challenge and thought it was wonderful and interesting. It's very dramatic and different from everything else I have in the house. Sooo.... I have painted over the canvas for the third time now! 

via Dans le Townhouse

Here's my canvas' evolution...

He started off purple...

Then painted over and drawn on...

And then painted white again...

So I just painted about 3/4 of the picture white and left the rest for the black paint. Dipping the brush in water before the black paint (as suggested by the above blog) really helped achieve the grainy, black-washed effect. 

I painted a few strokes, let it dry and just kept adding on until I was satisfied with the look. I even painted around the corners of the canvas (as suggested by the blog) and it really gave it a finished look.

And I'm totally in love with it!

It's dramatic, gorgeous and cheap! And if you've got next to no artistic talent, this project is probably the easiest canvas project you can do. 

So, go forth and experiment with these colors or try some of your own combinations!

Rockin' Some Art!

I've been busy the last few weeks not with home decor things but...


THESE!

Almost done... 

No tracing- just freehand drawing and they look pretty awesome.  I'm actually surprised they are turning out this well.

Kinda wondering if people would buy canvas reproductions of album covers?... I would SO do it!

\m/

Make Like A Tree...

Before I left to visit Arizona, I had a bunch of posts up on a schedule so I wouldn't have to worry about posting for a few days.  Unfortunately, I only had time to make up posts until the 12th so that explains my slight leave of absence.  


So, here's a project I had to hurry up and finish before I left (and try and cram in my suitcase) for a friend's birthday.  She's loved my tree painting and I promised to make her one for her birthday.  

Here's a little tutorial that shows just how easy it was to do... you don't have to have any artistic talent, you've basically just have to know how to draw a stick tree. 


All you need is a canvas, acrylic paints of whatever color you wish, and some paintbrushes (whatever size you feel comfortable with). 


Start off with your canvas and measure out a large, bold border.  I made mine about 3.5 inches, I think. (It also depends on what size your canvas is: bigger canvas = bigger border.) 

First, paint the inside-the-border square a light color.  Then after about an hour or so drying time, use painters tape or masking tape to tape off the border so you will get a crisp line after painting.  Remove the tape while the outside border is still wet to get the straightest lines.  If you don't, the dried paint on the tape will stick to the dried paint on the border and could remove some of the paint. 

Use pencil to freehand your tree.  Start off with thick trunk and make sure you extend the tree wide to reach the border. 

Fill in your tree.  The trick to a realistic-looking tree that doesn't look like it was painted by a child, is to make sure the tree starts off thick and tapers to smaller branches like natural trees do. 

The tree will probably need a coat or two to make sure the paint is bold and there aren't many brush strokes. 

Allow it to dry and then use a darker brown to make a shadow on one side of your tree. 

Let that dry and then apply a mocha glaze to give it a weathered look.  Now, the more glaze you put on, the more it will wet the canvas and remove your acrylic paint.  I like having a few spots that lose some paint because I enjoy the more rustic-weathered look.  But if you don't, go easy on the glaze. 

And... that's it!  I can't believe how much this painting turned out to be a near carbon-copy of the first one!  Amazingly, the painting made it to Arizona in one piece without a scratch and my friend loved it. :) 

Turn Doilies Into Art!

Got some doilies lying around?  Frame them!  Put them against a bold and interesting piece of scrapbook paper and you have some cheap art while preserving your precious doilies. 

I used some glue dots to hold them in place (and they'll just peel off the doilies if you ever wanted to remove them from the frames). 

The Amor, The Better!

Things have been pretty quiet around here, I've been doing lots of painting stuff, lots of journal writing, and watching lots of Wicked Attraction while painting (Oh my gosh, I love that show... is that weird?... guess it has something to do with my interest in Psychology). 


And today we have a Tornado Watch... seriously!  It's weird that two weekends ago we had snowfall and this weekend it's 74 degrees and stormy.


But the storm clouds are beautiful... I love taking pictures of the storm clouds.  Not because I'm a faux-tographer (like those people who think that just because they own a camera, suddenly they are Photographers). 


It's just that I used to be obsessed with the movie Twister when I was younger and wanted to be a storm chaser.  

Moo!  I miss watching that dumpster. :P

Anyways, when I was browsing for my hallway art I came across this cute picture in my Psychology Today.

I thought it was great inspiration for my own little art piece.  I always have a spare canvas around so... why not?

So I drew it out...

Then used a Krylon Gold Leaf pen to trace and fill in the words and arrow.  Then I very carefully painted two coats on the canvas to cover any white spots. 

Then for an added touch, I thought I'd add some thumbtacks around the edges to make it look like a nail-head trim.

They were easy enough to push into the canvas frame with my fingers but, if you don't want your fingers to be sore by the time you're finished (or you have a huge canvas), a hammer would help greatly and left no noticeable marks on the tacks. 

Though, this happened a few times and I had to go to the store and pick up more tacks before I could finish the job...

Presto!