Canvas of Happiness

If you can believe it, I've actually been getting to a handful of creative projects around the house. Nothing big, nothing much new, but I'm sharing them with you anyway. Grin.

The raw materials (we're starting with the canvas today):

The canvas on the left was used a few years ago in Levi's room. It has since been abused by children with various pens. It was crying out to be rescued. I thought maybe I could help with a coat of green paint. I tried craft paint first. The pen leaked through, so I resorted to spray paint. Luckily I had some on hand. Infinitely improved.

Now that I had a solid base coat, I returned to the craft paints, choosing various greens and a few accent colors:

I wanted the colors to go on somewhat streaky for artistic effect.
Once the greens had dried, I added the tiniest bit of red, brown, and black for a distressed look.

This is what I ended up with:

Years ago I sat through a creative writing class which was almost entirely a waste of time. Sadly, but not entirely surprising considering the fact that I am list-obsessive, my favorite assignment was to make a random list of things that make me happy. No writers block there. My list was constantly being added to, I kept it after graduating, and it has continued to grow.

In the master bedroom at our previous house, I took the list to a new level and painted a selection on a wall. The whole wall. It was fabulous.

I wanted to use a list of happy words in our new home, but thought I would make it a little less obtrusive. A canvas would be perfect. I grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down a few ideas.

A ruler and pencil helped mark the canvas and keep my lines relatively straight and even. I winged it, choosing words and phrases as I went along. I've used black paint before, but I wanted something easier. A big black felt pen worked very nicely.

The finished product is far from perfect. It is personal.

A large canvas painted in this way holds many possibilities. A happy list can be vague and universal or specific and personal. You can choose to be artistic or sincere (though one doesn't preclude the other). You could paint a favorite quote or themed words such as foreign cities, favorite foods (great kitchen decor), 'welcome' in numerous languages, names of family members, or favorite books or authors (great library decor).

Remember that canvases can be repainted when you tire of them, making an affordable decorating or craft project! An oversized canvas is a handy way to adorn a large wall on a not-so-large budget.