DIY Geometric Painting

I have been loving some geometric patterns lately!!!  You can find them almost anywhere nowadays: on rugs, curtains, pillow covers, coasters, scarves.  I came across this fun print below on Pinterest (via Freedom) and immediately saw the makings of a little DIY craft flash before my eyes. That’s how quickly I work, really. As soon as I see something the creative side of my brain wants to make, the logical side starts working out how soon I can start and/or which two items I can fit it between.  This…my desire to constantly be in the middle of some project…drives my husband crazy.  He doesn’t seem to understand that while paint is drying on one project, it frees up time to rip wood for another, and you can still be thinking about the type of tile you want to use for a kitchen back splash!

Needless to say, I bought a blank canvas shortly after seeing this little inspiration, and it has just been waiting (patiently) for me.

Then came Sunday, glorious Sunday.  The weather was all gray and wet and gloomy; the kind of day where you bathe, then put fresh pajamas right back on, knowing you’ll be in them all day.  The kids were snuggled up lazy in front of a movie.  Hubby was working.  Nobody was bothering me.

Project Time!

First I gathered my supplies.  I knew I definitely wanted to use some of the same colors, particularly the gray and coral, but throw in some other colors from my decor as well.  I headed downstairs and started digging through my bin of paint.  I pulled a few colors that looked like they might go nicely together.

And because anything goes when I’m working on a project, I also grabbed my new favorite wall paint (Valspar’s Smoke Infusion), and a gray (Valspar’s Artichoke) that we are using on our entertainment center.

 

Next, I taped off a 20 x 22 canvas frame.  There was no real math to this.  Sometimes I am super precise; this time I wasn’t.  I just used my painters tape as a unit of measurement, and layered it to get the frame size I wanted (1 1/2 width–if you look closely, you can see where the 2nd layer overlaps the first).

Quick Side Note:  I should add that a small part of me did think I should paint the whole canvas white beforehand. I know that can seem redundant, but it does help later when you touch up any lines where the colored paint has seeped under the tape.  But I was lazy. And I didn’t. Honestly, I just didn’t want to wait for the white to dry.  Impatience is an obstacle I often encounter in project-mode.   

The next few steps were sort of trial and error.  I originally planned on using painters tape to measure off equal-sized vertical stripes.  The ruler came out.  I started measuring equal widths.  The painters tape went down.  I didn’t like how it was looking.  I pulled up all of the tape.

I played around a few times and then decided two things: 1) I wanted unequal-sized vertical stripes, and 2) I was going to use washi tape

Next, I started using the washi tape to create my zig-zag lines across horizontally.

With one row done, I decided to add some paint.  I was sort of curious to see whether the washi tape was even going to work because it kept pulling away from the canvas.  Here is my makeshift paint palette with the colors you saw earlier.  I added yellow to the mix because I did really like the way it looked on the inspiration print (but then decided against it as we have no yellow in our current decor).

I slowly started adding color, making sure to smooth the washi tape each time.  To avoid paint seepage under the tape, I would paint from the tape to the middle rather than the middle to the tape. It helped a lot, but there were still some areas that had to be retouched later.

For the next row, I used painters tape to create a horizontal baseline.  I knew if the tape came across the canvas at an decline, I was not going to like the final look.  So this little extra step was to keep me on a straight path as I worked across the canvas.  In other words, I like zig-zags, but my OCD still wants them level.

More paint.

I used four main colors: Sea Foam and Smoke Infusion (cool colors) and Flesh and Spun Sugar (warm colors).  The other three (Gold, Country Tan, Artichoke) were the accent colors.  Only the top row and bottom row showcase all seven colors.  In the three middle rows, I repeated certain colors depending on what my eyes felt it wanted to see more of (warm or cool colors).

In the end, Flesh (darkest coral) was a little too harsh, and I didn’t like it at all.  So I quickly mixed together a new color using 1 part Flesh and 2 parts Spun Sugar.  It was a much nicer–more muted.  You can see the difference below.

 

I let it dry and then pulled the tape off.  There were definitely some areas that needed retouching, but overall, I loved it (sing-song voice)!  I hung it in the office just to get a feel for it.

And here it is in its floating frame.

I used this great tutorial on Remodelaholic to frame my painting.  I also love, love, love Virginia’s silver frame with the gold chain she made for her Gold Leaf Art, as seen here on LiveLoveDIY.  So fun!

Anyway, my Geometric need (for the time being) has been met.  It was fun!  I highly recommend it if you need a little creative fix.

Kelly

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This post is linked up at The Inspiration Gallery.