Potato Stamped Art

Last January, to start the new year off creatively, Spoonflower created a #7DaysofDesign challenge to help creators explore new mediums.  Day seven was block printing.  Since I didn't have block printing supplies, I decided to use a potatoes.  I loved creating this art and I loved the result.

I carved a line and triangle into potato halves.

Then I tried dipping them in ink and in paint.  I think I ended up liking the paint better.

I loved the texture and imperfections, I loved how graphic the black and white looked - I loved everything about it!

I was also excited when I saw something similar in Hobby Lobby and online at All Modern.

               

It look a while, but I finally put them in frames and hung them in my home.  

I love decorating with art that is personal.

Colorful Circle Wall Art

The picture above was my inspiration. I knew I wanted to replicate it, so I did some experimenting.  My first thought was to design it on the computer and have it printed.  I decided against this for two reasons: I really wanted it 12x12 and the only printing options were expensive and would have to be shipped to me, making them time consuming and in my inspiration, there is more color variation and texture within each circle.  So I decided to look for a new method.

I thought maybe to get the look I wanted, I needed to use water.  I also thought it would be easiest to use a hole punch to make a stencil and then paint within the stencil.  

Experimenting with punching out the circles and painting them with watercolors.

Finally I settled on punching out circles and painting them with acrylic paint.  I did a lot of paint mixing to achieve different shades.  It was really fun and made me feel like an artist!!

This part of the project was less artist and more engineer.  There was a lot of measuring involved.  

Yea - all the measuring is done and I get to arrange all the colorful circles!

36 circles were needed - I made what felt like 100, but as I was placing I rejected some if they were too similar to other colors.  So I ended up going back to the painting step to make 8 more.

Yea - they're all made and in their places.  That one - second row, five from the left - I used my gold leaf pen to do that one.  

After the pic above, I used double sided glue dots to attach each dot in place.  Then I found a white square 12x12 frame at Michael's.

Here it is all put together:

And here it is in it's place on my niece Hadley's gallery wall!!!

I think it's such a fun, cheery room!!

String Art

I've been seeing string art everywhere!  I wanted to try making a piece and I thought the perfect place to test it out was in Hadley's room with a little heart.  It adds amazing texture to a gallery wall.  

They're pretty simple to make.  You figure out your base.  (Determine the size and color of wood block you need and paint/stain/cut to get it prepared.)  I started with a pretty thin piece of wood and it split in a few places from the nails, so I had to get a thicker piece.  I painted mine white with spray paint.

Then you create a template using Word.  

Then you just put your paper over the wood and start nailing.  I used white paneling nails from Walmart.

Then you begin stringing.  The first and last piece are tricky because they need to be glued.  Before the randomness, I went around the outline of the heart.  After that, it's just random stringing!

Watercolor Painting

I do not consider myself an artist and I haven't painted with watercolors since elementary school, but for some reason, the idea kept coming to mind lately.  So I picked up a set of kids watercolors, some brushes and a pack of watercolor paper.  Then I turned on Runaway Bride to play in the background and made an attempt. 

 

 

 

In case you forgot how good it is:

 

One thing I learned from research is that you're supposed to paint the entire page with water before painting. 

 

I tried painting around a star, keeping underneath the star white, as a graphic element in the painting, but found I didn't actually like that look.

 

 

 

 

It was really fun to mix colors and try to add as many layers of color as possible to create an abstract, layered, completely unique piece of art.  I experimented with drops of paint or drops of water, to create organic shapes. 

 

 

I've seen art that adds just a touch of gold, so I tried that here.  I didn't have any "gold leaf" on hand, so I used a gold marker.  I like the addition of gold, but I think I'd rather have gold leaf.

 

 

 

I think it's fun and beneficial to let yourself experiment with a new medium occasionally - have you tried anything new lately?

Colorful Wall Art

Easy and inexpensive way to make your own personalized wall art!

You'll Need:

any size of canvas

old magazines

scissors

a template of letters or a shape

mod podge

foam brush

small paint

Start by cutting out colorful pieces from magazines.  Arrange them to cover the entire canvas.

Glue each piece of paper to the canvas with mod podge (using your foam brush) and then cover over the top with a coat of mod podge.  Let dry. 

 Then you need to choose a template (the template will be colorful, everything around it will be 1 color of paint).  I chose a rooster, because my sister Jordan did her kitchen in roosters.  I printed this from the internet and blew it up to the size I wanted, then cut it out.

I placed the template on top of the colorful canvas and started painting (using white or ivory colored paint gives a great contrast) with my foam brush.  After painting the entire canvas, I peeled up the template and the colorful shape of the rooster was underneath!  One option you can choose to give it an aged or hen-scratched look you can sandpaper a few areas of the painted canvas.