Thursday, August 21, 2014

House Update: An artist who can't paint

You guys are pretty familiar with me, so you are aware that the physical art (like painting... drawing... sculpting...) eludes me. I really enjoy painting, but I just haven't ever really had a knack for it, or the time to educate myself until I find a knack. Knowing this about me- you may be surprised to find out that I decided that our living room needed a large piece of artwork... and that I ought to make it myself.

It all started on my whirlwind weekend in Wyoming- we saw this lovely painting at a restaurant and I sort of fell in love with it. "I could do that" I said. And like good family members, the artist clan agreed. They even noted that I could probably purchase a door at Lowes and save myself on the exorbitant cost of pre-stretched canvas. When the BHO came through town a few weeks later, we took her truck and even purchased a door, thus ensuring that I had everything I needed to make a lovely piece of art (except the know-how, of course).







































The smartest disappeared on a business trip, and 3 evenings of painting ensued. At the beginning... it looked like this:









































My first go-round looked like this (which I would later find out was my favorite of the bunch):







And I wasn't sure that was quite what I had in mind (it photographs better than it looked in person... which should tell you something). So I went over it, and ended up with this:




and REALLY hated that. I went over it again... and got this. And then a sinking realization when I remembered that I like graphic design because you can always revert to a previous version:







































And I still wasn't sure. So I flipped the door over (after it had throughly dried) and started again:





And ended up here. This version actually looks better in person than it does on film, which I guess is a win? In all honesty, I wish I had stopped before I added the gold, and just left the blues. Darn you real life, where is your undo button?



I still have some lingering questions about it... but decided this is good enough for now, particularly since each step in the painting process seemed like a step back once it was complete. I have been collecting pieces of inspiration over the last couple of weeks, and think I may buy another door and give it another go... after I practice on a smaller canvas.

Anyone want to do a large, door-sized painting for me? Or maybe give me door painting lessons...?

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