Art Is Just Like This. ... Life

Best place to start. ... is always at the beginning. Sounds simple. But point is to only concentrate at one aspect and point of the picture at a time.

Painting is like what God does with us. At first it doesn't look like much. Hard to tell what it will even be to the untrained eye. But the one painting it always sees the finished picture when they look at the canvas. .. no matter what stage of "ugly" it seems to be in.

As you work stage to stage don't give up on the finished masterpiece to come. Just like God doesn't give up on us. Little by little you will begin to see the beauty of it manifest. Take your time. Be patient. ...... and remember to just breathe.

Apparently You Can Paint Just About Anything, No..Seriously You Can

So, Ive got these old 1980, gold, disgusting lights hanging up in my house. (We bought this place in June of last year. LOVE) But, I do NOT like the lights. Gold is cool on my finger, or around my neck. So not cool as a light fixture.

Im not running no disco here, ya know?

So here it is. Check it out. Old, ugly, even a little rusty. How that happens is still a mystery.

 So, I broke out my ever faithful bottle of Apple Barrel craft paint. (A whole 50 cents a bottle at Wally World) and started to paint it. Only took me about five minutes. Then I let it dry and painted over it one more time. Then voila. Instant upgrade to the 20th century.

Im thinking about tackling the ugly ceiling fan next. But those new ones at Lowes today sure looked pretty. Hmmm...we will just have to see on that one folks. 

#paintitall #artist #justforthefunofit #uglydecor #instantupgrade

What You Do When You HATE Your Kitchen Tile Backsplash? You Paint It Of Coarse..Check It Out

So, this morning....I get up, look outside and see snow, ice, and more snow. Then I see my ugly backsplash.

Now, I gotta say, its much better than it was when I moved it. It was like Mexican Hacenda meets Italy. How does that work? It doesnt. So I painted over it.

Now Ive decided I dont like it. Here is what it looked like this morning before I painted it.

So, my kitchen is done is roosters if you haven't guessed. I have them, I like them..so, there ya go.

I had left over wall paint, so I started there.

Then, as you can see, I just painted over it to get a base coat color.

Then I took my cheap, 50 cents a bottle Apple Barrel paint. I used two shades of brown. They were Territorial Beige and Melted Chocolate. Then I threw in black for dimension. 

I just used my stencil brush and then a regular angled paint brush. A tiny one. 

Here we go.............

Paper plates are awesome you know.

So if you take your stencil brush and tap it into a single color, then tap it onto the tile in random patterns. Then do the same thing with the other colors. Careful on the black though.

The more random you do it, the better it looks.

I like it. Whatcha think?

Questions? Ask away.

Go Big, Or Go Home............Thats My Thoughts On This

So, I do smaller art projects, sure. But my favorites are landscapes like these....

I did this on a piece of reclaimed wood that I cut into six individual squares. Why? Well most of all because I wanted to. Ha ha. But seriously, I think it just looks cool. I mean...check it out!

I

You see, I live in Arkansas my friends. And I dont know if you have been watching the weather lately, but OH MY GOSH. It is like winter wonderland out there. Disney on ice. Only, no Disney. 

Pretty though, right? 

Anyways....Here is the large project I did. This was in a school in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Beautiful place. The theme was from that book, Where The Wild Things Are". Ever heard of it? Super cute book. 

Heres what I started with....then what I ended up with. Step by step. See what ya think. 

Uhg.....the ominous hallway.......

Like that scary movie..what was that again?

The drawing begins..do you know HOW many pencils (and erasers) I went through? Lets just not talk about it.

Finally, something nice to look at. 

Rarrr.......look at that trick on the uneven walls. Pretty dope right?

cute, cute, cute, cute.....a million times, cute

Makes me wanna hang out too.

I need one of those to ride on. Much cheaper than gas these days.

Well, hello grey thing. How's it going. ..............I was gonna say hangin', but that just didnt seem appropriate somehow.

And...the end of the hallway. Always a good feeling. Got done here at like 3 a.m. MAN was I pooped.

Oh ya. I wanna totally go to school here. 

What are your thoughts and your experiences? Have you ventured out to do murals yet? What type of media (type of paint, colored pencils, chalk, etc.) do you work in?

Okay, thats all for today. Im fixing to start a project on reclaimed wood for a retired military guy. I LOVE doing stuff like that. Painting him an American Bomber plain as the American Flag as the back ground.

Oh yeah, you can always follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/artisttabithabarnes, on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/GazelleMuralDesigns or even on Twitter...twitter.com/TabbyBarnes.

Where Does It All Begin...And WHY?

Want to be an artist do you? Or maybe you just like to do it to relax, either way, it all started somewhere.

Maybe you watched your mom paint into the wee hours of a cold, spring night as the crickets started chirping their evening serenades. Or maybe you had that fav of all art teachers back in the day when you were in school.

No matter where you got your inspiration, fact is, your hear now. That means that we are kindred spirits my friend.

I will began posting my art work on here as I work on each one. Follow along with me as I begin to spin the story behind each piece. Enter in, join the fun, and conventionalize with me.

After all, great minds think alike, do they not? And remember, you are "always welcome" here.

Oh yeah, you can always follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/artisttabithabarnes, on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/GazelleMuralDesigns or even on Twitter...twitter.com/TabbyBarnes.