Mr. Whimsy

I love owls and have had the pleasure of seeing a few of them in my backyard. Ever since my Grandma passed away (about 9 months ago), there has been an owl that frequently hoots and flys by me when I am outside. My son, Carson and I decided it's probably Grammy watching over us. And that makes us happy!  Owls are very popular right now in all different shapes, sizes, colors, mediums...AND, because of Grammy, I wanted one in my house, too!

Inspiration: These Pier One prints...

I liked the colors & idea, but didn't like it in person. It's a print on gallery wrapped canvas, but it looks just like that...a print. The cost was $40, I think. My way of thinking...I can go buy a canvas on sale and make my own painting! So...I DID!

Making it "More Personal/ Unique": 

Like I said above, the colors and image were the appeal for me. I had a specific wall that I wanted to hang a painting, so I decided to choose colors that would be complementary with my room.  The "canvas" I chose is actually a 16 x 20 hard wood with a canvas front, so I can draw on it (you'll see)! AND, it was on clearance for $14!

The Process:

I begin by taping off my background design by tearing strips of painters tape & making my favorite harlequin pattern. 

Then, I sketch in my owl design.

I start to paint on my base colors...

Then, peel off the tape. Right now, it looks pretty flat and boring. No depth and pretty simple. So far, I have spent about a total of 4 hours on this.

Next, comes the FUN PART: Drawing the designs!

Owls have sooo much pattern and detail in their feathers , and even though this one is more cartoonish/ graphic/ abstract, I wanted him to have a complex amount of detail. Sharpies are the best!!! I have about 3 different sizes of tips, so they work great and sooo much easier than using those graphic pens that I used in college that you have to fill & clean & unclog...you get what I'm saying.  This part of the process took about 3 more hours.

I wanted to give the background design a little more depth, so I mixed complementary colors (lilac for the yellow and red for the green) with a blending gel so that I could smudge on the color with a sponge and wipe off what I didn't want on it.

I filled in the rest of my designs.

Then, I painted the sides black, making sure to dry brush some black paint along all of the edges on the front. The last 2 steps maybe took 2 hours.

I signed & dated it, sprayed it with a couple of coats of matte polyurethane and...

HERE IT IS!

"Mr. Whimsy"

And, in my room...

And, another close-up! :)

Materials: 16x20 canvas covered board & paints & misc. materials = $24

Time Spent: 9 hours total (spaced out over a week's time) @ $10/hr. = $90

Asking Price for a Custom Piece (if I were to sell it): $114

To read more about my "beliefs" on artwork and pricing, click on this link Anything Artsy  at the top of my "pieces of me" blog!

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