Canvas # 2

this past weekend i took the plunge and tackled the larger canvas that i mentioned in this post. here's one pics of the process - the kitchen island is very colorful now! (lest you think i am careless, this kitchen is from 1982 and the top of the island already has many stains. it's not salvageable and it's on our list to redo one day.)

this canvas measures 22x28 so there was a lot more space to paint than the little 9x12 one i did first. it was a little intimidating having all of that blank surface staring back at me! painting this time went a little differently - i started out in one direction, hated it, and ended up doing a 180. i changed colors completely and painted over everything i didn't like. but here's the finished product!

sometimes it's hard to decide where to hang art but for whatever reason, i immediately knew where this was going. originally this was the spot of the three chair prints which have since been hung elsewhere and look so much better in their new home (will show in a separate post).

i think it works here for a couple reasons, 1. the colors warm up the glass and metal console and 2. the modern art is a great contrast to the burleigh plates at the bottom. opposites attract (paula said so) which i always try to keep in mind when doing any design project.

opinion needed - is it too low? i am debating moving it one inch higher which would be quite easy because i hung it using command strips! i did have it about 3 inches higher and it was definitely too high. i also nailed on a little picture hanger on the back.

for anyone who's interested, here are some tips that i'll pass along but if you're a painter, these will probably sound elementary -

• buy a lot of white paint! i went through white at least 10 times the rate of any of the other colors. 
• i used basics - red, yellow, blue, green, white and black which meant a lot of mixing colors. the paints have intense pigment so a little goes a lot way (hence the need for lots of white!).
• i used basic acrylic paint from liquitex. i was originally going to use oil paints but i quickly found out that those are much more expensive and not justified for my purposes.
• i also bought winsor & newton paints in colors outside the basics - pale lavender, pale olive, bright orange, and sky blue. but i found that i really liked to mix my paints so i ended up not using these "pre-mixed" colors in the end.
• invest in decent brushes - i went the cheap route and ended up picking brush hairs off of my canvases.
• lastly, if i can do this, you can do this!