What Is Black And White And Red All Over?

The answer is: My new painting. 

I have a really long red wall in my bedroom across from my bed which has been calling out to me for some decorations.  I wanted something cool to look at, so I decided to paint a large canvas 36 X 48.  There were of course so many options, so many directions I could have gone in, but then I was inspired.  Because my bedroom is red, white and gold, I didn't feel that bringing in more colors would look good.  I wanted a predominately white painting.  I settled on modern, abstract art.  I used several different brush sizes and I used acrylic paint.  Here is the final result (I think).

Another view.

I don't think it is obvious just looking at the painting for the first time, but there is a theme or rather a pattern.  Can you tell what it is?  Keep thinking about it while I show you some texture and a close up of my favorite section.

Okay, since my blog is about telling you how I accomplish my projects, I will start from the beginning.  Have you guessed yet what the theme is?  The idea just popped into my head, blame it on Gucci and Louis Vuitton monogramming:  the painting is made of equal amounts of my initials IG layered and layered on top of each other in white, black and red. I very much wanted texture and heavier areas of paint.  Here is the progression of the layers.  I would love to know what you think of the final product, good or bad, comment below.  Layer one and two.

I really liked this stage, especially what was going on at the bottom on the left side, but it was still too obvious that I was painting I's and G's so I kept going.  Almost there.

And the final product, back to the first shot I posted above.  Now you can't help but look for the letters, right?  That's okay, they blend in much more which was my aim.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for MORE CREATIVITY!

The Flowers That Bloom In the Spring, Tra La

I like to take pictures of flowers really close up, who doesn't?  Macro photography is another hobby of mine.  Example:

I wanted to use my photography in my decor.  I had one of my photos blown up on canvas by www.chiccanvas.com to the largest size they had 30 x 40. I wanted to put this canvas centered over my couch ("well, what would you do?").  So I did, but it just wasn't big enough for the wall and I wasn't satisfied.  I love the colors but something was missing.  So I thought and I thought and then it occurred to me, I love diamonds and gemstones, I use it as part of my decor, so why not bling up the canvas!  Here's what the canvas looks like on the wall before I got crafty.

See what I mean?  The proportion is all wrong.  Though my lovely white side tables and green lamps are really cool.  (excuse the sheet on the couch, have kitty need sheet)

So I made a floating bling frame to go around the canvas and here's how I did it.  First I measured of course and figured out how big I wanted the frame to be.  Then I went on to ebay and found square flat backed foil backed acrylic rhinestones that were 12mm.  I bought 2000 of those suckers for almost nothing, thank you ebay!  I then went to home goods and found white pre-painted 8 foot pieces of wood that were 3 inches wide (12mm pieces would fit in 5 rows) and 1 inch deep.  I have a hand saw, nothing fancy, that I used to cut the wood into 4 pieces.  2 longer ones and 2 shorter ones.  I then went back to home depot and found brackets and wood screws so I could join the 4 pieces in the back so it would be rock solid and invisible.  I joined the pieces - 2 long pieces on the right and left and the 2 shorter ones on top and on bottom to make the frame size I wanted.  Then I painted the whole thing silver using acrylic paint.  Then using Elmer's clear glue, I glued down 1800 individual 12mm square rhinestones, one by one and made sure they were in even lines.  This took several sessions over a few days. After it dried, I hung it up on the wall around my canvas and here's what it looks like now in all of it's AWESOMENESS!!!

Doesn't it make the wall pop!  Here is a closeup so you can see more detail.

More bling later.....

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more creativity!