Welcome to T stands for Tuesday! This week I wanted to share the progression of a painting…from blank canvas to hanging on the wall.

I’ve had a 30×40 inch canvas standing in the corner for a good month waiting for me to get inspired or brave. My original thought when I got the canvas (at 70% off) was to do another poppy painting. After some time had passed, my excitement for more poppies dwindled.

Since last week we had a couple of simply perfect Fall days, I decided to set up outside. I tried to hang it, brace it, stand it etc but in the end I set up on the ground on a sheet with it leaning against a tree. I used latex wall paint…I know…crazy right?! But I had 5 small partially used cans of paint tucked away in the storage room.

I started out using brushes and a large plastic lid as my palette…soon I was dipping my hands directly in the cans.

At this point I knew things has gone terribly wrong…I hated every single bit of the painting. I went in, washed up my hands and grabbed my phone to snap the photo. I decided that this was going to be a good learning experience.

Next I got the garden hose…yep…the hose. I sprayed off the still wet paint and scrubbed the canvas with a rag.

It was already looking better and had some amazing texture. I left it to dry for a good hour and thought about what I might want to do next. Since I was experimenting I thought it was a good time to use the brayer I bought over a decade ago and still hadn’t used.  Keeping the rule of thirds in mind I painted the bottom two-thirds a grey tone and the top off-white being careful not to completely cover the background.

I then added some red iron oxide (actual artist paint) then some little touches of black craft paint with a palette knife. At this point I was totally happy. I let it dry completely and brought it inside. It stood in the livingroom for a couple of days and kept bugging me…I liked it but…  Finally, one evening staring at the painting while chatting on the phone with a friend, I envisioned something curving down through the empty space…but what? Circles of course…I love circles!!

The next morning I added the circles at the kitchen table. I was so excited about the way it looked I couldn’t even wait for it to dry before photographing and posting to social media.  I had to stand on a chair to get the whole canvas in frame. :)

And here it is on the wall above our bed. In reality, it’s hung a little to high but I was just reusing the nails already in the wall. The previous framed print we had there was a little larger, I also really want to repaint our bedroom…since the painting doesn’t especially “go” with the icy blue wall color…it’s a good excuse to make that happen.

I congratulated myself for a job well done with a glass of new kind of wine. I almost forgot to snap a photo before it was gone.  It was a prosecco in a lovely gold bottle. Honestly I think I bought that particular one totally based upon the pretty bottle. It was good but not something I’d bother with very often.

Tuesday has the last volleyball game of the season and the first choir concert of the year. A day of firsts and lasts. I’m excited for both! At least they are in the same building and won’t overlap time wise. Of course, fitting dinner in for all will be a challenge.

What are you doing today?