Do you like to doodle? I love to. Doodling is one of those things that I used to do all of the time, before computers. Before computers and blogs, and Facebook, and Pinterest, and . . . you know.
The last time I doodled it was for sheer therapy, when I painted this lampshade while my brother was hospitalized.
Doodling for Therapy. I think there might be a book in there somewheres.
I started this project because I pulled this denim valance out of my fabric stash. I got it a while back at the thrift store, knowing that I could cut it into pieces and paint some cute wall hangings for little boys’ rooms. Now that I have a real online “shop” I want to paint a variety of things for it.
Before I started painting I wanted to sketch some different ideas. Denim, to me, means cowboys. Mainly because I was raised around cowboys at my parents’ horse stables.
With that nostalgia I knew I wanted some red bandana paisley prints. Years ago, my mom had made bandana aprons for all the girls that worked at the Chalet. I can’t see a red bandana without fond memories. But I wasn’t sure I could actually create the look with paint.
Or at least, create it in a reasonable amount of time, I should say.
I grabbed a scrap of artist canvas and painted a couple of bright red coats on it. Instead of black paint, I used a black Sharpie.
Much easier to doodle with a marker than a paint brush.
Rather than try to make it symmetrical, I figured I could just paint one side and then flip it in Photoshop. That’s what the big white arrow is – my center line.
Oh, how I wish I’d had Photoshop back when I was painting loads of murals. Would’ve saved me so much time with my patterns & templates. As it was, it took me nearly 5 years before I even used patterns at all. I’d paint a sample rendering for the client and when I started on the mural, I’d start from scratch and paint the entire thing all over again. sheesh.
Eventually I found a blueprint copy place and would have my renderings enlarged to scale for the walls. Then I transferred the pattern with graphite paper onto the wall. Easy-peasy. No overhead projector needed.
ANYhoo . . .
After the black doodles, I added white paint here and there. Let that dry, then added some more black markings.
Amazingly, I managed to get the two sides to line up in Photoshop.
Just for fun, I turned it into a square and wound up with a pretty cute bandana print! Now I’m ready to start painting some red bandana squares on the denim valance.
But I wanted more than red bandana for a little boy’s room, right?
So I played around and did this rope . . .
. . . and this antique poster too. I’ll show you how to paint those next time.
I’m not painting the antique poster onto the denim valance though. I have some other ideas for this. I’ll share those with you next time, along with some other cowboy fun.
Colleen
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