Tuesday, February 9, 2010

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BLOCK TUTORIAL

Ok, it's more like a I-forgot-to-buy-a-gift-and-it-needs-to-be-in-the-mail-now! tutorial.

My Dad's birthday was early last month. Every year I agonize over his Christmas gift, and neglect to consider his birthday gift is due only 2 weeks later. And mail takes about that long to get from me to him.

He lives in Alaska, and has this odd assortment of art depicting the various wildlife that lives in the local area.
 So I asked, "What don't you have?"
"A raven."
Done.

*Sorry in advance for the lack of photos, I was under a time crunch after all.


First assemble your supplies 



Scrounge around the garage, and your kids' neglected art supply box for things to use.





I used:
 - A chunk of pre-treated 2x6
 - Krylon spray paint, flat black and clear varnish
 - An old piece of sandpaper nailed to a block
 - Various colored acrylic paints and a dried out brush found amidst legos and model plane parts

First you'll want to spray paint your wood block with the base color, in my case black. Do two or three light coats, or until you can no longer see the wood.

While the wood dries, Google you're intended subject. Then rough sketch a design to your wood block gently with a pencil

After you've got the simple outline done, go ahead and whip out those paints and go crazy. Well - crazy enough to make it look how you want it.

Once your painting dries and looks amazing, take the sandpaper and swipe it across the painted surface to give it a distressed or aged look. Be careful to not obliterate all your hard work. Go down to the wood in some places to make it more intriguing, like around the edges and corners.

Then shake up the clear varnish and apply one or two coats to the entire block - just to make it shiny.

Here is the finished piece I sent off, albiet a couple weeks late.








4 comments:

Leslie February 10, 2010 at 11:10 AM  

this is amazing!!! i love it. the raven and the crow are one of my favorite birds.

Mira February 10, 2010 at 11:38 AM  

hI! I am new at your blog, and let me say what interesting place it is! I love this little piece of art you created. :)

2good2forget February 10, 2010 at 3:06 PM  

I love it!! Great job! I love how you just "whipped that up"!! I will miss the ravens when we leave here, they are so huge and spiritual!

April :)

Anonymous,  March 13, 2010 at 11:09 AM  

Amiable fill someone in on and this mail helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you seeking your information.

  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP