Revamping Tired Art

As I type this, HM is painting our DIY feature wall we have been working on all week (say tuned). It is a one person job so he is in the tented area that used to be our hallway, spraying his way to victory. He is already a begrudging participant in anything DIY, so I figured that if I were to take a nap while he was painting, it would not go over well. So I decided to attempt a project that has been on my to-do list for a while.

HM is in there spray painting his heart out.

I LOVE having original art in my house. I purchase it whenever the price is right. Sometimes the price is right at the DI/Goodwill. Often those thrifted gems are a little sad looking and the colors are not quite right. I decided to turn a recent $1 find into something I would actually want to hang on my walls.


the almost BEFORE PICTURE:

I had already started on the pinks in the top left
and some of the medium blues before I remembered to take a photo.
Oh and a bit of white on the vase. 

AFTER PHOTO:

Doing this project yourself is easy. Start with a painting that needs a face lift. Grab some acrylic paint and start making "blobs" over the original. I wanted it to look like a paint by number since blending/shading requires more skills than I have. This method of painting is fairly forgiving so just go for it. Also (since I am stuck in my office while Michael is painting the wall) I did all of this with 4 colors and some tinting with water color paint that I had in my desk. Not bad huh?


Here are the vintage 1960's paint by numbers hanging in my office.

This was a really fun little project (which is more than HM can say) and I can't wait to find more "treasures" at the DI!!!!! I think it captured the whole "paint by number" look. This was also a test because I would like to do a full wall mural in our guestroom but I wanted to make sure I could create this type of art before going hog wild on an entire wall. I am feeling good about it!