Okay, so I technically did most of this project on December 30th, but since I still did some touch-ups, re-sizing, and framing in 2012, I’m counting it towards my 2012 projects! Besides, I need some momentum on this goal, otherwise I’ll lose hope and fall behind. And with that, I give you my very first DIY project of 2012: a painted poster!
I got my inspiration for this project from Elise Blaha (don’t click the link unless you feel like falling down the rabbit hole of her blog for a few hours) who did a larger, more elegant version that used song lyrics and a real canvas. I’d had this saying/motto/phrase of “follow your bliss” floating around in my head for a few days, so one quiet, snowy afternoon I decided to make a print of it.
If it’s your first time “paint-writing”, as it was mine, I would follow in Elise’s footsteps. She recommends doing each word with only one dab of paint to start: that way your handwriting style is preserved, even if the lettering is very faint and wispy. Then go back a second time with a careful brush to make it dark and solid. This system worked very well for me.
I would also suggest doing a rough draft or two to get a feel for writing with paint, and to hone the shapes of your letters. I made two identical prints, but the second one turned out a little better, a little cleaner, so I went with it and stuck the first one to my little sister’s door. I hope she likes it.
I used an old brush we had lying around at home, I can’t tell you the exact size of it but I can say that when fully fanned out, it took up the width of the letters in my painting. The paint was black acrylic, and I painted on old off-white sketching paper that I cut in half to make this poster. The print turned out to be about 11 x 8, so I framed it in a plain black document holder (11 x 14) from Deserres.
It’s hanging above my bed to colour my dreams full of happy, lovely thoughts!
This was a really easy, fun DIY project, and I love the way it looks hanging on my wall. I have so much white space in my apartment, it makes me want to make more DIY art and cover my walls with it!
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One of my 2012 goals is to do 10 DIY projects this year, this is the first! To see my other goals and my progress, click here.
