One of the things we’ve needed since forever is some art to hang above our bed.  But that’s a tricky spot to choose art for, I think.  It’s your bedroom.  It’s awfully personal.  The subject matter has to fit the space.  And the size of the art needs to be fairly substantial.  (My general rule is that art should fill at least 2/3 of the width of whatever it hangs above - so in this case, our headboard.)  But usually, bigger the art = bigger the cost.  

The thing is, I can paint.  I just almost never do - it takes space, time, creative energy, and focus, which seems hard to come by in these baby years.  Furthermore, living with my own art can sometimes be tough (I’m my own toughest critic).  

But for the sake of getting this place “finished” to sell, it was time to finally get something hung there.

I decided, since it was for my personal use, and I didn’t have a photograph I wanted to paint, I’d copy a painting from an art book I have.  I liked this painting by James Whistler - it had all the cool colours I’d want in our bedroom.  And the image of the calm water, the sun setting, and (what I thought was) ships returning home, it seemed like a great image to see at the end of the day.  (Further research showed, however, that these are probably war ships that Whistler saw down in Chile, shortly before Spain began bombing them.  Hah.  I’ll choose to ignore that part…)

We managed to get the kids to bed early and I got straight to work.  It was lovely to paint again - it’s been forever.

And here’s the finished product:  

I still have bunch more stuff to finish in our bedroom - that throw pillow and that portrait on the side wall are place holders from other spots in the house.  And we have to install closet doors (there were none when we bought the place).  

And I have to do something with those lampshades - they’re especially ugly when the light is on.  I’m thinking I’ll spray them a matte gold or bronze, and then depending on how they look after that I may add linen to the outside.

And I’ll probably check HomeSense or Zellers for an affordable white coverlet or something to change up our bedding… but if none is found for the right price I think we’re OK for now.  In a perfect world I’d install a great light fixture, layered low just above the painting - but that won’t happen before we leave this place.

For now I’m just glad to get some art up!

A big trend for 2012 is semi-precious stones and gems.  The concentric, marbleized patterns, and the deep vibrant colours of stones like agate or malachite are popping up all over. 

Agate Trendwatch from Ampersand Design Studio

Feature on malachite as a trend in January 2012 Style at Home Magazine 

Malachite patterned roman shades. Photograph by Simon Upton for Elle Decor

Agate sconces.  Lauren Stern Design.

But for me, it’s not the easiest trend to incorporate - it’s pretty in-your-face, hard to find, and potentially pretty expensive.  But the other day I was painting with watercolours with Little M (watercolours, by the way, are another big trend right now), and figured they’d be the perfect combination for some pretty and trendy art.

SUPPLIES:

• heavy-weight watercolour paper
• watercolour paints
• water in a dish
• paint brush
• paper towel
• painter’s tape 

TIP: In my opinion you need to splurge on the paper with watercolours.  Go to an art supply store and get some pretty heavy stuff, or your paper will warp, tear, peel, and be a general mess of gross-ness.  As far as paints go it depends on how saturated you want your colours.  A cheaper paint set will generally give you paler colours, and a more expensive set will give deeper colours because it will have more concentrated pigment.  That being said, mine was a middle-of-the-road set from DeSerres.

Tape your paper down to your table, or to a large, smooth board.  This not only gives you a nice clean border, but keep the paper taped down until the painting is dry and it will prevent some warping.

I did a few versions of this to try some different techniques…

I’ll share what I thought worked best:

TIP: Pick a colour scheme of harmonious colours - greens and yellows, or reds and oranges, etc.  This is typical of the stones, and it will look better if your colours overlap or bleed into one another.  If you specifically want the malachite look use shades of green.

I found it worked best to put water on the paper first, then get the brush filled with paint and trace along the edge of the water.  The colour bleeds into the water and creates the wavy patterns you want.  

While still wet I added some other colours at times.  Other times I waited until the rings dried then did another puddle.

If the paper is ever too wet and creates more pooling than you want, just use the edge of a piece of paper towel to soak some of it up.

Sometimes if my lines looked too much like a brush stroke I would go over them again with just water to blur the edges.

It’s a pretty random process, so have fun with it and experiment.  It may not look exactly like a chunk of agate, but that’s OK - it can still look interesting and pretty.

And there you go!  A relaxing morning of painting, and a pretty and easy way to incorporate a trend.  And cheap art for your walls!

***UPDATE: See my malachite-inspired art here.