Friday, August 17, 2012

A chalk portrait painting in progress

I thought I would be further along with this little project but have not had time for it in the last few days. So instead of the finished product I thought I would show you my progress.

Years and years ago I fell in love with this beautiful vintage photograph by Lillian Bassman. I always thought I'd like to try and replicate it in watercolour but never got around to it.  


A few months ago I found at auction a massive vintage frame for a great price.  I knew I needed to quickly change over the painting inside....see for yourself and try not to laugh...


My husband was like "what were you thinking?!!!" but I knew that with some white paint, a new piece of thin MDF and some black chalk board paint I could make one of these....


I used my orbital sander to make it very smooth and I had used a paint brush to paint it on and I think really for best results for blackboards one should use spray paint. Anyway with a bit of love from my Ryobi ROS it was smooth as silk.  The frame has quite an interesting texture and lots of imperfections and cracks. I think it's quite gorgeous in it's aged beauty.


So the other night, while I was also cooking dinner and getting the kids ready for bed, I started sketching up the glamorous woman by the window.  I had possibly the worst piece of chalk in the history of mankind. Serves me right for shopping at the $2 shop.  The chalk was so hard to sketch and fill in with. In about 10 minutes I'd managed to do this rough outline of the portrait but I've got a long way to go.


I did go to our local art shop and the guy suggested I try using white pastel instead of chalk so I bought some and will give it a go.  It honestly has to be better than the crappy chalk stick I was using.  Once I've finished it all I'll share it with you. The good thing is if that it doesn't turn out I can just wipe it off! 


....and then I'll just use the board for our shopping list!


cheers 
Fiona

4 comments:

  1. I am guessing you mean you replace the glass with mdf to make your chalkboard 'board' Fiona? I just use BIN over the top the glass, then chalkboard paint. Works a treat and so much easier than pulling the guts out of the frame :) Also I find the chalkboard paint looks shocking when you brush it on but it seems to smooth out when it dries.

    I am off downstairs to take some photos of my finished pieces, finally!

    Have a good day
    xx Karen

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    1. Hi Karen – thanks for stopping by and commenting. I know you can paint the glass but I wasn’t really happy about the glass in case this chalk board rests on the floor and then with balls and kids in the house etc it could easily break – especially if it doesn’t look like glass – so i decided for $3 to replace the glass with MDF. Much safer.

      Also I have has success before the painting with chalkboard paint and not having to sand it down but for some reason when i was seasoning the chalk board all i could see were chalk lines where the paint brush strokes were. Maybe the weather when i was painting and how it dried. Anyway a very quick sand down sorted it out perfectly.

      I had to pull the frame out anyway as even if i’d painted the glass i wanted that god awful religious painting out of my house. It was kind of creeping me out. LOL.

      Have a lovely weekend
      Cheers Fiona

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  2. Can I tell you that even with what you've done it looks beautiful. Just like that!

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Thanks for taking the time to comment! Sorry if you have trouble commenting, you can always email me at lilyfieldlife@bigpond.com