Full Moon with Bats Door Art

 

I had an idea for more Halloween themed door art, so I decided to paint on my front door, like I did last Christmas.  I like for the painting on the front door to be larger, simpler, and easier to see from the street than what I paint on the side door.  I thought that bats in front of a full moon would be pretty visible and recognizable from a distance.  It also sorta resembles a evil smiley face. 

I used string and a dry erase marker to draw the large circle.  I used white ceiling paint to fill the circle.  Then I used a pale yellow wall paint for the moon color.  I drew bats on card stock, and then cut them out.  I traced around them with pencil and then filled in the outline with black acrylic paint.

I think it turned out okay, and it fulfills my last non-sewing goal for this year!

Running total of goals accomplished:

    Finish UFOs = 4 of 4 (completed)
    Use pre-cuts = 3 of 3 (completed)
    Do window paintings = 2 of 2 (completed)
    Do non-window painting = 1 of 1 (completed)
    Sew sets of coasters = 5 of 5 (completed)
    Sew small bags = 0 of 2
    Sew tote bags= 1 of 2

Black Cat in a Pumpkin Door Art

 

For Halloween, I decided to do a painting of a black cat in a pumpkin on my side door.

First I found a picture online of a cat in a pumpkin that I liked.  I drew it first on paper to get a feel for how to draw it.  Next I drew the picture with dry erase marker on the window.  Then I used acrylic paint to fill in the colors.  It took several coats of paint for the orange because I didn't do a white base coat.  On this door I don't do the white base coat because I want the image to be the same on both sides of the door.

I think it turned out cute enough.  It makes me smile when I see it.  And it fulfills one of my creativity goals for the year.

Running total of goals accomplished:

    Finish UFOs = 4 of 4 (completed)
    Use pre-cuts = 3 of 3 (completed)
    Do window paintings = 1 of 2
    Do non-window painting = 1 of 1 (completed)
    Sew sets of coasters = 5 of 5 (completed)
    Sew small bags = 0 of 2
    Sew tote bags= 1 of 2

More Door Art

 

 

This morning I finished the door art for our front storm door.  This one is less intricate than the Garfield, but also significantly larger.  This time I used mostly interior wall paint.  The white is actually ceiling paint that we already had in the shed, left over from our renovations a few years ago.  The red, brown, and greens are from small samples paint containers I bought at Lowes.  We had some yellow left over from painting my quilting room, and I used that at first, but I decided that I wanted something brighter.  I painted over that yellow with some yellow acrylic I had left over from painting Garfield.  The outline is done in black acrylic.

First, I drew out my idea on an index card and colored it with markers.  Then I took the drawing to Lowes to match paint colors, which wasn't fully necessary, but I liked the idea of matching my original drawing.  I drew the same basic shape onto the door with a dry erase marker, but the proportions turned out a little different because the height to width ratio of the door was different from the card.  I painted a base layer of the whole drawing in white and let that dry overnight.  The next day, I painted all the colors, and a second layer of white where I wanted it to be white.  I had to be pretty careful because the white base coat would smear once it got a little wet from the new layer of paint.  No adding wet on wet!  This morning I added the black outlines to everything.  I think the outlines really made it pop compared to before I added them.  So with the exception of the yellow (because I changed the color), and the white (which has base coat and top coat) each color was just one coat, unlike with Garfield where everything needed 3 coats.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Assuming that it isn't too much trouble to remove it, I'm thinking about doing different ones next year.  I'm thinking about either Christmas ornaments or wrapped presents.  It's been really fun to do some painting.

Christmas Door Art

 

 

On the day after Thanksgiving, I took my cat to the vet (like I do every Friday), and one of the employees was painting a mural on their front windows.  That inspired me to try doing a little Christmas window painting of my own.  When I was in high school, I used to draw Garfield all the time.  He was sort of my go-to doodle.  Also, when my kids were little, they loved to watch the Garfield Christmas movie.  So, I thought that painting Garfield on my door would be a fun way to tap into a little of my creative side with a nod to family history at the same time.  I think he turned out pretty good.

I started by finding a Christmas picture of Garfield online.  Then I sketched him out in my sketchbook.  I then scanned my drawing into the computer, enlarged the image to a size that would fit my window, and printed it out.  I had thought that I would tape the print out to the inside of the window and then trace it on the outside using a dry erase marker, but that didn't really work because of the nature of the window.  It has two panes of glass with blinds in between.  That made the image seem too far away to actually trace, so I just used it as a placement guide and drew it free hand with the marker.

We wanted the image to be seen from both inside and outside, so I went over the outlines in black first.  Then I added the color, and then went over the black line again last thing.  I tried chalk markers first, but I didn't like how that looked (too thin and runny), so I used artist acrylic paint instead.  All of the colors needed 3 coats to really show up nicely.

I'm thinking about trying something larger on my storm door at my front door (this door goes to the carport). If I do that one, I'm planning to try using interior wall paint and starting with a base of white.  It won't be viewable from inside, but that doesn't matter on that door, and I hope it will have better coverage that way.