Pin-fluenced: Seasons of Love

During last spring when I was knee-deep in lectures and tests, Pinterest was my solace (and maybe also my demise).  Inspirations abounded - recipes for muffins, soups, all things homemade, dyi projects... it was an endless sea of distractions seemed like so much more fun than reading a Cell paper for class.

At that time, one of the most popular pins was the "365 Days of Happiness" painting by QiQi.  

The freshness and ease of the art appealed to me - the high price-tag of $365 did not.  Seriously Etsy sellers?!  I understand that artistic talents are rare and to be valued, that its hard to make a living as an artist, that every piece is born out of the labor of love... but $365?  

As a frugal (and resourceful) graduate student in need of some apartment decor and much inspired by the painting I stumbled on Pinterest, I decided it was going to be my project for 2012.  "If I couldn't accomplish anything else except this painting for the entire 2012 year, I would consider 2012 a success" - I announced this to anyone who would listen.  

Supplies were collected in various trips to Michael's Crafts Store and Wal-Mart during March 2012.  Then one day, out of the blue, when I least planned to paint, my project came to life.

Project supplies

1. Paint roller: $3
2. Four 12 x 24 stretched canvas: $30 total
3. Various acrylic paints: ~$15
4. Cheapo paint brushes: $4

I also bought plastic material to protect the carpet of my apartment - a wise $2 investment as my paint roller definitely skipped off the canvas several times.

Background done

The first order of business was to lay down the foundation on the canvas.  I liked the color scheme of the original painting and wanted to match it, but it came out a bit more vibrant than I would have preferred.  Getting the gradient going was tricky.  In my first attempt with the pink panel, I began with the most saturated end and lightened the hue with a combination of water and white paint.  Alas, the panel was too short and my paint roller had too much pigment left that the canvas looked all the same color.  With much effort in rinsing out the roller and mixing white painting with the pink, I managed to make it less stark as the bottom end.  For the other three panels I learned my lesson and started at the lighter end and worked my way to the darker end.  Ironically the part I had imagined to be the easiest/fastest turned out to require the most time and effort.  In the end, I think I gave up trying to make the colors blend better; I would have preferred a better gradient with the colors being more muted and subdued, but nevertheless, the project continued.

Using a disposable dish as a paint tray

After the background finished drying, I began my favorite part - painting in the trees and leaves.  I also thought this part was a cinch since I doodle flowers and leaves all the time, and truly this part was most enjoyable.  However, the black acrylic paint I had was part of a kit and the texture was very thick - it did not lend it self to creating fluid tree limbs that I had imagined.  Instead this thick paint skipped every few centimeters, causing me to re-paint the line, which made limbs that looked thick and unnatural.  Note to self: don't count on the black acrylic paint in cheap kits from Wal-Mart to create the centerpiece of your painting.  I ended up buying another black acrylic paint and going over the limbs again to make it look more fluid.

Limbs and birds done

On my kitchen table adding in leaves 

Leaves were painted by mixing colors of the same scheme together.  This part was very easy and intuitive to me, though I made a boo-boo with the random leaf at the neck of the main tree trunk.  I tried covering it up with other paints but the dark color wouldn't allow it.

More leaves

After painting in all the leaves, I still felt something was missing so I went back with white paint and created small flowers with petals the same pattern as the leaves.  This filled in some of the empty spaces and made the painting more lively to me.

The completed project 

I also painted a thin layer of clear varnish over the finished panels to protect the acrylic from deteriorating over time and to provide some gloss. 

H kindly mounted my proud achievement on the wall 

The completion of my project took the entire day - I started in the early afternoon and was still painting in leaves and flowers by midnight.  Though not perfect and impeccable as the one by QiQi, I'm quite happy every time at the finished results.  The quirks in it are less and less apparent as the sum of the whole is really a product of love.  And I suppose if success was measured by my grossly shortsighted list of accomplishments for 2012, then last year was a total success!