Working on a nice design for a Christmas sign.
Sorry, this one is still a work in progress. The reason I took this picture of an unfinished project, in the first place, was to see if I could notice any 'shaky' areas of painting, i.e., any lines that need to be straightened up and looking for areas of the design that need to be balanced better. Sometimes you have to add more design to get the right balance, etc. When I'm painting in such detail and looking closely for hours and hours, I lose a little perspective. So standing back, taking a picture or just leaving a project for a day and coming back later gives it a fresh look. So, yes, I definitely have some straightening to do!!
The 'Christmas' graphic is from The Graphics Fairy. This is the original Graphic...
I have adapted it, a little, from the original to suit the sign. I have a large typography file on my computer, so I looked for the perfect style for the word 'Merry', printed it out and transferred it to the sign in the same manner as I did for the large graphic.
It does take a long time to paint freehand especially when you're doing line art, but it's worth it in the end...and very satisfying :)
The background is crackled, using an undercoat of dark brown and ivory over the top. I can never get a good coat of paint over the crackling medium...it's always streaked and 'gloppy' in certain places. I've come to the realization that I'm never going to get it right, so I adapt. After it's dry, I just go over it again until I get a nice, even coat. I know you're not supposed to do this, because it defeats the purpose, but on most of the signs you can still see part of the crackling and you can always 'rough' it up after it's done by sanding or chipping away some paint in select areas. Maybe you can tell in this picture.
After the lettering is completed, I'll add a holly sprig at the top and put some mica flakes over just the sprig. I'd like to be able to finish this soon so I can show you, but have to take a short break to finish some other customer orders......hope you remember to check back!
If you have a little more time, there is a really cute Halloween sign that I painted and that you can see in the previous post....just scroll down.
Thanks for stopping by!
It does take a long time to paint freehand especially when you're doing line art, but it's worth it in the end...and very satisfying :)
The background is crackled, using an undercoat of dark brown and ivory over the top. I can never get a good coat of paint over the crackling medium...it's always streaked and 'gloppy' in certain places. I've come to the realization that I'm never going to get it right, so I adapt. After it's dry, I just go over it again until I get a nice, even coat. I know you're not supposed to do this, because it defeats the purpose, but on most of the signs you can still see part of the crackling and you can always 'rough' it up after it's done by sanding or chipping away some paint in select areas. Maybe you can tell in this picture.
After the lettering is completed, I'll add a holly sprig at the top and put some mica flakes over just the sprig. I'd like to be able to finish this soon so I can show you, but have to take a short break to finish some other customer orders......hope you remember to check back!
If you have a little more time, there is a really cute Halloween sign that I painted and that you can see in the previous post....just scroll down.
Thanks for stopping by!
