Winter Berries on Canvas
December 8, 2010
I took a painting class years ago and it taught me one truth: I have very limited skills when it comes to recreating an image with paint on a canvas. Grrrr, how I struggled with my first (and only) still life. (Never never never again will I torture myself with a still life!!!) Ugh. One thing the art class did do for this left brain lawyer was kick the right side of my brain in gear and it forced me to get creative on canvas! As a result, now and then I find it therapeutic to create little pieces of art for my home.
Last year, I made this little winter berries canvas, and never posted any sort of ‘how to’, mostly because I didn’t think it was so great. After bringing it out again this year, I realized I really do love it! I was a fun and simple painting, and the little berries popping off the canvas are a fun backdrop to a holiday vignette.
After some gentle prodding by several readers (and actually finding those darn pictures from last year) I’m offering up the quick play by play. As with any non paint-by-numbers art project, you need to go with how you feel, what looks right to you because the beauty of art is its subjective nature. That said, this is the technique that worked for me!
The first thing I did was grab a faux berries swag from my local craft store plus a small white canvas, a few bottles of craft paint (sky blue, silver, burnt umber and black) and some brushes.
Next came two coats of simple sky blue paint.
A mixture of burnt umber and black together formed the color of the branches. I painted them free hand in an asymmetric design, then glazed some silver paint over the canvas for a subtle sheen.
I added ‘snow’ by dabbing a few lines of tacky glue across the branches, then dusting them with white glitter.
Then I snipped a few red berries off that faux branch, and attached them with more tacky glue . . .
Finally, I dusted the berries with a few more dabs of glue topped off with glitter . . .
It changes throughout the day, blue in daylight, gray in softer light, I like that.
You can see the ‘bluer’ side of it behind our manzanita advent tree from last year.
I’m getting excited for Sarah’s Christmas Tree link party tomorrow as we finish up the rounds of Holiday Home parties, also hosted by Rhoda and Layla last week.
Also a very big holiday Ho Ho Ho thank you to all who participated in the (still ongoing!) Christmas Craft Link Party!!! There are over 500 inspirational links there, be sure to check them out! You peeps are just so creative, I love it!
See you tomorrow with (hopefully) decent shots of our tree . . . and just so you know, I did something kinda crazy this year, something I’ve never done before. I actually bought a flocked tree. Aaaaaaahhhh!!!! If Elaine Benes were here, she’d push me down and holla “GET OUT!”
Seriously, there’s a flocked tree in my house. Who would have thought?
See you tomorrow!
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