More watercolors!

I have a quick post today to make up for rambling so much last time. :)

I made a quote painting with watercolors and a white crayon. 

How to:

On a piece of watercolor paper, use a crayon to write out a quote (or you could draw something as well). The thicker your lines the better. I picked a quote that was too long and didn't press down hard enough with my crayon. Aaron still loved the idea and made one for himself. He learned from my mistake and chose a short quote. 

Paint over the page as you desire. I recommend using the tips I used in my last post about watercolors (with the cardboard and tape and whatnot. But it's up to you.) The paint won't cover the crayon markings! If you do several layers it might start to cover it a little, but you can still read it.

That's it! Short, sweet, and to the point. Although I would like to add I love it when Aaron does arts and crafts with me. :)

Have a wonderful Tuesday! :)

Water Color Silhouettes

As promised, this is not another post about upcycling tin cans! Hooray! Today, I want to show how to make a water color silhouette. It is easy, and doesn't require a whole lot of artistic talent - so don't worry if you don't think you are an artist, you can do this!

For this activity you will need:
-Watercolor paints
-Paintbrush
-Watercolor paper or any sort of heavier weight paper
-masking or painters tape
-cardboard bigger than your paper

My lovely family on the East coast gave me a graduation gift when they visited this past month, and I used some of that money to buy myself a nice watercolor set. For quite some time I have wanted to buy some watercolor paints and I finally felt like I could do so without being frivolous. You don't need a fancy watercolor set to do this, though. Any set will do.

To start off, determine what you want your silhouette to be. I chose a seahorse and traced one onto scrap paper. You can also print something from your computer, use something from a magazine...there are a lot of possibilities.

Cut out your shape, trying to keep as much detail as possible.

Next, trace the shape onto your heavyweight paper using a pencil. You will want your pencil lines to be very light. You can always go back and erase them if to lighten up your lines if you made them too dark. With the tape, secure your paper to the carboard. Sometimes the tape can tear the paper when you pull it back off, so I recommend first putting the tape on something fuzzy - like your shirt - then use it to make the border.

Next, with your paintbrush and some water, get the paper a little bit wet everywhere except inside the silhouette. Next, start painting!

I used blue, green, and purple and varied the intensity of the shade through how much water I also used. After everything was filled in, I went over everything with a layer of blue paint. But that was my personal preference.

Have fun painting! This one we hung up in the bathroom. I think I'm going to paint another one - this time a dolphin. 

Painted Canvas - Abstract Art

I have had an extra canvas I've been waiting to do something with ever since I made the melted crayon painting. The canvases came together in a two pack and I have been wondering what I could do with them.  My fiancé and I were able to decide on a project we could do together. I love it when he does arts and crafts with me. It doesn't happy very often...

Anyway, he liked the idea of painting the canvas with bright colors with random shapes to add some color to the bedroom. To start this project, we used masking tape to create lines and shapes on the canvas.

Once we both agreed we liked how it looked, we started painting. We used two or more coats of paint in each section until he was happy with how it looked. My fiancé  can be even more of a perfectionist that I am!

Once the paint dried, we peeled the masking tape off to reveal the blank, unpainted canvas beneath. I like how it makes the colors stand out more on their own with a bit of a white border around it.We both like how it looks and it brings a lot of color into the room. Now to find or make a few more things to go on the walls...