There is nothing more intimidating than a big, blank white wall. The limitless opportunity is exciting, but can also be overwhelming. After moving into my current apartment, I was faced with this dilemma. It is beautiful with wall to wall windows, except for one big empty white wall running along one side. For months, it stayed blank, in stark contrast to the quickly filled up and comfortable rest of the apartment.
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the hideous "empty wall" we are trying to make more inviting
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Then the wall was seen by Karen and things changed quickly. After her initial horror at the unused space, she quickly sprang into action with ideas. Obviously, art was a perfect choice. Why not make our own? That is how I found myself at Toronto’s High Park on a beautiful summer Sunday. We started with a blank canvas and went from there. Since I am not an artist like Karen, I didn't want her to do all the work so we tried to come up with an idea that we could both work on. We were thinking maybe something abstract. The summer day inspired an idea so we grabbed the canvas and pencils and headed to the park where we were inspired by the sun and the lovely shadows it was creating under the many trees.
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| using pencil crayons in High Park trying to quickly capture the ephemeral tree shadows |
Walking around with a large blank canvas was starting to attract some attention from the families and bicyclists enjoying the park, so we quickly found the perfect corner where enough shadows cascaded onto the floor to create an interesting pattern. Not wanting to lose the moment, we laid the canvas down and I received my marching orders to start ‘outlining’ the shadows on my side of the canvas with pencil. Not completely knowing what I was doing, I was a little anxious and set about tracing shapes as quick as possible while Karen’s expert hands and artistic touch worked comfortably.
Then, adding to my anxiety, seemingly out of the blue two children appeared and started silently watching us work. Their dad appeared and, also interested in our guerilla art project, he asked what our inspiration was. Worried about ensuring I captured the shadows and without a ready-made answer, I simply said to “fill a wall.”
*note*
when using light coloured paints like whites, pastels or yellows, make
sure to make pencil marks with equally light colours otherwise you will
need several coats of paint to cover up graphite or dark pencil caryon marks.
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| filling in the pencil crayon lines with brilliant bright yellow, the fair trade dark chocolate helps keep the lines straight. |
Back home, we surveyed our work and decided there was some potential so we set about filling in the shadows with some yellow paint since we were inspired by the sun. Over time, an interesting abstract pattern began to emerge on the wood grain. At times, it looked like a map and at other times we started noticing animals in the shapes. Maybe we were painting for too long! We definitely agreed that it was going to look fantastic up on the wall.
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| collaging and decoupaging the edges of the panel |
There seemed, however, to be something missing. The blank outer edges of a canvas are always a challenge. Should we paint them all yellow? Keep them as they were? Then we got our second inspiration.
I knew I wanted to add a book case to the wall so we initially thought about adding old newspapers or maps on the side. Then, I remembered a memento of my father’s that I had kept for years. My father learned to speak English in the 1970s in Europe. He had these red hard cover British textbooks that inside had the most interesting black and white photos and text. Instead of gathering dust, we decided that the text and pictures from these books would look amazing on the sides, top and bottom of the new painting.
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| y - voilà |
Suddenly, we had a finished original piece of art. It seemed too easy yet there it was. It just goes to show that sometimes creativity and taking that little extra step can go a long way. The painting now looks great on my wall next to my new bookcase and a whole lot of plants (another Karen inspiration). The wall is both beautiful, but also warm and inviting.
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| all the way from Argentina an up-cycled cookie tin becomes a statement piece plant holder |
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| texture love! |
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| further up-cycled pieces include this wonderful Freedom Reconstructed Chalkboard for a perfect entrance greeting. |
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| up-cycled frames and the left over book pages make these two art pieces pop! |
