seeing spots

We don't have a lot of art in our house.<br /><br />Correction.<br /><br />We have a lot of the crayon/marker/glue and dried pasta variety. However, we don't have a lot of grown-up art. Tons of pictures, a few prints and one etching (fancy I know) but not much art to speak of.<br /><br />So I find it funny that I have a <a href="http://pinterest.com/ladybaum/art/" target="_blank">whole board on Pinterest</a> dedicated to that very thing. Lots of paintings - abstract, landscapes etc. A whole bunch of things I absolutely love but would never in a million years be able to create not to mention the fact that they aren't very budget friendly.<br /><br />But what good is Pinterest if it doesn't inspire you to get off your arse once in a while and try something new. Can I get an amen?<br /><br />So with a <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/04/gotta-know-when-to-fold-em.html" target="_blank">perfect blank slate</a> just waiting to be 'arted' (I don't think that is a word but I am here by declaring it a verb. I'll alert Webster's.) I decided to give it a shot.<br /><br />I've always loved this painting by <a href="http://www.damienhirst.com/opium" target="_blank">Damien Hirst (<i>Opium</i>)</a>. So with the <strike>ignorance</strike> confidence of a novice I uttered those famous 5 words, "how hard could it be?"<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQu4MTLjXSdFCGphz2M5x-Z2cZQq8YXH5da9tqMj_pHPXI_j0BK2scHcQp__BsAleG9IonMkNQKfb1tnjid3tefQ4_gA_VkaZkdoaFFb6FYlOKT-vEol7GMMD_gJmnpDshtV5jlkDmNHv/s1600/style-profile-luis-bustamante.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQu4MTLjXSdFCGphz2M5x-Z2cZQq8YXH5da9tqMj_pHPXI_j0BK2scHcQp__BsAleG9IonMkNQKfb1tnjid3tefQ4_gA_VkaZkdoaFFb6FYlOKT-vEol7GMMD_gJmnpDshtV5jlkDmNHv/s640/style-profile-luis-bustamante.jpeg" width="476" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.luisbustamante.com/ingles/main.html#/Home" target="_blank">Luis Bustamante</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/6896205649371889/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></td></tr></tbody></table>I went to Michael's with my coupons and a list of colors I wanted to use. First big break, the canvas was on sale. I went with a 16x20 so as not to overwhelm myself with a big vast white board screaming 'ok, so make me beautiful ms. know-it-all.'<br /><br />Picking out the paint colors was a huge time suck. Apparently I don't craft enough as I had no idea how many shades of every color in the rainbow there was in the world of craft paint. Luckily at $.60 a bottle, I stayed within my meager budget. Two packs of small round stencil sponge brushes to create my circles and I was armed and read to create.<br /><br />Maybe it was the fumes from all of the craft paint but I was psyched. I couldn't wait for nap time so I could get to work.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fITYZf31qbcp5GwYbyZKsxZStsOvhcy4zEKYER75O6Uy1GqqBFNmruZ7wywU16EaUFuDyDr9WRdcQd2w72Poh4zHGwK_qADjeE_PEFjTpzODwETiJmAARXwcvv6330whDbKK1WQ_ueuD/s1600/P4125937.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_fITYZf31qbcp5GwYbyZKsxZStsOvhcy4zEKYER75O6Uy1GqqBFNmruZ7wywU16EaUFuDyDr9WRdcQd2w72Poh4zHGwK_qADjeE_PEFjTpzODwETiJmAARXwcvv6330whDbKK1WQ_ueuD/s640/P4125937.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>In order to keep those perfect lines I figured a grid pattern would do the trick. With the very thin painters tape left over from my <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/02/shirt-turned-tray.html" target="_blank">tray</a>, I first made all of my horizontal lines using a piece of tape as my spacer. Then, I repeated the same process vertically.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiLaWO7RiBuh6_mg41MzV_UHG0lv4knMrBzB9pXuvqsLiyrK-kF3fwRgLWa97tfAnRnRowiXT4aayyRlCdkSLjV6PJXp2gQBNLsnrAKsEc2C80qZTn0mqWk6p5RxcfUrzs9NakCVoy8NG/s1600/P4105897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiLaWO7RiBuh6_mg41MzV_UHG0lv4knMrBzB9pXuvqsLiyrK-kF3fwRgLWa97tfAnRnRowiXT4aayyRlCdkSLjV6PJXp2gQBNLsnrAKsEc2C80qZTn0mqWk6p5RxcfUrzs9NakCVoy8NG/s640/P4105897.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Although it made a lovely gingham pattern, the squares were just a bit too small for my spongy circle things. Big bummer.<br /><br />Attempt number two. I used my wide painters tape for my spacer...and that was a total bust. That tape was too wide and I only got a few rows in.<br /><br />Third time is a charm. I put two pieces of the thin painters tape together, overlapping them slightly and used that for my spacer. Just right. Do I sound like goldilocks?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pEqZ-_bIVznSZsrjijXa2j9egMHs5L_AlVrQHYG9GLQIXlCS1QQWdEXvEOKqKANyCqvOxr1IUXyYv9o9hAIRzU6bgB8oXTso6_d8c6kz8Yx2E-Cmc7waL6MY7tc4gwVTdVbmZ8wRGvgo/s1600/P4105899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-pEqZ-_bIVznSZsrjijXa2j9egMHs5L_AlVrQHYG9GLQIXlCS1QQWdEXvEOKqKANyCqvOxr1IUXyYv9o9hAIRzU6bgB8oXTso6_d8c6kz8Yx2E-Cmc7waL6MY7tc4gwVTdVbmZ8wRGvgo/s640/P4105899.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>With some old cardboard I made myself a little painters palet and got to work. At first I thought about trying to follow the colors in the original painting dot for dot. But that would have driven me bonkers. So I went random.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQr41ecH5EgMBS8MpIcRrLdHpxLvUmwRn3JkZWmfTK-rz6Dcs4Un7qRFOpPbBNVPg6SkBRyUietBbOCTHVo7D4difA3g1l0LuXPyw5rb22_tgVvgUpJFioKC5A5Ba2I2p_hLKxf9guIex/s1600/P4105900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQr41ecH5EgMBS8MpIcRrLdHpxLvUmwRn3JkZWmfTK-rz6Dcs4Un7qRFOpPbBNVPg6SkBRyUietBbOCTHVo7D4difA3g1l0LuXPyw5rb22_tgVvgUpJFioKC5A5Ba2I2p_hLKxf9guIex/s640/P4105900.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Starting with one color, I would fill in 3 random squares. (I don't know why I picked 3). Then, move to the next color. I went thru the whole rainbow, doing 3 squares of each color before starting over again with the first color. Repeating this over and over until I got to the last few empty squares. At that point it became a bit of a chess game but turned out pretty well.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ADCe0WLzKky7o3IDmw2XRpvhOhtfwksl410iyuwJki_DABDIqZZM_XVW98ismYhh-FRcj8gjBkHcnuZvgu0l1Yhn1KUzEsZURA_VKXfZRCOOJgMMWCUs8a40cZMshMdgwpqqfUIp9_kF/s1600/P4115904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ADCe0WLzKky7o3IDmw2XRpvhOhtfwksl410iyuwJki_DABDIqZZM_XVW98ismYhh-FRcj8gjBkHcnuZvgu0l1Yhn1KUzEsZURA_VKXfZRCOOJgMMWCUs8a40cZMshMdgwpqqfUIp9_kF/s640/P4115904.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Some of the circles got a little wonky and aren't exactly uniform, but I kind of like that actually. Because really, what in my house isn't a little wonky and not exactly uniform?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQPATNd0-bKVqGv9wvbQFFyqb2O6GLFHBFBPFkSgF5iR4y0kmsMZOKiXQNgFBfH7jhkHBW4cWuPhGKry8gD-_mhKwysCgY8zciq8s7QV7QDH-cDyrnAHP3T08b_UFRr5XNgTlVhLMeQK9/s1600/P4125930.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQPATNd0-bKVqGv9wvbQFFyqb2O6GLFHBFBPFkSgF5iR4y0kmsMZOKiXQNgFBfH7jhkHBW4cWuPhGKry8gD-_mhKwysCgY8zciq8s7QV7QDH-cDyrnAHP3T08b_UFRr5XNgTlVhLMeQK9/s640/P4125930.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>The whole project only took about an hour (would have been shorter if I didn't have to tape and retape) and was under $20. A great deal I would say.<br /><br />Have you attempted to recreate a piece you've seen on Pinterest?

seeing spots

We don't have a lot of art in our house. Correction. We have a lot of the crayon/marker/glue and dried pasta variety. However, we don...

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