In my last post, I finished up my Get 'er Done challenge by finally completing a painting I started more than a year ago. This, unfortunately was not the only project I left undone for an inordinate amount of time.
Y'all know that I miss my girl Donna from Paintology 101, a paint and sip from back home, and I frequently "steal" ideas from whatever her painting classes are working on (she doesn't care; she misses me too). A while back, her class did this decoupage painting (see sample above). I'd never done this type of decoupage before so I got out my homemade Mod Podge, an old book that ALREADY had pages torn and missing when it was given to me, an unused 16x20 inch stretched canvas and some acrylic paint.
Gluing down the torn pages of the book wasn't difficult, but I didn't let them dry long enough before trying to put the top coat of glue on, so some of the paper pieces shifted and had to be cut off or glued down again.
After putting down the base coat of paint, I hated it. I tried to make the hair like the sample, but it didn't turn out well, plus I made her neck way too thick. Well, I also painted her butt too big, but she is a sister. I was also unsure of what I was going to do about the flowers. Of course, the sample looked good, but I wasn't confident that I could paint the flowers well. So I ceased production on this project and put it in the closet for nearly a year.
A couple of weeks ago, I got the project back out and repainted it with more detailed shading. I reshaped the hair (which hid her football player neck). Now for the flowers. I wanted roses, which I don't paint very well...yet, so I hunted for a tutorial on making paper roses (I have some scrapbooking / card making supplies). I found this:
I loved her simple explanation and caught on immediately. I made the 3 inch roses in several colors and hot glued them to the painting.
I think she turned out great. I'm going to hang this in my vanity area.
Now, an episode of "Seven Steps of How NOT to Do a Panting."
Step 1 - Paint a simple bi-color triptych using 3 16x20-inch stretch canvases and hang it over your bed.
Step 2 - Rearrange your room to a more satisfactory configuration which requires moving the triptych that was held together with routinely replaced masking tape from the Dollar Tree.
Step 3 - Get frustrated with the tape not holding the paintings together and them never hanging correctly and get the bright idea that you're going to screw the canvases together with long screws, though you don't have a drill for proper aligned pilot holes and your battery-powered screwdriver is on its last legs and has less drilling torque than you do with a manual screwdriver.
Step 4 - Get the screw stuck in one of the canvases because you screwed it in crookedly (because you have no drill and your screwdriver sucks) and tear your canvas trying to undo the mess you made.
Step 5 - Get frustrated, throw away the torn canvas and put the remaining two in the closet for months. Finally get un-frustrated (or at least tired of seeing the big blank wall space over your bed) and hunt for the same paint color you used so your can repair the mess you made, only to discover that FolkArt has discontinued that color (insert cuss word of choice here). Go to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby and buy about 4 different colors of paint trying to match it, only to discover none of them match (insert another cuss word here).
Step 6 - Settle on a color that's close enough. Go to Harbor Freight (not a sponsor) and buy a new electric screwdriver and a tacker/staple gun. Pull out the two remaining canvases to reuse them, only to discover that one of them was also torn. Angrily throw away the torn one, repaint the remaining one plus two new ones, not care that it's not exactly like the one you messed up, staple them together properly and hang them over your bed without incident.
Step 7 - Relax and enjoy!
