There were a lot of ugly walls when we moved into the old house. The color was scary – a soft yellow/off-white color throughout the house, made worse by the fact that the previous tenant was a heavy smoker (and smoked inside). Things were less than ideal. While we brought in a lot of things (pictures, posters, some cool candelabras) and painted several walls (see chalkboard paint post, coming soon), there was one corner we really couldn’t get to: a wall that followed the staircase down to the basement. Too far from the upper level to reach easily, and far too high to paint from the stairs, the wall continued into the kitchen, near the oven, and was broken by several windows. In other words, far too complicated to paint without hiring a professional (which we weren’t keen on, money-wise) and far too large a portion of the house to let remain in ugliness! The solution came from a happy accident. I was painting my balls (see post) in the basement and spilled a big pot of red paint. You can’t exactly sweep paint so it was either use or let waste. I used. I grabbed a canvas I had nearby, among several I had just bought, and did a kind of curving shape on it, from one side curling around to another. Liking that shape, and seeing the other canvases handy, I immediately thought “big picture” and grabbed a second canvas where the curling red shape would continue to swirl over from the first to the second. Doing this I loved the way they looked next to each other, but they felt “not done”. And there were swirls that went off these canvases that led to nothing. So I grabbed two more canvases and continued the same. The result: a pattern of four canvases, in pairs slightly offset from one another, that create a single piece with red tubes slithering from one canvas to the next to the third and back. I not only used all the spilled paint, but filled 4 canvases, creating a piece I never would have in other circumstances. And, being 4 big canvases, it just happened to cover a good portion of that ugly ugly wall! I’m curious to keep changing this up here and in future places as all four canvases can be rotated (all have to rotate the same way) new directions to create slightly new views of the whole. Finished piece, but still loads of possibilities. The solution came from a happy accident. I was painting my balls (see post) in the basement and spilled a big pot of red paint. You can’t exactly sweep paint so it was either use or let waste. I used. I grabbed a canvas I had nearby, among several I had just bought, and did a kind of curving shape on it, from one side curling around to another. Liking that shape, and seeing the other canvases handy, I immediately thought “big picture” and grabbed a second canvas where the curling red shape would continue to swirl over from the first to the second. Doing this I loved the way they looked next to each other, but they felt “not done”. And there were swirls that went off these canvases that led to nothing. So I grabbed two more canvases and continued the same. The result: a pattern of four canvases, in pairs slightly offset from one another, that create a single piece with red tubes slithering from one canvas to the next to the third and back. I not only used all the spilled paint, but filled 4 canvases, creating a piece I never would have in other circumstances. And, being 4 big canvases, it just happened to cover a good portion of that ugly ugly wall! After living on the stairs for two years, the bottom two paintings got a little fuffed and dirty (which you can see pretty clearly above!). So I added some color over the white area and am actually much happier with the piece now!
I’m curious to keep changing this up here and in future places as all four canvases can be rotated (all have to rotate the same way) new directions to create slightly new views of the whole. Finished piece, but still loads of possibilities.
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These three décor pieces were given to me by a friend who was moving and didn’t have room for them anymore. Originally they were offwhite balls with wire you could hang them by, and light bulbs running down into the balls to light them up. The plugs on the light cords were busted and I didn’t know how to fix them so I just tossed those parts and decided to use the balls by themselves. But to do that, they needed a little bit of spicing up. I’d just found this gorgeous blood red paint and had some wonderful chrome spray paint left over. So I sprayed the balls with the chrome and did different things with the red. I love the clash of those two colors. For the first one I flipped the ball upside down and poured the red on it, letting it glob and drip down. When it hangs, it looks like the red is slowly seeping up the sides. For the second ball I put tape all over the piece in different shapes and lengths, then painted the entire piece red. While the red dried, I traced thru the wet paint with the blunt end of a paintbrush, which scraped off thin lines where the silver could show thru. Once the who thing dried, I removed the pieces of paint, letting the silver show thru where it had been covered. This layering technique is one of my favorites to do.
For the third ball I left it mostly silver and just did splashes and spatters of red. All in all they’re a little creepy, violent even. But I like them. DMS did a homemade jewelry hanger from a pegboard a while back. Painted the peg board blue, gold, and this lovely melon color. I fell in love with the melon and blue together. One night I had a dream about blue and green bubbles and then I woke up and made this. All kinds of bright color and I love them together. I sell a lot of my paintings on my ETSY shop. And for each painting I make up a ridiculous story; you can see the one for PINK BUBBLES here. I think it’s fun. It’s loosely (looser than Heidi Fleiss) based on a true story. What do you think? |