Attempting Art

I really wanted some original artwork for my bedroom.  Alas, my exquisite taste does not match my limited budget.  Then I saw this artsy fartsy tutorial / narrative.   An idea was born.


When buying lumber, I had picked up a couple of free pallets.  At the time, I had no specific plans for them.  I just knew that the rough planks could be used to create something fun.  (Ana White also has many pallet plans, from Adirondack chairs to shelving units that I will get around to making, eventually.)

I began with my least favorite action: tearing the pallet apart. 

Then, I nailed the boards together to create a canvas of sorts. 

I  stained the front to match my bedroom furniture, and let it dry for a day before sanding it a bit.

Next, I taped off the edges and painted an area in the center.  (color: oatmeal, left over from painting the basement walls and "ceiling" two years ago.)  Immediately after painting, I removed the tape and brush-beat the edges so they wouldn't appear so stark.  Again, I had to let it dry.  Without all the drying time, this whole project would take about an hour.

The next morning, I pulled a bunch of paint (yes, all leftovers from wall colors) and began applying it to the barn wood-looking canvas I'd made.  No sketching, no planning, just "here goes..."

I made wheaty looking things, one color at a time, until it seemed like I'd used almost too many colors.
Then, I added some brown to the bottom. 

Oops, that looked crap-tacular.  The sander helped obscure it into a nice, negligible blur.

I touched the sander all over the piece to distress it, vacuumed the dust off, and applied a top coat of clear poly.

And here are the cost-free picture-hanging materials I never used because, although I am fairly pleased with the end product, it doesn't look right in the room it was intended for.

But it didn't cost anything!  

Time to start over.