NEWS FROM WORLD: Tutorial - More LARGE IMPACT ART

By now you probably know that I would rather make something than purchase it -- especially when it comes to art. Creating personalized artwork is so easy and FUN! No one will ever have the same piece, you can use whatever colors you like, and when you're done -- you get to post it on your blog (haha)!

Step 1. Gather Your Supplies

Plywood or Medium Density Fiberboard (cut to size)
Gallon of Joint Compound
Putty Knife or Butter Knife
Paint (craft paint, enamel house paint, spray paint -- whatever you choose)
Frame (Optional)
Paint Brush

Step 2. Apply several scoops of the joint compound onto your board. Work it with the putty knife to get it soft and smooth (like they do with ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery).

Step 3. Start to "sculpt" your design. Designs that work well are paisleys, trees -- I'm doing a large starburst design, which is very easy and allows for a lot of color and depth. Just use your putty knife to cut diagonal lines into the compound. You will have about 15 minutes to work with the joint compound before it starts to thicken. If this is not enough time, push all the compound to one area and add a little water to soften it up and then have another go at it. Remember -- not possible to make mistakes -- experiment and have fun.

Step 4. Once you have completed your design, allow it to dry overnight.

Step 5. Start painting. This will be layer one, and may include as many colors as you want. There is no need to allow for any drying between different colors on your first layer, as you are wanting them to fade into each other. After you have your layer one base colors applied in a way that pleases you, THEN ALLOW TO DRY. If you are using craft paint, this should take about an hour.

Step 6. When your first layer base coat is dry, you can start to highlight the dimensions of your artwork. This will emphasize the ridges. Take some white paint on your brush and apply the white paint to the upper ridges. Start with a light hand until you understand the "feel" of it. Follow the direction of the ridge pattern and keep your brush parallel to your artwork for best results. See the images below.

Step 7. Allow the white paint to dry completely. This is beautiful just as it is and could definitely be considered finished, however, I prefer darker pieces. No matter what I paint, it always ends up being dark, which means I need to apply some black, in the same manner I applied the white.

More...

ALMOST THERE...

Note that at this point I did apply more gold in the center of the artwork to balance and offset the black. Remember -- no rules, just make it the way YOU like it!

Step 8. Ask you dog to pose in front of your artwork.