So my husband and I started talking about projects that needed to be handled around the house. Believe me, our kids bedrooms were not on this list. Yet within two days we were planning the "re-do" of our youngest daughters bedroom. I can only guess that she played subliminal messages through the night until we relented, because I really don't know how this happened. Anyway, it's nearly done. It looks awesome.
I wanted to create a large art piece for her room with special meaning. I am not an artist really, I just try...really hard....to replicate cool things I see/like/want to buy because it's cheaper that way. I saw this post and got inspired. The way I created my daughters painting was totally different than their process, but it has a similar result. I'll show you my steps, and maybe you'll get inspired too.
I figured if I screwed it up really bad, I could paint the canvas white and start over, or wrap it in pretty fabric and call it a day. Plus, I had a coupon, and the large canvases were on sale. Score!
First, I picked up a giant canvas at the craft store, it's 30x40".
Then I looked through about a hundred pictures of our late Weimaraner, Augen, as he would be the subject matter for the piece. I tried to trace over some of his photographs because I am not a natural born Picasso, and I have a tendancy to screw up proportions. Like, really bad.
Then the part where you should take you time {but I didn't}. Draw a grid over your favorite image. To do this correctly, you should draw the grid neatly, and at the same 1" or whatever scale you choose for consistency. You can see I really didn't do that, but, ahem, I was trying to be an "artiste". Basically I drew my lines crooked, and at random intervals....I didn't mean to, really... Oh well. You get the idea. It still gave me a 'framework' to follow.
Here I was attempting to draw a loose "grid" on the canvas. There is an excellent book called, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain which taught me this method to draw something even when you really don't have talent naturally. Hard to see, I know, but I was trying to draw lightly on the canvas, so it would be easy to erase later.
A little more of a close up of the canvas with most of my sketch drawn, erased, re-worked, and drawn again. It helps when you can stay in that state of "flow", like when you're completely tuned into what you are doing. Of course I was interrupted 75 times by my girls, asking, "Mom, what are you doing? Can I help? Are you drawing? What is this/that? When are you going to do MY room?". You know, the usual, non-stop barrage of questions {which I wouldn't give up for the world, but I'm still going to complain a little}.
Here is the canvas, with pencil lines for the grid erased since I was pretty happy with my sketch. I carefully {like held my breath carefully} took a paint brush, and using the accent wall color in the bedroom, painted just up to the pencil line all around the sketched image. It took a little while. I did not want this part to get screwed up.
Then I went back and added more paint to the canvas. I used a mini roller to fill in the big spaces of the canvas, and various sized paintbrushes to get in the nooks and crannies. To alleviate any roller lines, or brush lines I didn't like, I painted quickly in x's on the canvas. It blends nicer that way, I think.
A close up of his head, and the detail of his ear. I debated for awhile whether or not to highlight the ear, but I'm glad I did. I like the look of it.
Another shot of the front of body...getting those nubs on his lower legs really make it look like him. Kind of funny the things you notice that make it your dog.
Here is the final, finished result in her bedroom. I think it looks pretty good. My littlest gasped when she saw the final result, so that was really fun to see. The proportions are a little off, I think, but she hasn't noticed, and maybe that just needs to be what I'm "known for" with my art. Ha.
I share this with you, because sometimes it's easy to say, "Oh, I can't do that" because you think you're not talented enough, or you 'don't know how to do that'. Honestly, get on Youtube, or Google a question like, "how do I paint a silhouette" , or just pick up a paintbrush. What's the worst thing that could happen?
Um, nothing....
No one will go hungry if your painting stinks. So give it a go, and you might just surprise yourself. Besides, your kids will think you're really cool for doing it. Promise.
I think our Augen-boy would approve.
Have a great day!
{Jenn}
No comments:
Post a Comment