I'm not going to lie: I kinda' impresed myslef with this one.
I mentioned in this post that I adored Elise's painting and wanted to do something similiar for my boyfriend's birthday/ Valentine's day. {His birthday is today!!!} Check out how I did it below.
I am in no way a painting pro, but according to Elise it's smart to "prime" the canvas with some watered down white acrylic paint. I have no idea what my paint to water ratio was below but it's safe to say it was more "icky" than "sticky". No help? Google "how to prime a canvas" and I'm sure the interweb will prove to be more helpful.
Speaking of canvas- This was a BIG one. 3ft by 2ft, maybe? {Excuse me, the measuring tape is outside and I'm typing this on a time crunch.} As Elise mentioned, the size really makes this. I'm sure you could do something similiar with a a smaller scale but big is fun.
After everything was primed, I had to wait (overnight) for it to dry. While I was waiting, I went ahead and practiced my lettering skills. As it turns out, this was a good idea. I mean, obviously, some of the words above are less than spectaular. In the end, I freehanded it, but only after I had a good idea what the feel of the paint brush was going to be.
The next day I started painting.
And yes- I was scared to start.
I was so nervous that I was going to mess up this super expensive (on a college budget) canvas, but finally just took the plunge. And a quick shout out to my little brother for taking such an artistic shot of me in the middle of the process. Thanks Code!
This is the first run through. It's my handwriting... exagerated.
I'm usually not that expressive with my swooshes.
And yes- "swoosh" is in the official font "how-to" book. {smile}
I went over it another two times, giving it 24 hours to dry between each part. I realized that if I emphasized the left side of the letters and didn't mess with the right side as much it looked more like the painted windows that I grew up seeing around my small town. That made me smile.
The finished product.
Is it perfect? No, not at all.
Is it personal and meaningful and have (what I hope to be) charming imperfections? Yes.
Best of all- the mister likes it. Maybe I'll post a couple pictures once it gets a home on a wall.
Speaking of the mister- I have a birthday get-together in t-minus 61 minutes and I'm still not dressed so wish me luck that I make it!
Oh yeah!! Check out the actual song that inspired the painting below.