Tuesday 29 January 2013

A Hint of New Orleans

Well, hopefully this will tide you over until I actually write a post about New Orleans, because, sorry to say, this isn't. But, it is inspired by our trip there (yes, even though most of our vacation was not in New Orleans, it was my favourite part, so I'm still calling our vacation our New Orleans trip). You see, I fell madly in love with the city (sorry, Derek): the amazing architecture, the southern/Caribbean food, the live music, the beignets, the coffee... I wanted to bring it all back with me. And believe me, I sure tried! And one of those attempts involved a bunch of paint and me feeling like Dexter (your friendly, neighbourhood serial killer... not for the faint of heart). You've actually already heard (read?) me mention this, last week in my post about moving the art around in the bedroom. This is what I did to fill the hole that moving the two dollar store canvases left.

The first step is where the Dexter-esque vibe came in. You might have seen a picture of this on my Instagram feed? Well, let me explain. You see, this summer I discovered an excellent painting technique that I'm going to call "spray paint down with water"(that's the technical name... pretty sure). Essentially, put paint on paper. Spray paper with water. Repeat until satisfied. Annnnd... since it is no longer summer (and since in this weather, the water would freeze before it hit the paper if we were outside) I had to come up with a solution to keep from wrecking my house. Hence: Dexter.


Because of the similarity to rain that the technique creates, I went with some rain-type colours. Like blue! And purple (I was also trying to pick colours that went with the bedroom. Sh... rain can be purple...). And yes. That is my artist pallet: piece of picture frame glass that I had leftover because the frame broke. Weird that the frame broke, yet the glass was fine... Hm. Not sure what's up with that. Still. Sweet colours. Though, in the end, I ended up mixing in a bit of green, giving the final project something of a sea-type feel. Appropriate, considering where New Orleans is.


And what would a picture inspired by New Orleans be without a musician? The whole silhouetted musician was actually a very popular theme amongst the local artists of New Orleans (many of whom displayed their art in small local shops, or just hanging up on fences or walls; fantastic), and I think in the end, I really captured the look. It makes me smile.


Now all I need is some glass for that frame (didn't come with any)... Hmm...

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