Canvas wall art: Painting

Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts

Wooden Wall Letters - 3 Tips For Painting Nursery Letters

Wooden wall letters are a very popular way to decorate a baby nursery room. Wooden letters are available in many different styles. It is very common to spell out your baby's name in their nursery but you do not have to limit it to just names. You can also spell words such as "Dream" or "Princess" to decorate their room. If you are very crafty you can buy unpainted wooden letters and paint them to match your baby's room decorations perfectly, no one knows your taste better than you. In this article I am going to give you some ideas on how to paint wooden nursery letters.

Solids

\"Canvas Wall Art \"

Painting your wooden nursery letters in a solid pattern is probably the easiest and fastest way to paint your wooden letters. Solid white paint will easily match many different decors. For a different approach try painting the letters in matching pastel colors. Also try alternating the colors for each letter.

Wooden Wall Letters - 3 Tips For Painting Nursery Letters

Stripes

Painting stripes takes more time compared to solids but it adds such a nice touch to your wooden letters. Instead of adding stripes to all of your letters try alternating with solid color letters. Experiment with different ideas like a solid bottom letter with vertical stripes on the top of the letters.

Matching Bedding

Another idea to paint your wooden wall letters is to match your baby's bedding. If your letters are wide you can try to incorporate some of the patterns and shapes onto the letters. For example, if your bedding has cars or trains why not paint some cars, traffic lights or stop signs on the letters. Let your imagination go, there are so many ways to decorate.

These are just some of the ways you can decorate your wooden wall letters. Take the time and enjoy the moment as they grow up very fast.

Wooden Wall Letters - 3 Tips For Painting Nursery Letters

Looking for some cute wooden letters? Then check out our site for affordable, unfinished wood letters

http://customwoodenletters.com

6 Ideas For Painting Your Living Room

The different rooms of your house require great attention as to the paint's color. One color might suit a particular room in the house but will not be a very good sight in another room. That is why people who want to paint their house should have proper knowledge and experience in painting.

If you want a living room makeover, then you will need good painting ideas. Check out these living room painting ideas:

Painting

1. First and foremost, you need to choose the color scheme to be used in your living room. This means that you have to choose the paint colors for your doors, walls, accessories, trims, and other accents.

2. Base your color scheme on the living room's largest furniture, the room's focal point, height of your ceiling, the lighting, how the room is to be used, the room's size, and the feeling that you want to create whenever you're inside the living room.

3. After that, it's now time to focus in choosing the paint finish because this can alter the feeling that you want to create. If your walls have minor imperfections, choose a paint finish that's matte or flat because it doesn't shine. This kind of finish also offers effective stain resistance.

4. For your doors, trims, and other architectural details, highlight them with a gloss finish by using semi-gloss or satin finish. It would be easier to clean these areas because of the texture's smoothness and the wall's sheen.

5. For the walls of your living room, you can use paints which are water-based or latex, but for your windows and doors, use acrylic paint.

6. Some color and types of paint require more that one coat application, so you should take that into account. One gallon of paint usually covers about 400 sq feet.

With a little creativity and hard work, you can turn your living room in to a masterpiece of your own creation. Your guests will be awed once they visit your house and see your living room.

6 Ideas For Painting Your Living Room

To learn more interior painting ideas, visit my house painting tips site.

Face Painting For Easter - Kids Love Easter Face Painting Designs

Kids love to color eggs for Easter. Why not color your kids too! Face painting is a great Easter activity - and the kids will love it! There are plenty of face painting designs that are perfect for the Easter holiday.

Getting Started

Painting

Face painting is fun for both kids and adults. If you are new to face painting, start with a few simple designs and practice those designs before adding more designs to your collection. Good starting designs for Easter include easter eggs (decorated with any design and multiple colors), bunnies (initially, you can focus on the head and ears to keep things simple), bunny paw prints, and more! Use your imagination and lots of colors. You can easily create dozens of different easter egg designs by using combinations of different colors, straight lines, wavy lines, dots, and other shapes.

Get the Kids Involved

Let the kids help decide what they want in their face painting. The kids can pick the design and their favorite colors for that design, then you do the rest. Kids enjoy the process of selecting a design and getting their face painted as well as showing-off their beautiful design.

If you want to do something really special, have the kids decorate an Easter egg using their favorite colors and designs. Then, paint a similar Easter egg on their face - now the kids have matching pairs of personalized Easter eggs!

Have Fun

Don't take face painting too seriously. If you have fun, the kids will too. If you make a mistake, try to "work around" your mistake, or simply re-draw that portion of the image. Keep practicing, your skills will improve quickly.

Make your Easter holiday special for yourself and your kids by adding a face painting activity.

Face Painting For Easter - Kids Love Easter Face Painting Designs

If you would like additional face painting tips and design ideas, I'm offering you two Free Face Painting Articles and Free access to my Face Painting Blog with additional Tips and Ideas at: http://www.FacePaintingMadeEasy.com

Bob Hartwell

Painting Baby's Room - Creative Ideas for Painting a Baby Nursery

When it comes to painting a baby room, you could pick out a paint color, apply it to the walls and be done. But if you are feeling creative and a little more adventurous than that, there are a lot of great ideas you could implement when it comes to painting your baby's nursery. Here are a few suggestions:

However you decide to go about painting your baby's room, remember to keep in mind the décor that you are going to use for the room. The painting colors and techniques you use should go with everything else that you plan to use in the room. Don't be afraid to be adventurous and try something new. Remember, the best thing about decorating a room is that if you don't like how something turns out, you can always change it!

Painting

Painting Baby's Room - Creative Ideas for Painting a Baby Nursery

© Copyright Rebecca Johnson, All Rights Reserved

Rebecca Johnson owns Decorating-Your-Baby-Nursery.com, a website that provides tips and ideas for decorating a baby nursery. Visit it for more ideas on decorating the nursery walls

Painting Baby's Room - Creative Ideas for Painting a Baby Nursery

Painting

Painting Baby's Room - Creative Ideas for Painting a Baby Nursery

Painting With Kids - Fun Projects for All Ages

Painting with kids is fun, interactive and will open your eyes to how children see the world around them. Since my niece, Courtney was a toddler; we have been painting together on the same canvas. The fun, joy and laughter we have had, has created a lasting bond that is amazing.

Kids love bright vibrant colors. For toddlers, crayons and glitter glue, colored pencils and magic markers are great. Experiment, mix pencil colors together! Try putting a yellow pencil down before green...Watch as the color comes to life. When Courtney was seven, we started using acrylics straight out of the tube, without mixing, because they are vibrant and quick drying, water soluble with easy clean up.

Painting

Part of the joy is choosing colors together at the art shop. Our favorite colors are, luminous reds, pyrrole and quinacridone. Bright neon yellows, hansa and cadniums. Shimmering blues from manganese hues to ultramarine. Dark greens with blue and yellow shades. Dazzling, cobalt violets and ultramarine purples. Mix with titanium white and no black as adding black tends to make colors dirty. To get vibrant glossy colors we add gloss acrylic glazing liquid mixed to a milky consistency.

If you are inexperienced in mixing color get a color key/wheel as this is a great teaching tool, which demonstrates how the primary paint colors red, yellow and blue go together to create intermediate colors.

Kids have wonderful imaginations. Let them create the subject for your project; encourage exploration, nothing is impossible! Have them sketch out the idea on a sheet of paper prior to the canvas. Feeling unsure, research it together on the internet or in a book. That's all part of the fun!

As a toddler Courtney and I painted these subjects; Will you jump with me, dance with me, paint with me, at the time we observed they would make a great book. Numerous Christmas, birthday cards and thank you notes later, we had a formula for success.

Our recipe for success. Take turns in painting. If you are painting a rainbow, chose the colors in turn, mixing the chosen colors then painted them in concert, discussing where each color should go. For a sky take different blues and white take turns with your color, most of all be creative.

Fast and furious is fun, no painting should take hours. This means that prior to painting prep the canvas or paper. When painting solid color pre-paint with titanium white to bring out the vibrancy of the color or for wet techniques chose a good paper.

Brushes do make a difference and how you use them counts. Pull, move the paint on the tip of the brush. Encourage a light touch, let the brush do the work. For example when painting a star, dip, pull in one movement each point of the star, finishing with a dot in the middle. We use three soft brushes the most, round number 3, 8 and 18, for large skies a brush from the hardware store will do.

Today we paint landscapes, incredible universes and even bird boxes, which we got at a hobby shop. What fun we had putting it together, painting flowers and suns all over it. Always finish by signing and dating in indelible ink and varnish.

Can't paint a stick figure! Hers a fun project for all the family. What you will need:

• A canvas as big as you can afford.
• Acrylic pouring liquid
• Acrylic Paint samples from the hardware store. At least eight.
• Plastic cups to mix the paint in
• Old sheet or tarp.

Lay out the sheet on a flat area of grass, placing the canvas on top. Mix up the paint per the instructions and take turns pouring lines, splattering or dotting the colors on to the canvas! Yes that's it. Sit back and watch those colors merge with time... A masterpiece!

Painting with your kids will, produce more than a work of art it will be the subject of great conversation and memories that will last a life-time. Have Fun!

Painting With Kids - Fun Projects for All Ages

Peter John Lucking is the writer and illustrator of SANTA & THE LITTLE TEDDY BEAR. A magical ride with Santa and the reindeer takes a teddy bear on a whirlwind adventure to become a special Christmas gift. The book inspires families to sing, to dance, to explore other cultures and places and how they celebrate Christmas. Peter had a successful career in the design for the arts culminating with, "The Ellie Caulkins Opera House".

Her Most Famous Painting (Oriental Poppies) - Georgia O'Keeffe

The American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (November 1887-March 1986) was a pioneering 'Modernist.' Her unique approach defied all the accepted norms of painting and gave a new definition to the 'American Modern Art.' Owing to her competence, American Art attained fame and recognition in creatively competent Europe. Flowers fascinated Georgia and they were her favorite subject on canvas. O'Keeffe painted "Oriental Poppies" in 1928. This stunning work was declared a groundbreaking, art masterpiece.

Georgia O'Keeffe described her painting as a product of what she perceived in her mind and felt in her heart. In "Oriental Poppies," she depicts two giant poppy flowers. Measuring 30" x 40", this oil painting is an explosion of brilliant colors on a vast canvas, lending a mesmerizing effect. O'Keefe used dazzling red and orange as the main color of the petals. The hollowed centre and the inner contours of the flowers are painted in deep purple. The skillful shading and velvety finish of the petals accentuates the vibrancy of the flowers. "Oriental Poppies" almost looks like a close up photograph. O'Keeffe did not give any background to the painting, to artfully draw focus onto the flowers. The absence of context in the painting presents them in a new light as pure abstracts. "Oriental Poppies" exudes a startling pull, as if casting a hypnotic spell on the viewer.

Painting

Georgia O'Keeffe believed that due to the fast-paced lives people live, they merely glance at flowers, but never really observed their exquisiteness. She wished to give such rushing people experience and the feel of the true beauty of flowers. In her words, "If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers." O'Keeffe chose to paint on a huge canvas with an outburst of bold colors, to astonish the viewers and to introduce them to the wonder of nature. In her bid, she managed to capture the essence of poppies with eloquence.

Many art researchers believed that O'Keeffe's "Oriental Poppies" was an answer to the zoomed in technique adapted by Alfred Stieglitz in 'Modern Photography.' The magnificent painting speaks volumes of O'Keefe's talent and artistic vision. Georgia's delightful representation of two ordinary flowers generated widespread admiration and was considered as one of her most memorable works. It is now a part of a collection at the University of Minnesota Art Museum, Minneapolis.

Her Most Famous Painting (Oriental Poppies) - Georgia O'Keeffe

Annette Labedzki received her BFA at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. She has more than 25 years experience. She is the founder and developer of an online art gallery featuring original art from all over the world. It is a great site for art collectors to buy original art. Is is also a venue for artists to display and sell their art . Artists can join for free and their image upload is unlimited. Please visit the website at http://www.Labedzki-Art.com
Annette has bonus offers on her work only. Buy 3 small paintings of any size (maximum size 11x17 inches) and receive 3 small paintings of your choice for free (maximum size 11x17 inches) SHIPPING IS FREE
Buy one large painting (minimum size 18x24 inches) receive 5 small paintings of your choice (maximum size 11x17 inches) FOR FREE. SHIPPING IS FREE.
Please feel free to subscribe to her newsletter at http://www.Labedzki-Art.com

Small Face Painting Designs on Kids - Fun For All!

Small face painting designs for kids is an activity that kids really enjoy. This hobby is fun for kids at special events such as birthday parties, church picnics, and craft fairs, but is especially fun when it's done at home--for no special reason at all. I started out with a small face painting kit that came with a small book of designs that I could try.

This hobby can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable activities you can do with your kids. Kids obviously would enjoy being turned into their favorite superhero or princess, but sometimes these large designs can be a little overwhelming for someone just starting out. That's where painting small designs can be the perfect project to try on your kids. They'll still love your work, and you'll get the practice you need and the confidence to move on to larger designs--like painting their entire face into their favorite monster or animal!

Painting

Popular Small Face Painting Designs
Popular designs for girls include hearts, stars, smiley faces, dolphins, flowers, and ice cream cones.

Popular designs for boys include spiders, mustaches, beards, snakes, and sports items like baseballs, basketballs, footballs, and such.

Brushes For Face Painting Small Designs
Brushes come in many different sizes depending on their usage. For painting small designs, you'll obviously need small brushes for finer detail. I like to use a small angle brush in addition to smaller round brushes because I find I can drag an angle brush with a light touch to get a nice straight line.

You'll want to make sure your brushes are soft for use on kids' faces. Brushes also need to be cleaned between kids. Even some vinegar can be used to wash and disinfect your brushes. I highly recommend this if you are painting on kids' lips.

Other supplies you will need are hairclips, and/or headbands, baby wipes to erase any of your mistakes, and to clean off dirty faces before you start painting, and to clean off your hands between kids. If you are only painting on your own kids, kitchen and bathroom sinks will probably be nearby. In addition, you may want a smock to drape over your client--er, kid!

Cheek Face Painting
I find cheeks to be the perfect place for practicing small designs! Kids soft little cheeks are the perfect canvas to try so many different designs that you can let your imagination run wild. And, if you mess up, you can wipe off your artwork with a baby wipe and start again.

My favorite artwork for cheeks is an ice cream cone. All you have to do is paint a little circle in red for the cherry, a bigger not so perfect circle in white for the scoop of vanilla ice cream (or whatever flavor you want), the cone in orange (or mix yellow and red together), and use a small angle brush to paint the cross hatches visible on the cone. That's it! Oh, you might want to paint a little drop of ice cream falling from your scoop of ice cream.

Another good thing about face painting cheeks is that they can be done quickly. I don't know any faster way to put a smile on a child's face than painting a cute little design on their face. In my opinion, every Mom should learn how to face paint!

Face Painting Products
Obviously, the same paints and brushes can be used for small and large designs, however, the company, Snazaroo, makes a great little face painting kit called the Rainbow Kit. This kit is their best selling kit that's ideal for beginners and general use. Snazaroo face paints are specially formulated to be gentle on the skin--especially on children's skin--and are fragrance free, as well as easy to wash off.

Small Face Painting Designs on Kids - Fun For All!

After realizing that I truly enjoyed face painting, and understood the limitations of the small face painting kit I originally purchased (the book that came with it only had a few designs in it), I scoured the internet for a face painting guide I could download immediately so I could start learning some more designs. This led me to a great face painting design book. I purchased it, and downloaded it right away. I found that face painting designs for kids is the fastest and easiest way to get started with face painting.

What I liked about this book, was that it is based on what face painters like you and me want to know. It's not about being able to paint Picasso on someone's face, but being able to paint what the kids like. It's being able to paint the most popular cheek art designs for someone's birthday party, a charity event or a school party. Check out the e-book, Easy Face Painting Tips today!

Discover The Most Popular Kids Face Painting Designs

Nothing beats the warm glow you feel when a child first sees their painted face. But how do you know which kids face painting designs you should offer? Well that's easy. Just master the most requested face paintings and you will not go wrong.

Irrespective of what the latest hit movie is, I've found the following kids face painting designs are always in demand. They never seem to lose their appeal.

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The Most Popular Face Paintings For Girls

Butterfly
Fairy
Princess
Fantasy
Bunny Rabbit
Ladybug
Cat
Flowers
Rainbow
Puppy Dog

The Most Popular Face Paintings For Boys

Red Spider's Web
Pirate
Skull
Tiger
Robot
Bat
Clown
Puppy Dog
Alien
Tribal

The Most Popular Halloween Face Paintings

Vampire
Witch
Devil
Skull
Spider's Web
Bat
Cat
Alien
Monster
Clown

And remember, there are 5 basic principles to follow if you want to create stunning face paintings with speed and ease:

Have a collection of great designs to offer;
Know exactly what steps are required for each face painting design in your collection;
Use only quality paints;
Use the right tools, the right way; and
Know how to mix paints and blend colors.

It's best to stick to simple designs until your face painting skills improve. And of course use templates, stamps and temporary tattoos to help speed up the process.

And, whether you are painting the children of friends and family, or offering your services at school fetes, kids' parties etc, have a photo album filled with your face painting pictures. That way each child can choose the creation they would like painted on their face.

Discover The Most Popular Kids Face Painting Designs

Learn how to paint these designs with step by step face painting instructions.

Discover how easy face painting can be with these great tips.

Don't limit yourself to just kids face painting creations. After all, we adults deserve some fun too!

Easy Pumpkin Painting and Design

Halloween is almost here and around where I live there are piles of pumpkins sitting on the front laws of farmers houses with signs indicating to leave a few dollars for each pumpkin. This always seems to be the start of the Halloween season and with that means easy pumpkin painting.

Below are a few ways to help you create an exciting Halloween experience this year for yourselves and your families by learning how to do some fast and easy pumpkin painting.

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First of all, you will want to find some pumpkins that have a somewhat flat surface on one side of the pumpkin. This just makes it easier for younger kids to paint the pumpkins, it's not actually necessary for pumpkin painting.

After that, go to your local craft store and look for an acrylic paint. This is the easiest to use for pumpkin painting and often you can find acrylic paints in larger bottles, which means enough to go around for everyone. In addition, these are usually easy paints for kids to use and come in a wide variety of colors in case you or your kids want to get crazy with their pumpkin painting.

Next, you will want to think about what it is that you want to create. Be sure to include the kids in the step of the easy pumpkin painting process. Do you want something scary?-possibly something funny? There are many pumpkin painting designs on the internet and you and your kids can get some great ideas by looking around the net for a few minutes.

Some personal favorites are creating pumpkins to look like celebrities. This isn't exactly pumpkin painting, but it goes over well each year as the pumpkins sit in all their celebrity glory on my front porch. For instance, I had a goofy looking George W, on one side of my porch, while on the other I had a Bill Clinton pumpkin. I put wigs on the pumpkins and painted some distinguishing features and added a tie to each for good measure. The kids didn't quite get who they were, but the parents thought it was great!

Easy pumpkin painting doesn't just have to be about painting the pumpkins either, as in the case above. Think about your pumpkins as Mr. Potato Heads and you are instantly drawn back to a younger time and may have some great ideas to use. For instance, take two pieces of corn and stick nails into them. Next drive them into the pumpkin on either side and when people ask you why you have corn stuck to the sides of your pumpkin, tell them that they are not corn- they are the pumpkins ears.

There are as many ways to paint your pumpkin and dress it up as you can come up with. Have fun this Halloween.

Easy Pumpkin Painting and Design

If you want free pumpkin painting designs, templates, Halloween recipes for you and the kids, and a many free pumpkin painting ideas, go to http://www.amazingsalestechniques.blogspot.com and click on the links to get a variety of free Halloween products.

Free Face Painting Designs For Children

When I first decided to learn face painting, I looked all over for free face painting designs For children.

I went to the library, bookstores and searched the Internet. I had dabbled in One-Stroke Painting (a neat decorative painting technique made famous by Donna Dewberry) so I figured I could paint a kids' face at the same "pretty good" level that I could paint a mug for Father's Day. Um, not quite.

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Once I really got into the research, I couldn't believe the level of artistry that was out there in Professional Face Painting. The world of Professional Face Painting was filled with real artists from all over the world. I'd never seen an island sunset painted on someone's face that looked so real I wanted to grab my coconut drink and head for the nearest hammock.

The designs were absolutely breathtaking, but not quite what I was looking for. I had fifteen three and five-year-olds coming over and I wanted to paint sweet little designs on their cheeks. Not to mention the attention span of a three-year-old didn't lend itself to a full-blown Caribbean sunset.

In the course of much more in depth research, I learned these basics:

- Use the right paints (in other words, if the packaging doesn't specifically say "face paints" or if they're for some other purpose besides face painting, don't use them on skin!)

- Use the right supplies (this includes brushes, sponges, glitter, etc.)

- Choose designs that are within your skill level and that are appropriate for your audience.

- When you are just starting out, choose just a handful (maybe five or six) designs and offer those to the children. Practice them religiously so that you can paint quickly and keep the line moving.

- Speed is key. Nuff said.

- The beauty is in the details. Small touches like glitter or highlighting can make a design from "okay" to "Wow!"

Look for Free Face Painting Designs that show you step-by-step directions; you will find the learning process much easier.

Practice some basic, popular designs like hearts, butterflies, flowers, snakes, fish, spiders, balloons and you will have enough designs in your arsenal to make most kids happy. Preschool Coloring books are great places to find Free Designs like these because the lines are bold without a lot of detail.

In the end my event was a huge success. Everyone went home with a little butterfly, heart, monkey or sun on their cheek. The kids were so proud of their cheek art and I was so proud to be able to paint them.

Free Face Painting Designs For Children

JoAnne Westcott is the author and publisher http://www.EasyFacePainting.com, the Beginner’s Guide to Face Painting For Moms, Teens, School Volunteers, Charity Volunteers or anyone who wants to learn quick and simple Face Painting Designs for kids.

Convergence Jackson Pollock Painting

Jackson Pollock played a key role in the history of modern American art. He was especially influential in the abstract expressionist movement. Pollock used a style known as "drip" painting, and his creations came in both black and white and others with color right across each and every Pollock print.

Pollock's earlier paintings were predominantly in black and white including Number Twenty-Three, Echo and Number Seven. By 1952 he chose to switch back to his large-scale, full color formats with Convergence and Blue Poles.

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Jackson Pollock's alcoholism and bouts of intensive depression added to his fame across America, as he continued to paint in order to break away and distract himself from his own social problems. Van Gogh and many other artists have done similar. He sought therapy through his novel approach of drip painting, which included Number 1 (Lavender Mist).

Convergence displays Pollock's emotions in abstract form, and shows them to be wild, with his innovative, multi-levelled imagination on full show. It was the best art form that he could find to thoroughly represent his turbulent mind which both haunted him, but also drove him to his best art.

Jackson Pollock had a unique method for creating his masterpieces, by circling around a huge canvas laid flat on the floor, as he would drip, pour and splash paints randomly on the canvas. This has since been termed action painting. Each painting would have large amounts of randomness, encouraged by his unconscious mind, with no consistent subject from one painting to the next. It was the birth of abstract painting as Pollock's subconscious became unravelled in a fusion of works offering his freedom of imagination as a bizarre art form.

Another attraction to Convergence is Pollock's suggestion that being an artist does not require certain technical skills and that all can access art themselves. He opened up art through the abstract movement which educated people into believing in the freedom of art, rather than preset ideas.

Abstract artists of the time, such as Pollock and Rothko, believed that traditional art could not portray their emotions vividly enough and so they followed this innovative path which was later to bring American painting to the forefront of international art, and lead New York into replacing Paris as the leader of the avant-garde art world.

Convergence Jackson Pollock Painting

Buy Pollock Convergence prints now at Pollockconvergence.com.

There are also plenty other Pollock paintings at the Oil Painting Shop.

Free Printable Face Painting Pictures

Children love having their faces painted! Whether it's at a carnival, fair, or community fun day or at home just for the fun of it, it's a definite favorite. There are many different things you can do with face painting. There are unlimited ideas when it comes to what types of designs you can paint. Here are a few tips when it comes to face painting designs, and a few things to remember.

There is no need to run out and purchase face painting designs with the amount of information available to you today on the internet. You can find free printable face painting pictures on some really great sites. From simple designs such as flowers and cherries, to elaborate and beautiful fairy, princess and superhero designs, children love each design.

Painting

When using paints and other decorative things on the face, you want to make sure that it's all safe. You don't want to use regular acrylic paints like some do, because they can actually irritate a child's sensitive skin. Instead, go for a paint that is made specifically to go on the skin. This will keep the child a happy camper.

When using glitter to add to the effect of face paints, make sure you never use aluminum glitter. This can be extremely unsafe for the child's skin and eyes, and it's rather easy for a child to rub some of the aluminum glitter into his or her eye. Avoid this by using glitters that are safe for the skin, such as body glitter. There are many free printable face painting pictures that you can add glitter to and it will make the design stand out and be much prettier. The same thing goes for stick on jewels. Make sure that there is nothing in the glue or jewel that could irritant the skin.

A great idea is to learn how to face paint for your child's birthday party. Professionals will charge up to 0 an hour to do this for you. You truly can save a ton of money by doing it yourself. If you don't know what to paint look for free printable face painting pictures. Face painting really makes a birthday party special, and the designs that you paint will be priceless to the child. The children will really love having the designs on their faces.

Face painting is great fun for the child being painted and the one doing the painting. It can be an inexpensive, artistic and fun way to celebrate sports teams, school spirit, birthdays, and even holidays!

Free Printable Face Painting Pictures

Face painting can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of hard work. And finding face painting ideas that haven’t already been done many times before is very difficult. So unless you can take time out of your busy schedule to register for a face painting class (if there is even one available in your area) you should visit http://www.FacePaintingUniversity.com today, to discover a treasure trove of face painting ideas!

Decorative Wall Painting Techniques

Do your walls seem dull and uninviting? Do you long for a cozy, welcoming room? Consider decorative wall painting techniques, such as sponging, ragging, stenciling or stamping. Even if you have no experience, you can brighten even the dullest room quickly and cheaply with one of these easy decorative wall painting techniques.

Before painting your room, pick out a color scheme for your walls. When you chose your paint, remember that many painting techniques use two shades of one color. If you are using one of the techniques that does use two shades of color, you can pick a darker color than you normally would chose for your base color, since the lighter top color will make the final result much lighter.

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To sponge or rag a wall, paint on your base color and let it dry thoroughly. Then, dip your sponge or rag into the lighter paint color and sponge or drag the lighter color over the base coat until you are satisfied with the effect. If you are unhappy with your final result, you can repaint any areas that you don't like with the base coat. Once the repainted area is dry, repeat the faux painting technique.

If you are considering using a decorative painting technique such as stenciling or stamping, you may just want to create a wallpaper effect by stamping or stenciling a simple design over your base coat. However, you may want to go a step further with your project and use stencils or stamps to create a faux brick or stone wall. You don't need to be an artist to create one of these faux finishes. Just follow these simple steps. First, paint the walls with the color you chose for the mortar between the bricks or stones. Once the base coat is dry, stamp or stencil your bricks or stones over the base coat. Once the brick or stonework is dry, spatter a bit of the darker color over your faux art to give it depth and make it appear more realistic.

Creating faux effects such as making your walls look like they are made of plaster or suede can also really make your room stand out. You can easily learn how to create these seemingly difficult finishes at your local paint store. Paint bases that automatically give a suede or textured effect to the walls are a shortcut that even artists use to create fun finishes.

Finally, no matter which decorative wall painting technique you choose, remember that it is just a few layers of paint. You can always redo the finish on your walls as you learn more about the art of decorative painting.

Decorative Wall Painting Techniques

This article was provided courtesy PaintSplashes.com where you can find tons of information on faux painting and interior painting ideas and techniques.

Painting Light

HOW TO PAINT LIGHT
I teach students how to paint and draw light. I am also a lighting specialist. My fascination with light encompasses, not only the commercial, retailing aspect, but the artistic as well. Once drawing and painting skills are developed to the point where students can accurately put down what they see, creating light and shadow is studied and faithfully delineated subject matter emerges in a world of space and volume.

LEARNING TO SEE
Basically, the depiction of light and shadow is accomplished by using dark and light colors in painting and tonal gradations in drawing. For a beginning student this often requires some visual skills.. First, I tell the student it is necessary to convert what they see to a two-dimensional vision that they can translate to a two-dimensional surface like a canvas or a sketchbook page.

Painting

POWERFUL GRIDS
Seeing objects two-dimensionally can be done in several ways. The easiest (and most time-tested) is to construct a grid in front of the subject matter--that could be actual objects, a photo or a picture. This can be done most simply by holding a pencil vertically and horizontally against the viewed objects, comparing their shapes to the vertical and horizontal lines of the pencil.

Another time-tested method is to literally construct a grid on plate glass or Plexiglas and place that grid in front of the objects. Now the viewed objects are intersected by many squares (depending on how large or small the squares in the grid are.) Each quadrant (square) of the grid can then be painted or drawn independently and upon completing the entire grid, the composition of objects is finished to compose an accurate picture of the objects.

Light and shadow are more easily discerned and created with this grid method. How objects are illuminated can be defined on paper or canvas by observing and re-creating light and shadow at play in each quadrant. In accomplishing this by shading and highlighting, illumination and therefore, volume is created, the illusion of the three-dimensional space is created, reborn on a two-dimensional surface.

EARLY LINE AND COLOR
Accuracy, as well as light and shadow were not always the motivation behind depicting artful images. Before the Renaissance, art works in Europe depicted objects ( figures, landscapes, buildings) in a flat space. There was no light and shadow. Figures were delineated and colored in a style much like a coloring book. These images translated well to stained glass windows and mosaics. Their simplicity of line and color contributed to the strength of the iconography, often of religious significance.

EARTHLY LIGHT
With the discovery of perspective, space and volume became important to artists as well as the depiction of light and shadow. Symbolic icons and images described by line gave way to depictions of illuminated space. In perspective, objects recede and advance in a two-dimensional space that is totally visually believable. To augment the receding and advancing figures with directional light and shadow completed the believability, creating a world the eye could explore as a simulated, illuminated three-dimensional environment.

GOLD LEAF TO EARTHLY LIGHT
Spiritual light, the vehicle of infinity was often expressed with the use of gold leaf in Medieval altarpieces. The warm, glowing, reflective surface behind religious figures imbued the work with a rich and reassuring statement-the glory of heaven and God's power. A more earthly light replaced gold leaf in the Renaissance. Spiritual figures were bathed in sunlight and swathed in shadow. The light that illuminated the humble shepherds was the same light that shone on Jesus and his followers.

REPEATING HISTORY
It is interesting to me that the journey a beginning drawing or painting student takes often replicates the historical transition from the Medieval use of line and color-in style to the Renaissance application of illuminated space and volume. And, with more advanced students, their journey often continues to repeat the contemporary return to line and color-in, the preference for depicting flat, shallow space and solid color.

I find this reassuring. The art world is wide open, brimming with many styles, images, materials and skills. For today's artist, everything is available, to use towards a creative purpose. All of history as well as the latest technological/digital images are ready to be researched and developed.

Painting Light

Lois's website offering free online art classes and many art resources, includes a gallery of her own paintings and pastels, as well as her videos demonstrating a wide variety of skills and techniques in the lessons:
http://www.free-online-art-classes.com

Halloween Face Painting Ideas

Halloween is such fun for kids of all ages, and adults too. Here are some face painting ideas to get you in the Halloween spirit.

Halloween face painting idea 1: pumpkin

Painting

A bright orange pumpkin painted on each cheek. Black paint used to paint eyes, nose and mouth. A light grey would be used to show the ridges of the pumpkin as well as its outline.
An alternative would be to do a full face pumpkin with an orange face base (blending a darker orange shade over cheekbones), black triangle shape over the eyes (extending above and below the eye area), a black nose and a large black mouth (need to cover more than just the lips).

Halloween face painting idea 2: skull

A full face design. Has a white face as the base, large black 'panda' eyes, black and white vertical stripes on the lips (with the white stripes wider than the black ones) and a trickle of red from one side of the mouth (to indicate blood).

Halloween face painting idea 3: vampire

A full face design. A white face base, bright red lips, fangs coming out of each corner of the lower lip (outline is light grey, fill is white, and tip is red to denote some blood), eye lids are smoky grey (right up to and over eye brows), eye brow then exaggerated with black sweeping strokes.

Halloween face painting idea 4: bat

A full face design. A white face base, bat's face painted on forehead above the nose (it's in black with light grey for eyeballs, and for some definition in ears); the bat's body is painted in black on the nose and ends at the base of the nostrils (use different shadings of black; the bat's wings extends out from head and body and covers the eyes curving up towards the temple and down the outside of the eye to mid cheek (again use different black shadings and some fine dark grey strokes to paint some definition into the wings); the lips are painted in dark grey with an exaggerated upward curl at the corners.

Halloween Face Painting Ideas

For another 50 face painting ideas - click here to check them out.

If you would like to learn face painting techniques - click here to for more information.

From Penny Crane - http://GreatFacePaintingIdeas.com