Afternoon, all! I’m writing you today from the patio – at an actual table and chairs! What?! I’m so excited to finally have patio furniture on which to lounge, work, and eat. And the best part is that we didn’t even have to buy it! My husband’s parents generously let us long-term borrow their current set, which wasn’t getting much use at their house. Nate and I spent a good hour scrubbing it down and now it’s clean as a whistle and ready to party! (You can see my succulent planter on the table!)His parents were also SUPER generous and went in over half on a brand new grill as a house-warming present, which hubby is in love with. Time to throw some shrimp on the barbie! I’m also super stoked because I have a pot of cilantro and a pot of poppies that I thought I would plant and they are finally growing! I’m glad they are flourishing and that I haven’t killed them… yet.
Anyway, on to the craft post for today: an easy Anthropologie hack for watercolor art. My original inspiration came from these photos:
I was really struck by the simplistic beauty of the watercolor strokes and the visual interest they sparked when grouped together in a gallery setting. Later I realized that the actual Anthropologie listing is for the enamel frames (which run up to $68.00 a pop; ouch) but I still thought that the watercolor art could be a cool and easy project that anyone can do. That’s the beauty of this project – you don’t need any art skills at all to do it! It’s also a super relaxing project – I sat on the porch and worked away without any worries about perfection and it felt good! Now on to the tutorial 🙂
Watercolor Art Materials
– Watercolor set (I had one as a gift from my MIL, but any set will work, even Crayola!)
– Paintbrushes in varied sizes
– Cup of Water
– Watercolor Paper (think thick and textured)
– Clipboard or hard surface
Step 1
Excuse the fuzzy picture! Take your watercolor paper and tape it to your work surface or clipboard. I used mini-clipboards that I got at Staples for like $2 each. I cut my paper down to fit the clipboard for mini artwork and then used some masking tape to hold down the edges. This is so your paper doesn’t curl up and warp when it gets wet!
Step 2
Paint away! There is no real rhyme or reason to this part – just do what feels right! Experiment with different brush sizes and with the amount of water that’s on your brush. Less water = darker and richer colors, and more water = a more watery and light look. For this first piece I just did a bunch of colors and varied the lengths and heights of my lines. My first one ended up looking like this:
Step 3
Do another one! For my next clipboard I experimented with an ombre effect and keeping the lines within color families. I only did 3 lines this time and I stepped up the chunkiness! Repeat for the last clipboard. Try turning the paper horizontally and doing the lines in different directions! Again, don’t worry about perfection – even if your lines aren’t straight it just adds to the character!
Here are my 3 finished Anthropologie hack watercolor art clipboards!
I love how they turned out! I really think they looked great on the clilpboards, so I decided that that was what I was going to hang them with instead of putting them in frames. One of the bathrooms in my house was just screaming for a little color, so these babies went in there and instantly brightened up the space! What do you think?
What are some other Anthropologie pieces that you would like to see hacked?
These are SO COOL!!! I love how simple it is, yet they have SUCH an impact!!! LOVE that you left them on the clip boards too … super creative!!!
This is really fun and simple. I love it!
Thanks so much, Jenna! I love when things are easy and can be done in mere minutes 🙂
Oh these are fun! Makes me want to bust out the watercolors, stat. Thanks so much for sharing them with us at The Makers. 🙂
Thanks so much, Alexis! It was definitely fun and relaxing to play with watercolors for this tutorial 🙂
These are so pretty and creative! I featured them on Do Tell Tuesday today-come by and grab a a featured button!
Hey Steph, thank you so much!! I’m so glad you like them 🙂 Thanks so much for the feature! I’m truly honored 🙂
I love me some DIY Art. I’d love it if you’d link up to my Look for Less Design Challenge! By linking up, you’re entered to win a $60 Target Giftcard too! http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2014/07/diy-x-leg-ottoman.html
Thanks for dropping by, Kayla! I’ll go check out your challenge – I’d love to get involved!
I loved your Tip Me Tuesday link . {thanks girl!}
Would you like Tip Junkie to feature your blog post to over 200,000 creative women? If you upload this blog post into your Tip Junkie craft room using at least 2 images, 2 steps, and blog post URL then I can easily feature it in my RSS feed, home page, and all my social networks instantly. {squealing with delight}
~ Laurie {a.k.a. the Tip Junkie}
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