Made it Monday: Painting

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I am not by any stretch of the imagination a painter.  I like to play around occasionally but there is so much I don't know that I am intimidated to even try most of the time.  I saw the above painting project on Young House Love and felt inspired.  I think getting to use a ruler really empowered me to just do it!

I played with the design for a while and decided I wanted a rounded edge rather than a pointed edge.  I also want blue for my living room...I didn't realize how similar the blues would look to the original.  I am way too of an amateur to make my first attempt on a large canvas.  I had an extra 9x12 canvas in my craft supplies and decided to do a mini version to make sure it wouldn't be a colossal waste of time (and money).  

First attempt:

I used one color of blue and either added black paint or white paint to alter it.  I also watered down the paints so they wouldn't look so solid.  Turns out I don't love uneven color so I did three coats.  Up close you can still see it is uneven. I think watering it down kept the colors from being to strikingly different...but what do I know?  I wanted the center color to be variations of white.  I was so nervous that the transition between the colors would be too subtle.  Why didn't I just try it and then darken the colors if I needed to?  B/c that is how I do things...the hard way.  I don't like the difference between the white and the darkest gray.  Had to fix it.

The fix:

Better but not quite IT.  It is something I could live with, though.  I did a white wash over all the grays...two coats.  It softened the lines between the different shades which I like.  I prefer an even more subtle difference in shades.  So when I do the large canvas I will definitely be altering the colors much less.  I might also do yellow or pink instead of black as the color I mix in.  OH! Maybe orange.  I might have to do another practice canvas.  Stay tuned.