One of the Tools Painters Use

The first time I learned that painters use overhead projectors to put a picture on a canvas, I was shocked. Here, I thought that all pictures were painted by hand. But that is not so. The first one, of course, but the others are etched by this method or another one that is used, and then filled in with the specific paints and colors used on the first. So, when I buy a painting that is 33/150 it means that there are 150 reproductions of the original painting, and I have just bought number 33. Some painters also hire people to paint or fill in the etched canvas. I never knew this until one painter told me and showed me. I am always learning something.

So, when I worked at one place, we decorated our huge picture windows at Christmas time with holiday themes. What did we use? The overhead projector. In the back room (where it was dark), a thin piece of paper was taped to the wall and the scene was put on the projector. We scaled the projector to the size we wanted and then aimed the projector at the paper and traced the scene onto the thin paper. Then, we went to the picture window and traced the thin paper onto the glass window with a chalk used for glass, and we had a scene.

Then, we would either fill in with paint or the snow in a can. Over the years, there were some awesome scenes -- of sleds and people and stars shining bright. Our imagination was our limit.

So it is with anything you want to paint. Have a desk that you would like painted to look like a clock. Find a pattern and trace once you decide what size you want. Then, fill in with paint. Or whatever your imagination can think of -- feathers, beads, pebbles, anything. I just went to Staples to have an angel enlarged that I am going to make in stained glass. I can do anything with the right tool.



We do the same idea in ceramics. Remember the bamboo vase I painted? I started by painting the entire vase with foundation paint. Then, I found a pattern and traced, decreased the size and then traced it to the painted vase. After that, I filled in the picture with the colors I wanted the bamboo to be and the leaves. So, I did hand paint the picture....with a little help of tracing paper.










The left picture shows the original print, and the right picture shows after I traced the picture to the vase.

With all the different tools available, there is no reason why you can't have your home reflect exactly who you are. As long as you are willing to take on projects. I have so many projects on my list, I will be busy for years!




Until tomorrow...have a great day!