Ombre
I believe they call it THE DOG DAYS of SUMMER! And it's hit at my new gallery so today to keep myself occupied I decided to rework a flea market find.
I had picked up the table with the hopes of leaving it as is and selling it as a coffee table but upon closer inspection it needed some work. (sorry no pic of this stage)
Yesterday I came across a line of chalk paint that I hadn't seen before at Joann's. I grabbed 3 colors and decided to use the light blue/grey on the flea market find and have a chance to test out a new paint line.
It seemed a bit boring and I was in the mood to have some fun and experiment. I started by measuring and taping out a herringbone pattern but I must have gotten the measurements wrong because it looked very OFF.
So off came the tape and then my brain switched to stripes...chunky, cabana like stripes was my thought.
Most of my painting supplies are at home in the "workshop" so I was left with linen white, old white and the 2 blues that are on the gallery walls. The light shade seemed too light and the dark, well you get the picture and that's when I got the idea to create an OMBRE effect with the 2 blue shades.
I measured 4 inches from the end and then layed down one piece of tape, and repeated. Turns out the stripes are not centered on the piece but I kinda like that.
I had picked up the table with the hopes of leaving it as is and selling it as a coffee table but upon closer inspection it needed some work. (sorry no pic of this stage)
Yesterday I came across a line of chalk paint that I hadn't seen before at Joann's. I grabbed 3 colors and decided to use the light blue/grey on the flea market find and have a chance to test out a new paint line.
It seemed a bit boring and I was in the mood to have some fun and experiment. I started by measuring and taping out a herringbone pattern but I must have gotten the measurements wrong because it looked very OFF.
So off came the tape and then my brain switched to stripes...chunky, cabana like stripes was my thought.
Most of my painting supplies are at home in the "workshop" so I was left with linen white, old white and the 2 blues that are on the gallery walls. The light shade seemed too light and the dark, well you get the picture and that's when I got the idea to create an OMBRE effect with the 2 blue shades.
I measured 4 inches from the end and then layed down one piece of tape, and repeated. Turns out the stripes are not centered on the piece but I kinda like that.
The key is to start with the darkest shade and once that stripe (center) was painted I dipped the same brush into the light shade and by painting it mixes the two colors. There is no mixing! And then for the last (2 outer stripes) I took a piece of paper towel and wiped off the brush as best I could before re-dipping onto the light shade.
It's important to remove the painters tape when the paint is still wet. Sometimes (like today) some of that base coat pulls up with the tape. I just use a small brush to touch up as best as I can.
Tomorrow once its good and dry I will do some distressing with my sand paper. And then either a coat of flat poly or clear wax to give it some protection.
I've got another painting experiment in the works at the gallery. If it works out I will share a post on that too!
Happy dog days of summer everyone!
Comments
Post a Comment